Dear Honorary Dean Yuan, Scholars, Colleagues, and Friends,
Thank you for attending today’s graduation ceremony. It is a joyful day to celebrate the fruitful outcome of your hard work and dedication. I want to acknowledge the presence of parents and family members among us today, and I wish to express my gratitude to you for nurturing such remarkable young scholars and entrusting them to us. I sincerely hope that we have met your expectations.
Looking back on the past two years, several thoughts come to my mind. The First is joy. Over these two years, I have witnessed and accompanied your growth, and seen your achievements in various aspects. In Chinese, this is called "有成" (meaning "accomplishment"). Academic success. Success in all matters. Yenching Academy aims to provide you with a path to enter China, understand China, and then enable you to reflect on this era, reflect on the world, and explore the relationship between China and the rest of the world. As I think about the fruitful results of your achievements over these past two years, I feel truly happy for you. I’m certain that the entire team and staff of Yenching Academy, along with our professors, share this joy with me at this moment, as everyone has worked tirelessly to support and contribute to your achievements.
I can still vividly recall the moment, almost as if it were yesterday, when you arrived in China nearly two years ago, each of you making your way to our campus from different corners of China and the world. I was struck by the extraordinary group before me and have since witnessed your initial excitement upon arrival evolve into a remarkable display of composure and confidence. From Sichuan to Zhejiang, from singing a birthday song for our beloved academy on its tenth anniversary, to hearing about your daily life at the dean’s talk, to celebrating Chinese New Year with you, and to enjoying a wonderful "Midsummer Night" drama performance in Jingyuan 4, I have been honored to spend these memorable moments with you.
Next is self-reflection. In The Analects, Zengzi said, “I examine myself three times a day.” I dare not compare myself to one of Confucius’s most important disciples, but as a French translator of The Analects, I believe this classic has laid out the principles of proper self-conduct, and thus we can draw broader lessons from it. I often reflect on what needs to be improved and refined at Yenching Academy, which just celebrated its tenth anniversary last year. As you all know, over the past decade, many leaders, faculty, and staff at Peking University, especially our beloved Professor Yuan Ming, who is here with us today, have led the team and devoted tremendous effort and dedication to building Yenching Academy from scratch, shaping its familiar structure, and establishing its well-known system of teaching, practice, and research. The departure of each outstanding cohort of scholars is a testament to the academy’s steady development. At the same time, as a new initiative in an era of tremendous change, there is inevitably much room for improvement. As the current dean, entrusted by the university and Professor Yuan Ming, I feel the weight of this responsibility deeply. I still remember conversations with some of you here today, discussing the future development of the academy. The skeptical expressions
I believe everyone has already witnessed the renovation of the activity room on the sixth floor of Shao Yuan and benefited from it. This summer, our library will also present itself with a brand-new appearance. This year, we successfully introduced a young professor, Yang Feng, who will officially join the faculty and serve as the teaching and research coordinator for a discipline. This marks the first step in our efforts to enhance teaching and research. Our vision is to recruit a full-time teacher for each of the six disciplines, who will not only teach a course but also act as the coordinator—constantly guiding everyone to focus on the cutting-edge of the field, strengthening the Academy's connection with the most suitable professors outside, providing timely answers to scholars' questions, and even offering career advice.
What's even more exciting is that by the end of this year, the Academy will acquire a piano from a world-renowned brand—the first piano brand in history, beloved by Chopin, Debussy, Matisse, Renoir, and many others. I welcome you all to showcase your musical talents when you visit the Academy. We also hope that, like world-famous brands weathering storms, Yenching Academy will become a lasting educational bridge that transmits culture and civilization, and connects China with the world.
The third feeling, I must admit, is a tinge of sadness. This sadness is, of course, related to parting—I remember singing a song with our scholars about the "sorrow of parting" at last year's graduation ceremony. But we know such partings are normal in life, especially as you continue to grow toward better futures, and you can always visit or meet us elsewhere in the world. Thus, this sadness stems more from concerns about today's world and era, which in turn brings worries about your development.
Recently, I came across an article that appeared in the renowned The Economist and which deeply moved me. You may recall that we invited Ms. Liu Qian, former China President of The Economist, to present a keynote speech at last year's opening ceremony. During that speech, she highly recommended to our scholars that they should learn hard and love hard, something well-received. Because of time constraints, I won't delve into the article's details, but the question it poses paints a rather bleak picture of prospects for graduates.
Coincidentally, an article in China's The Paper also sounds a lament: How Miserable Are French-Literate PhD Chinese Students in France? Listen to a French Professor's Complaints. In this piece, a French friend of mine who once taught at Tsinghua University describes the harsh realities faced by Chinese liberal arts PhD students studying in France.
I feel ashamed that instead of citing philosophers and thinkers, or spending time reading and writing academic papers, I've been reading magazines and public accounts. But as a liberal arts professor and a scholar researching literature and art, I must admit I've never paid such close attention to reality before. This focus on reality came too late for my career, but I care about it because of you—our younger generation, our descendants.
