Chongqing Daily (Journalist: Li Xingting, intern: Tang Lingling) The school opening ceremony for postgraduate students of 2020 of Chongqing University was held at the stormproof playground, Campus A. More than 6,500 doctoral candidates and postgraduate students attended the opening ceremony.
President Zhang Zongyi of Chongqing University gave the first lecture at the beginning of this semester to the new students, and expressed his wish for them to have great ambitions, make significant achievements in academic innovations, forge ahead despite the sufferings in study, improve themselves by hardworking, and strive to be pioneers of academic research against the currents of the times.
▲ School opening ceremony for postgraduate students of 2020 of Chongqing University (Credit: Chongqing University)
Full text of the speech＞＞
To be a pioneer of academic research
-A speech delivered at the school opening ceremony for postgraduate students of 2020 of Chongqing University
Boys and girls:
At this invigorating time of the year when autumn is full in the air, you are going to begin a new journey of exploration, truth-seeking and cultivation in your life. In the years to come, Chongqing University will join you to write this memorable chapter. I would like to extend my warmest welcome to you on behalf of all CQU teachers, faculties and students.
The year of 2020 has been an unusual one. The unexpected outbreak of COVID-19 early in the year brought our joy of the Chinese New Year to a sudden end and changed the life or even destiny of millions of families. As for you, it was the longer time before you got the results of the preliminary examination, the anxiety you felt when you studied at home, the worries about the mode of the secondary examination and the expectation for school opening. All these things kept haunting everyone of you, and turned your usual life into pure unexpectedness. What makes me eased is your courage to embrace changes when the coronavirus was rampaging and when many parts of our life and study had to stop. You demonstrated remarkable intelligence and talents and considerable confidence when tackling with those setbacks and seized the opportunities when facing challenges. Because of your persistence and hardworking, your enrollment by Chongqing University now seems more meaningful. In the next couple of years, I hope you carry on with your persistence and hardworking.
Chongqing University is one of the oldest universities and colleges in China to launch postgraduate education programs. In 1948, Zhang Hongyuan, the then president of Chongqing University, Feng Jian, dean of the School of Engineering, and Professor Ke Zhao of the Department of Mathematics, enrolled 11 graduate students. This marked the beginning of the graduate education of Chongqing University. After the opening-up and reform of China, Chongqing University became one of the first organizations with approved doctoral and postgraduate education programs. In 2000, Chongqing University was approved to establish the Graduate School, which is 20 years old now, like the trending TV series Twenty Your Life On you might be following. In the past 20 years, the Graduate School has seen leap-forward development, and it was approved as the one of the Pilot Organizations for Comprehensive Reform of Professional Degree Postgraduate Education under the Ministry of Education, won the title of National Innovative College and University for Education of Master of Engineering, and was included as one of the first authorized pilot organizations for “doctor of engineering” of China and the first organizations in China with autonomous right in degree awarding. CQU has realized rocketing development of postgraduate education in quality, scale and structure, and is now able to provide desirable conditions for students to concentrate on studies and researches.
As postgraduate students, your focus should be on “study”. What are you going to study? Academics. “Study” refers not only to the persistent dedication, but also to the process of truth-seeking, and it is also the dialectical unity of questioning and ascertaining. The purpose of study is innovation and therefore the ultimate goal of postgraduate education is to cultivate innovative talents. The past experience and the current situation have proved that our rise and fall depend on our scientific and technological level, and the innovation capacity is vital to destiny of the country. At present, the new-generation information technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum information, mobile communication, Internet of Things, and block chain, are bringing dramatic changes to our life. The life sciences represented by synthetic biology, gene editing, brain science and regenerative medicine are breeding new reforms. Advanced manufacturing technologies such as integrative robots, digitalization and new materials are boosting the intelligence-based, service-oriented and environment-friendly transformation of the manufacturing industry. Opportunities always favor the ready minds. Do you think you are ready? You are young people who are turning from a receiver of knowledge to a question raiser, researcher and solver, and you will eventually become a law finder. This will be a challenging transformation. In order to do so, you have to concentrate on the core of academic studies and highlight the four dimensions, including innovation, hardworking, intelligence and ambition, or we can put it another way, “creativity”, “diligence”, “skills” and “trend”.
In the first place, you are expected to “aim at innovation” and get somewhere in the academic innovation.
President Xi Jinping of China has once said: “Young people should be creative and make innovations. Innovation is the spirit that drives advancement of a nation, and serves as the inexhaustible source of the prospering of a country. It is the most profound gift endowed to the Chinese nation. An ancient Chinese saying goes "if one can make things better for one day; he should make them better every day’. Let’s put it in a comprehensible way. Innovation means to take the path nobody has ever taken and do things nobody has ever done. As postgraduate students, innovation should be everyone’s ultimate goal, and the capacity you have to build on. In doing studies, you have to raise questions. The consciousness of questions is the cornerstone of innovation spirit. Li Zhengdao has once said: ‘Being able to raise proper questions is the first step toward innovation.’ Raising a question is itself a fascinating thing, whether it is a question about our predecessor or just an inspiration, as long as it leads our thoughts to another angle and area. However, you have to have a solid theoretical foundation and certain ability of cross-discipline study before you can raise a proper question. You have to find the proper method of study. The key to innovation is not the answer to the question, but the way you use thinking method to solve the question. Very few people will show you how to solve a question hand by hand. As such, you have to look at a question from different aspects, on different levels and using different methods all alone. This way, you will be able to expand your depth and extensiveness of study and develop your unique and systematic understanding of things through constant critical inheritance and challenging.”
Secondly, you have to be “diligent” and forge ahead against all setbacks.
