On the morning of September 13th, the opening ceremony for the Class of 2025 at Communication University of China(CUC) was grandly held at the Student Activity Center, with more than 6,000 freshmen in attendance.
Liao Xiangzhong, the Party secretary of CUC; Zhang Shuting, the deputy Party secretary and the president; Lin Haibo, the deputy Party secretary and the secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission; Zhang Shaohua, the deputy Party secretary; Li Xinjun and Wang Hui, the vice-presidents and members of the Party Standing Committee; Xu Hongmei, the member of the Party Standing Committee and the head of the Organization Department; Jin Wei, the assistant to the president; Zhang Genxing, the executive director of the University Affairs Committee; the deputy director of the University Affairs Committee; the heads of teaching and research units and functional departments; alumni representatives; and parents' representatives witnessed this glorious moment together.
The ceremony was hosted by Yang Yi, the vice-president and a member of the Party Standing Committee.
The Branch Venue at the Hainan Campus
The opening ceremony had a main venue at the Beijing campus and a branch venue at the Hainan campus, enabling online interaction between the two campuses. The red stage in the freshmen's seating area at the main venue was shaped like an unfolded book page and also like a brand-new letter addressed to the future, blessing the students to embark on a new journey of exploration as "diligent learners".
At 9:10 a.m., all the teachers and students stood up and sang the national anthem.
Student representatives who participated in the choir, volunteer service, and live-broadcast work for the 80th anniversary commemorative activities of the victory of Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War presented a combined program called "Eighty Years: What We've Seen" through chorus and situational storytelling.
Che Qing, a retired teacher of CUC and the grandson of the famous anti-Japanese general Zhang Zizhong, shared his excitement of attending the ceremony on Tiananmen Rostrum on September 3rd through a short video. He encouraged the new generation of media students to inherit and carry forward the great spirit of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, remember history, cherish peace, and create a better future, so that the great spirit of the War of Resistance can shine with new glory in the new era.
Liu Jun, the director of the editorial department of Modern Communication (the journal of Communication University of China), the deputy director of the Media Art and Culture Research Center, a professor, and a doctoral supervisor, spoke as a teacher representative. He shared his thoughts on how to cultivate thinking and judgment abilities and become an open-minded truth-seeker from two aspects: "what abilities to forge" and "what kind of person to become". He wished the students a meaningful time of in-depth study and an interesting youth at the university.
Freshmen's Counselor Appointment Ceremony
Freshmen's Class Tutors Appointment Ceremony
Zhang Shaohua read out the appointment decisions for the freshmen's counselors and class tutors of the Class of 2025. The university leaders presented the appointment certificates to the freshmen's counselors and class tutors.
Si De, an alumnus from the Class of 2007, the executive director and the chief operating officer of Pop Mart International Group, recalled his college life and was grateful to the alma mater for subtly cultivating students' solid professional foundation, independent thinking ability, and interdisciplinary learning ability. He encouraged the students to be CUCers with a global perspective and a sense of responsibility, and to tell the stories of China and the world in the new era.
Wu Jing, the mother of Song Changyang, a freshman majoring in Cyberspace Security in 2025, spoke as a representative of the freshmen's parents. Combining her own work experience at the grassroots level, she shared three keywords: "rooting down", "staying connected", and "growing towards the sun". She wished the students to bravely pursue their dreams and grow into their ideal selves on the fertile ground of CUC.
In the freshman representative speech session, the traditional way was broken. The "freshman interview group" randomly interviewed freshmen in the audience. Through Q&A exchanges, the charm of the university's new majors was demonstrated, highlighting the characteristics and true voices of the freshmen, which also triggered resonance among them.
Amid warm applause, Zhang Shuting delivered an excellent opening speech titled "Standing at a New Coordinate, Tempering Good Characters" for the freshmen.
Zhang Shuting pointed out in his speech that in the more than 70 years since its establishment, CUC has always moved forward in tandem with the motherland and kept in step with the times. Last year, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the university's founding, we were extremely excited to receive an important reply letter from General Secretary Xi Jinping to all the teachers and students of the university. The earnest instructions from the General Secretary are inspiring us to continuously forge ahead with courage.