There’s an article that stands out from public accounts that caught my attention, and I’d like to share it briefly: A Japanese student in China traveled from Nanjing to Xinjiang by hitchhiking. He detailed his experience and emphasized that he always told drivers he was Japanese before asking for a ride. Almost everyone let him get in, with only one exception. This story dispelled my subtle worries, because when I was young, I took similar hitchhiking trips in Europe. Even in France, which was extremely open and globalized at the time, my success rate was only about 70%，while his success rate was 94.1%! What does this Japanese student’s experience tell us? It shows that China is a far friendlier nation than commonly judged—a land of true benevolence and righteousness. This fact, starker than the atmosphere often portrayed on social media or even official channels, measures the heart of today’s Chinese people. I believe our young scholars have had similar experiences and felt this warmth in China. If you’ll allow me to reference my own experience again with empathy: It was during my youth as a study-abroad student in France, when I met so many kind people, that I’ve remained committed to fostering cultural and even national friendship between our countries. For the friendships of youth are lasting, and youthful experiences leave a profound impact. Especially for a student far from home, such experiences can make us feel like children again, rekindle our sense of the world, and shape our comprehensive worldviews.
Dear scholars, these are some of my thoughts that I wish to share with you. As you prepare to leave Peking University and our academy, as your dean, I would like to express a few hopes for you. I hope you will maintain three hearts: ambition, patience, and love (三个心：雄心，耐心，爱心). The world is facing various challenges, and people seem to be increasingly constrained by things far beyond their control, but this should not prevent you from maintaining ambition to do great things and what seems impossible on the surface. This era is so complex that we should not be impatient. We should maintain patience, even in the face of the dazzling information every day, and keep the attitude of "letting the bullet fly for a while"(让子弹飞一会儿) to ensure the correct grasp of this era. Maintain love, because we need friendship. Only love makes the world lovely and worth defending and struggling for.
Romain Rolland, a French author who has influenced millions of young people in China, wrote: “The one who has met a friendly heart in the world, who has experienced the essence of open and sincere friendship, has tasted the joy of heaven and earth.”
I hope you will safeguard two intentions: kindness and sincerity（两个意：善意和诚意）. When facing others, you must maintain basic kindness. Malice and hostility not only make interpersonal relationships terrifying but also may strangle people's creativity. Only in an environment full of kindness can people grow well. Kindness is the sunshine and dew that help people grow. 《中庸》（The Doctrine of the Mean）says, "Sincerity is the way of Heaven. Striving to be sincere is the way of man." Mencius also said, "Sincerity is the way of Heaven; to reflect on sincerity is the way of man." In modern Chinese, truth and sincerity are put together. Sincerity is the foundation of human beings, which can enable people to better understand themselves, others, and explore truth. This is shared between China and the West. There is an ancient Greek oracle at Delphi: know thyself, and its premise is sincerity.
As you may know, in Chinese, "three hearts and two intentions"(三心二意) is not a positive term, while "one heart and one intention"（一心一意） is commendable. Therefore, I would like to reframe "three hearts and two intentions" into "one heart and one intention": I hope you will maintain a heart that seeks truth, loves freedom, and is willing to serve; I hope you will cultivate an intention that transcends the self and embraces humanity.
Dear scholars, after thousands of years of development, humanity once again faces an era where we fear our insignificance. We are in an age where there is a fear of being replaced by machines or superior beings. When confronted with advanced technology, we must maintain our confidence in humanities. In the article from "The Economist" that I mentioned earlier, there is a detail that caught my attention: "Outside America, the share in arts, humanities and social sciences mostly grows." Yes, China will continue to place importance on arts, humanities, and social sciences. I hope you can use your personal experiences to demonstrate to the world that you are not "in trouble." By the way, the most commented question regarding this article was: "Is this article generated by AI?"
Indeed, the Renaissance left an impression that civilization can only achieve tremendous progress when individuals attain their rightful status and value. However, history teaches us that every time humanity has felt its own insignificance, it has often been a precursor to great leaps forward. Pascal’s notion of " man is a frail reed, but a thinking one " foreshadowed the great Enlightenment; the Romantics' sense of smallness in the face of nature heralded the magnificent literary era of the 19th century; Lautréamont's perception of human insignificance, even inferiority, before the ancient sea, paved the way for the pinnacle of 20th-century surrealism... Similarly, in China, Chen Zi'ang’s lament, "Gazing at the vastness of the universe and history, I stand alone in sorrow and tears," ushered in the most glorious era of the Tang dynasty civilization... This is why I wish for you all to maintain an ambitious spirit and a steadfast faith in humanities and civilization, and to contribute, amidst great uncertainty, to the arrival of an even greater era in the future.
In our childhood, we often saw a memorable line in movies. In the toughest moments, there was always one person in the group who would deliver a summarizing statement. The director would give them a close-up shot, and they would say slowly but firmly: "The best days are yet to come!"（好日子，还在后头呢！）
I hope you can focus your mind's eye on this phrase and reflect on it: Yes, you have experienced wonderful days at Peking University, at Yenching. Yes, this era is full of uncertainties, and you may encounter difficult times. Even so: "The best days are yet to come!"
好日子，还在后头呢！
Thank you all!
