At noon on September 22nd, school of Journalism of Renmin University of China (RUC) held the opening ceremony of 2021. The ceremony was attended by all the 2021 undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral students, their homeroom teachers, school management team, teachers in charge of each department, teaching assistant administrative team and student guidance team. Zhang Huifeng, Secretary of the Party Committee of SJC, presided over the ceremony.

At the beginning of the ceremony, Zhou Yong, Executive Dean of SJC introduced the history of the school and the development of the discipline to the freshmen in detail, reviewed the historical journey of of "three sources of convergence" of SJC with the red gene in its blood, and elaborated the school's talent training objectives and system.

Zhou Yong encouraged students not only to draw wisdom and courage from the past, but also to continue to pursue progress in the international environment and stay true to their original aspiration. We should not only pursue better personal development, but also make contributions to the country and society, and jointly create the future of the school.

Lin Linger, a 15-year-old girl, on behalf of 2021 undergraduate freshmen, shared her story first. She graduated from Beijing No. 8 Middle School Chaochang Education Experimental Class. In her speech, she mentioned an encounter with the university six years ago, when she was young and attracted by the heavy academic atmosphere of the university. Now gladly to the appointment, Lin Linger vowed to more deeply understand the weight of "RUCers", and further request herself in response to the call of the era, improve skills, increase knowledge, study hard and fulfill herself.

Li Yuxuan, a member of the Class of Journalism, Radio, Communication economics of 2021, shared his story with RUC. High quality library resources of the university, the abundant journalism practice opportunities of the school, colorful after-school activities, and the warm care of teachers of the school for students... all of these have given the students unlimited possibilities. As for "what kind of generation we should be", Li Yuxuan gave his own answer. In the future, he will continue to look for the answer inside and outside RUC, and shoulder the responsibility as a student of RUC.

Tian Sibo, a freshman representative of the class of 2021, expressed his joy to join the big family. His speech centered on a poem by Xiong Henghan. "The earth booms in a sea of spring; men take country as their home. Dragon lantern, flower drum and moon, men blaze the road with a sword in the hand." With "the convergence of three sources", tolerance and accumulation, SJC has come a long way, and journalists graduated from RUC have always been taking the "sea of spring" on their shoulder. He called on students to jump into the currents of the era and become a surging spray. Tian Saibo said doctoral students need to devote themselves to volumes of books, carry out rigorous academic research, constantly sharpen their "feet", "sight", "brain" and "pen", and learn to become a rounded person.

Teacher representative Zhou Yushu congratulated and welcomed all freshmen. He said in his speech that "I hope students can spend their college life calmly and fully". Facing pressure and "involution", we should constantly do the "subtraction" for only "concentration can make people feel at ease". He shared his experience of growing up, telling students that lack of competitiveness is sometimes not because the short board is too short, but because the long board is not long enough. He encouraged the students to walk on the path they love without distractions, though it's the one that has never been walked.

Finally, Zhang Huifeng introduced the homeroom teachers of each freshman class and taught the "first Party lesson of the semester". He mentioned the importance of "education" in the new era: education is an important cornerstone of national rejuvenation and social progress, a moral and political project that will benefit both the present and future generations, and a major project for the country and the Party. The primary problem and fundamental task of education is what kind of people to train. Immediately following this question, he mentioned the requirements of training builders and successors for the socialist: to make students aim big and firmly believe in beliefs, to strengthen students' patriotism and impart knowledge on them, to cultivate their morality and fighting spirit, to enhance the comprehensive quality and build up their bodily health, to comprehensively improve the aesthetic education and carry forward the spirit of labor amid students.

Zhang Huifeng said, to adhere to the "moral education" evaluation orientation, we should overcome the old habits of only valuing scores, entrance, diploma, academic papers and titles. Instead, we should stick to the "nine adherences". In the end, Zhang encouraged the students to strive to be national role models and pillars of society with regard to the aspects of "patriotism, persistance, truism, knowledge and action".

Written by: Wu Zhe, Wen Yingying

Pictured by: Wang Daosheng

Editor: Wen Yingying, Sun Juan, Yu Xiangjun

Tutored by: Sun Quan

Translator: Zhang Ying