On the afternoon of June 16, FANG Shouen, Secretary of the Party Committee of Tongji University, lectured online the ideological and political education for the graduation season. Within the theme of “blooming the positive energy of youth, uniting the great responsibility of serving the country” and the three key sentences; “praising the patriotic Tongji people”, “gather the Tongji people on the way to struggle” and “blessing the Tongji people who are about to set sail”, he described the mission of Tongji people in the struggle against the pandemic. He also encouraged Tongji graduates to consciously stay close to the nation and share a common destiny with it and its people, energizing the outstanding youth in the pursuit of the Chinese dream! The graduation ideological and political course was presided over by XU Jianping, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Tongji University.
“In the face of the pandemic, we must first give our nationnation a thumbs-up! We must give our Chinese people a thumbs-up! I shall also give our students and our Tongji people a thumbs-up!” At the beginning, FANG Shouen praised the “heroes in harm’s way” who carried the heavy task with the doctors’ benevolence, the “makeshift hospital builders” who lived up to their mission, the “scientific research pioneers” who blazed the trails, the “grassroot models” who ‘who worked on the front line’ and followed through the aspiration’, the patriots who devoted their youth to overcoming hardships, and the “online warriors” who never stopped writing to express their patriotism. He said that in such a special period, Tongji people, although “scattered” in all parts of the nation, remained steadfast among different “battlefields” and had continuously contributed to the prevention and control of the pandemic and social development with the wisdom and strength of Tongji, showing a love of the Tongji people for their family and their country. He hoped graduate students can take this kind of sense and spirit to embark on a new journey!
In the chapter “Tongji People on the Road of Working together”, FANG pointed out that for China, a developing country with 1.4 billion people, it is only by overcoming enormous difficulties that the nation has been able to contain the pandemic in such a short time while also ensuring our people’s basic needs. As pointed out in the Report on the Work of the Government delivered on the National People’s Congress and the Chinese Political Consultative Conference ( NPC & CPPCC ), “our success has come at a great price.” At this time, the students’ reaction would directly determine whether the variable (COVID-19) would be a positive or negative impact on personal development. He hoped that the students could analyze the impact of the pandemic on the world economy dialectically, calmly reflecting on the reshaping of ideas caused by the pandemic, and actively respond to the test of the pandemic on the graduate group.
FANG informed the students that the University is currently continuing to promote the “Student Employment Guidance Project”, including the new “Scientific Research Assistant Program”, to help people find jobs, choose jobs and start businesses by a number of initiatives. These include formulating policies, guiding them through education, honoring them, setting up funds, creating a conducive atmosphere to care for them, continuing to open up and broaden the introduction of graduates to the under-developed western part of China, grass-roots initiatives, and introducing “Four Areas” of employment channels to guide students to the areas of the nation most in need. In particular, he pointed out that in the face of the pandemic and the challenges of life, their choice and action influenced not only their personal future, but also the country’s future. “Tongji students would have a promising future, if we looked for their positions from the perspective of national strategic demand, major regional demands, and the demands of the future instead of just limiting ambitions of ‘high salary, comfortable work and good living conditions’”, he said.
Finally, FANG put forward several hopes for the soon-to-be graduates: firstly, they should embrace ideals, realize lofty aspirations in their dedication to the Party and the people, and channel their devotion to the nation and society; secondly, they should pursue excellence, cultivate the true skills of serving the people, and the ability to promote development, and be socialist builders and successors; and thirdly, they should draw a brilliant future with practical actions.
FANG’s messages to graduates of Tongji University in 2020 are: “Write your paper on the land of your nation” not as a slogan, but something that can be done with practical action! He hoped all the graduates could go to the front line to endure hardship and increase ability, overcome difficulties in important fields and crucial positions, give full play to their talents, and actively embrace the new era! The splendid future of Tongji people would also be written by their practical actions.
The graduation ideological and political course lasted for 45 minutes, and was attended by 124,000 people through the University’s official Bilibili, Tik Tok, Kuaishou, Weibo and other live broadcasting platforms. It evoked enthusiastic comments and interactions.
ZHAO Linping, a graduate from the School of Law who was selected for the class of 2020 as a candidate for urgently needed majors in Sichuan Province, said: “As a graduate who is going to work at the grassroots level in the west, I realize that we are in a great era, providing us with a broad stage to develop ourselves and serve the society. We need to temper our character, increase our ability, develop excellent skills and contribute our youthful strength to the realization of the great cause of a great country.”
ZHANG Mengmeng, who won Pursuit of Excellence Award of Tongji University 2020, said as a graduate from the School of Medicine in 2020, "In FANG's lecture, I saw the responsibility of the younger generation of Tongji. As graduation is around the corner, we must bear in mind the teachings, let the youth shine in the places where our country and people are most needed!"
Source: https://news.tongji.edu.cn/info/1002/74058.htm
