Speech at the Commencement of 2022

Tao Wenhao

20 June 2022

Good evening，ladies and gentlemen, staff members and dear graduates!

Today, we are gathering here in witness of this special moment. First of all, on behalf of the School of Foreign Languages, I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to you all.

At this special moment, let's warmly applaud with sincere gratitude for your mentors, staff members of the school, your family members, your classmates and friends who give you their constant care and support!

You have spent the most productive four years at the most beautiful valley campus in Asia. Upon leaving，will you miss the water lilies in summer and the towering kapok trees in front of the library? Will you miss the campus buses that keep you waiting everyday？Will you miss the sweltering summer and the downpour that just comes without any warning? Will you also miss Li Shenxuan’s strong coffee aroma?

How time flies! Four years have passed before we realize it. Four years ago, you came here from all corners of the country with your luggage. Today, you have finished your academic studies and are ready to realize new and big dreams for yourself as well as the country. This is a harvesting moment as well as a reflective one. Now I would like to give you some wishes at this special moment.

Firstly, find hope in despair and life will become brilliant. The year of 2022 has witnessed the increasing tensions between China and the United States and the war between Russia and Ukraine. And you have lived most of your campus life during the pandemic of Covid-19. You are either taking the Covid test or on the way of taking it. All these factors are the thorns on your way of employment. Facing such difficulty, shall we “lie down” or shall we find hope in despair? Yu Minghong, also an English major, has become a live-streamer when facing the falling business of New Oriental. Another live-streamer, also a teacher from New Oriental, confided that one day there was only one audience in his live-streaming room, then there were two. It turned out they were his parents who tried to show some support. Only he knew how upset it was at that time. However, after half a year’s hard work, he now has millions of audience per day in the live-streaming room. So my dear students, during hard times, you need to find new opportunity in difficulty and find the first chance in the times of change.  

Secondly，language is powerful because of the ideas in it. I have seen you voice your opinions for the female victim in Tangshan City. Your language expresses your demand for justice and righteousness. I hope that with four years of language learning here, you will become someone like Lu Xun, whose words cut deeper than a knife. It is the language of the youth and the language of BNUZers！

Thirdly, always be kind to the people around you. You may face enormous pressure working in your place. Will you vent on someone you love or will you rise above the distress? I hope you can foster your moral conduct and be grateful and caring to those who care about you.

Fourthly, what we expect from you is your loyalty to the country and filial piety for your parents. Huang Xuhua, a nuclear submarine chief designer, has achieved greatly but keeps a silent profile. His mother has not seen him for more than ten years, but later found out her son’s great achievements in a reportage. She then asked her other sons and daughters, who once blamed Huang’s negligence of family duty to express their kind understanding and forgiveness. The Chinese nation has never been so closer to the great revitalization than it is right now. You were born at the right time, so you must live up to the expectations of the time and people.  

As your spiritual mother, BNUZ believes you will make your dream come true by embracing a higher vision as your direction, passion as your motivation and emotional intelligence as your means. From now on, the knowledge and experience you have learned here will be transformed into the books you put at the bedside, the urge to offer your seat to the senior on a bus and the grace and cultivation you display in public places.

Farewell! My dear graduates of 2022. I wish you good health, all the happiness and outstanding success in all your ventures!