“One should get something concisely from a broad reading and act with restraint on the base of a large accumulation.” Academic study is a time-consuming process of repetitive seeking. It is not something you can get done by skimming the surface. We’ve heard stories about Che Ying, who read books with the dim light of glowworms, Li Mi, who hung books on an ox horn, Darwin who wrote the book Origin of Species and Chen Wangdao, who translated the Communist Manifesto. All their stories taught us that hardworking is the only path to success. We have to be find peace of mind before we are able to do real studies. The process of knowledge seeking is efforts-taking but fulfills our inner world. Whether your talents match your ambition, you cannot blame your slow improvement on your past or refuse to work hard because it’s not comfortable. You are expected to withstand loneliness and devote yourself to scientific study. I hope you study so hard that you even forget to eat and find pleasure in it. When you are doing a research project, you are expected to concentrate on every and each paper and scientific research, and be serious about every and each experiment and deduction. Remember, every minute and every little thing matter in studies and you will achieve something. Doing studies means you have to face obstacles. The path of scientific research is like the roads in Chongqing. It never was straight and flat, but rather, there are “rivers and mountains” and “steep steps” everywhere. Encountering failures in the difficult exploration is a part of scientific research. Zhao Mengzhen, a doctoral candidate of 2017 of the School of Civil Engineering, succeeded in developing the new-type crumb rubber modified asphalt technology using swill-cooked dirty oil, after encountering millions of setbacks. In her MBA-DBA period, Zhao was granted 3 national scholarships and revealed one patent. In addition, Zhao participated in two national scientific research projects, and published 7 high-standard papers in the past 2 years. “There are footprints where the road is muddy.” I hope you will be like Zhao Mengzhen, and grow into a real knowledge-seeking warrior.
Thirdly, you have to develop your “skills” and improve yourself through hardworking.
Many students would ask “what qualities are needed to do scientific researches?” This is in fact a question about scientific research qualities. Since the ancient times, those who made great achievements in academic studies had qualities like perfect personality, mature mentality, interesting soul and abundant energy, in addition to their innovation and hardworking. Those qualities seem to be unrelated to academics, but they may act as “catalysts” of creativity. Such “catalysts” come down to one thing, wisdom. Furthermore, to do studies, you have to get out of your “comfort zone”. For research workers, you have to force yourself to do so, and challenge yourself. I hope everyone of you will be able to “reflect on yourself three times a day”, and develop your self-control ability, compressive resistance, ability of cooperation and expressive ability. The self-control ability helps you mute “noise”, and rectify your target. Compressive ability helps you get rid of your fragile side, and consolidate your wish to win. The ability of cooperation allows you to work with your team and enhance communication. The expressive ability helps you express yourself and communicate with others better. These four abilities are inter-independent, and constitute the basic internal qualities of a scientific researcher. A scientific researcher should keep their hobbies. Hobbies are never incompatible with scientific research. They are not enemies. On the contrary, they are mutually supplementary, like “partners”. Some scientists even managed to make hobbies part of their professional life. For example, Da Vinci was not only an art master, but also a pioneer of modern physiological anatomy and optics and other disciplines. Einstein was good at playing the violin and piano and was also fascinated about arts. Hawking, before he got ill, was a member of the rowing team of the Oxford. Turing, the father of computer science and artificial intelligence, was a world-class long-distance runner. Their stories told us that hobbies may make your life full of creativity, innovative thoughts and energy if you are good at time planning and management and find a balance between scientific research and your hobbies. They may even become important sources of inspiration and insight. Boys and girls, this is your “best policy” when shaping your future. Embrace scientific researches with the enthusiasm you have with your hobbies, and you will be more concentrated. Feed your hobbies with the preciseness you have with scientific researches, and you will remain self-disciplined. You will experience a marvelous journey wit and humor in the next couple years to come if you remain concentrated and do not hesitate to express yourself.
Fourthly, you have to capitalize on the “trend”, and toughen yourself in the rough currents of the times.
An individual may achieve greater value of life when he/she follows the tough currents of the advancement of the times. In the times when every little part of academic knowledge matters, you are expected to be keenly aware of the changes of the times and stick firmly to your academic dreams. As a researcher, you have to keep a steady ambition. You are living in a flourishing age of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and you are expected to advance with the times. The prime of your life is precisely in accordance with the “Two Centenary Goals”. As high-level talents, you are expected to carry out original innovation at the front edge of science. This is the call of the great times. I hope you remain loyal to your country and its people, hold tightly to your scientific ambition, abide by academic morality, and uphold academic integrity, and spend your previous time on making self-improvement, seeking the truth and knowledge and developing real skills. Furthermore, as a researcher, you have to be composed. As you see, the world is now going through once-in-a-hundred-year turbulence. As COVID-19 is sweeping across the world, the uncertainties and instabilities are becoming increasingly prominent. The fight between countries in scientific and technological strength is more intense than ever. The inadequacy of innovative capacity of China in certain critical areas and lagging-behind of some key core technologies means that we have to get rid of the external interference and overcome the tactic pressure and remain strategically composed. This way, we will be able to stick firmly to the predetermined directions and goals of the scientific research, and catch up with those ahead of us step by step, and let quantitative changes to add up to qualitative change.
Boys and girls, time and tide wait for nobody. Looking back, members of the CQU family have been seeking for the truth and knowledge for nearly 100 years. They always keep in mind the mission of CQU to “study academics, cultivate talents, revitalize the country and rejuvenate the society”. Looking forward, I hope you remain courageous, sharp and enthusiastic as before. I hope you are able to achieve your dreams against the challenges, devote yourself to study, dedicate yourself to innovation and be a pioneer of academic research.
Thank you.