Zhang Shuting emphasized that upon entering the campus of CUC, the students are standing at a new coordinate in life. In the era of ever-changing artificial intelligence, the core task during their time at CUC is to learn real skills and temper good characters. They should not only achieve an all-round improvement from professional abilities to comprehensive qualities through active learning and creative practice but also actively calibrate their value coordinates and consciously temper a sound personality in the spiritual melting pot of CUC, laying a solid foundation for stepping into the society and taking on great responsibilities.
Zhang Shuting encouraged the students to carefully temper five characters: responsibility, integrity, tolerance, kindness, and gratitude, so that they can face the storms and sail steadily on the journey of life. Firstly, be responsible people, caring about the country and shouldering heavy responsibilities, integrating personal ideals into the great cause of the country's development and human progress, and making "being responsible and capable of handling affairs" the most distinctive label of their lives. Secondly, be honest people. Abiding by integrity is not only building one's own most shining gold-lettered signboard but also safeguarding the most precious credibility of the media. Integrate honesty into every daily life, treat others sincerely, and establish oneself with trust. Thirdly, be tolerant people. Learn to accept differences, view the world from multiple perspectives, face differences with a calm heart, and accept oneself with a self-consistent mindset. Fourthly, be kind people. Empathize sincerely, show kindness, keep a warm heart, and spare no good deeds, so as to spread more beauty and warmth to the world and sow faith and hope for society. Fifthly, be grateful people. Cherish the present, be grateful for the era, transform the gratitude for the beautiful things into actions to nourish oneself and warm others, and turn the received love and kindness into practices to give back to society and serve the country. Zhang Shuting said that these five precious characters are precisely the solid foundation for realizing personal value and embracing a brilliant life. In the future, the university will fully build a broad stage for everyone to learn real skills and provide fertile soil for tempering good characters, lighting up the students' hearts and helping them transform and grow.
Zhang Shuting encouraged the students to cherish the good time, absorb the nutrients of wisdom and spiritual strength on the “wonderful” fertile ground of CUC, temper practical skills that can be applied in the world, and temper good characters that integrate knowledge and practice. Then grow into CUCers who live up to the era, the country, and their youth, and create their own wonderful future.
The university leaders presented and pinned the school badges on the representatives of the Class of 2025. From the moment they put on the school badges, the students will embark on a brand-new, progressive, and colorful journey.
There were also cultural performances and short-film screenings during the opening ceremony, creating a strong ceremonial atmosphere.
The opening short-film "CUC: Decoding the New Dimension" combined live-action shooting and AIGC production to vividly present the campus ecosystem of CUC with multi-disciplinary integration and intelligent innovation.
The opening program "You and I Are All Winners" had a lively style, and the performers burst out with youthful passion in singing and dancing.
The alumni blessing short-film "Please Answer 2025" collected questions from freshmen in real-name system and invited alumni from various fields to respond sincerely based on their personal experiences.
The theme short-film "The Firsts of Growth" recorded the real images of countless firsts in the growth of freshmen and current students, condensing the collective memory of dreams, struggles, and the journey towards CUC.
The original song and dance "Call Me the White Poplar" brought the ceremony to a climax. This song and dance combined EDM and rap elements, showing the high-spirited spirit of CUCers.
This opening ceremony was an immersive class with multi-professional joint practice. The work of planning, design, directing, shooting, live-broadcasting, and promotion was all undertaken by the teachers and students on campus, reflecting the professional qualities of our teachers and students in the field of media convergence.
The opening ceremony was live-broadcast on more than 30 platforms, including Xuexi Qiangguo, the People's Daily client, the Xinhua News Agency's new media matrix, China Media Group's video platform, CCTV.com, the China Daily's new media matrix, China Youth Daily, Beijing Youth Daily, Beijing Daily, The Beijing News, Beijing Time, China Education Online, Sichuan Observation, the new media platform of Guizhou Radio and Television Station, WeChat video accounts, Sina Weibo, Douyin, Kuaishou, Baidu's Baijiahao, Sohu Video, and the CUC APP. The total number of views on all platforms exceeded 4.5 million, and it received a warm response from society.
Article translated by a large-language model.
Editor: Li Jichu
