Tao Wenhao

15 September 2013

Good morning, dear boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, my warmest welcome to the School of Foreign Languages, Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai (BNUZ). You have become part of the SchooI of Foreign Languages from now on. I am happy to tell you that this year we have enrolled 345 students of four levels: they are four-year undergraduate students for Bachelor’s degrees, postgraduate students for Master’s degrees, students of associate degrees for Bachelor’s degrees and 2+2 students of international programs. I believe that each of you is excited at the moment in the new environment for your new journey for a higher degree.

On this wonderful occasion, I am as excited as you. I would like to share with you my happiness and excitement. At the moment, my greatest feeling is I am filled with too many things to say to you, and I will make the choice of starting with the introduction to the School of Foreign Languages which was established on June 16th, 2003. Just two months ago, the School of Foreign Languages had her tenth anniversary with her 82 members of staff. Of all the teaching staff members, there are 30 native teachers of English or Japanese which accounts for nearly a half. The School of Foreign Languages is one of the largest schools of the university. Besides more than 1,300 students of English and Japanese majors we have, the School of Foreign Languages undertakes the foreign language teaching of about 23, 000 non-English majors of the university.

My dear students of all, both English majors and Japanese, 2013 seems to be a year of dreams and youth for the whole nation of Chinese. We have Chinese Dream, which is elaborated as the dreams of everybody of all Chinese people. For each of us, we have our own dreams as well. All of you had dreamed to be a college student when you were in the high school. For this dream, you came and are gathering here. Your dream has come true! Congratulations!

Some of you may have watched the film “Ode to the youth”, some may have watched “You are the Apple of My Eye”, and some may have watched “Tiny Times”, which have moved you either in tears or in the deepest part of your heart and soul. Why are they so moving and emotional? Because each of you and each of us has or has had our dream and youth. The dreams and the Youth are the permanent topics for everybody, they can always touch the most sensitive part of us, our first love, our first memory and even our first silliness. We had all been here through our dreams and youth. Whatever they are, they are so beautiful.

Dreams and youth are so beautiful, aren’t they? Dreams are actually the guide of human life without which we will lose our way in our journey of life. Youth is the most precious in the world, because it will always disappear and never come back. So what shall we do with dreams and youth? The answer is we shall always set up new dreams so that youth will take the most precious value in the years of your university days.

What shall we do in the university days? Here as dean of the School of Foreign Languages, I would like you to follow the spirit and the motto of our school. They are: love, knowledge, morality and integrity. We would like all of you to become a person of broad love, strong knowledge with high moral standard and a person of nice character.

First, try to be a person of love. This love means a lot to you, it means not only the love for a girl or a boy but a broad love for whatever positive in the world. Learn to love your major, either English or Japanese. Your major shall be with you for the rest of your life whatever you are in the future. Learn to love your teachers and classmates who will always be your best supporters and friends. Because they are the purest without anything negative or snobbish that is reflected in the society. You will realize this once you graduate from us and begin to work for your living. Our experience tells us that a person of love will win and step to success much more easily.

Second, be open to all knowledge and learn to be critical to any new things. Once you have read the sentence: Knowledge is Power. I will tell you, yes, it is power. But more than knowledge, a mind of critical thinking is more powerful and suggested. In this way, you can be a creative person in the future. This is the requirement of the School and my requirement for you, too.

Here I would like to share with you some data: up to June, 2013, 45 graduates of the 215 English majors of 2013, accounting for 21%, have been enrolled by universities at home and abroad to further their studies as postgraduate students; of these M.A candidates, 10 were enrolled by such prestigious universities in the Chinese Mainland as Shanghai International Studies University, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing Normal University, East China Normal University, and Nanjing Normal University, and 35 by universities outside the Chinese Mainland, such as, the University of Edinburgh, York University, Newcastle University, Sidney University, the University of Melbourne, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Macao University. They are so exciting, aren’t they? My sincere hope is you become part of them four years later.

Third, learn to be a person of high morality and integrity. This is by no means easy. I often say to my students that no matter how learned you are, you can be a worse evil if you are a person of no morality and unhealthy character. In the four years of the university, your philosophy of life will be established, so it is critical time for you to develop a positive attitude towards life. We will provide you with the freedom of thoughts and the opportunity of character development and by the time you graduate, I am confident that you are a mature person of good morality and nice personality. A person who loves all and is loved by all.

To summarize my speech today, the key words are: dreams, youth, love, knowledge, morality and integrity! I will witness your realization of your new dreams, your faithfulness and completeness of youth, your broad love, your good character of morality and finally you become a person of integrity of foreign languages. This is what the School of Foreign languages will do together with you.

Thank you!