To create an interesting soul and an outstanding career, Fudan Principal Jin Li sends a message to freshmen: to break free from the marginal calculation of income
The sunshine is bright and the breeze is gentle. On September 1st, the 2023 student opening ceremony of Fudan University was held on the lawn of Guanghua Building, marking the first time in nearly 20 years that the school has held an outdoor opening ceremony.
"Fuxi" said it won't rain in Shanghai today
This year, a total of 4217 undergraduate students and 11807 graduate students from 80 countries and regions joined the Fudan family. Jin Li, president of Fudan University and academician of the CAS Member, sent a message to the freshmen, taking innovation as the bounden duty and excellence as the goal.
Firstly, we need to cross the gap between disciplines and majors. Recently, there has been a lot of rain in Jiangnan, and many people are worried about holding the opening ceremony outdoors. The Institute of Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Industry Research of Fudan University, in conjunction with the Department of Atmospheric and Marine Sciences, has trained the "Fuxi" meteorological model with 4.5 billion parameters based on its own strongest cloud scientific research and computing platform in domestic universities. This model can successfully predict the global weather in the next 15 days, and each prediction takes less than three seconds.
"Fuxi said it won't rain in Shanghai today." Just as Jin Li finished speaking, laughter and applause rang out in the audience. This is a case of interdisciplinary integration, where each discipline and major can provide different academic perspectives, thinking methods, and research tools. However, solving real-world problems often requires interdisciplinary collaboration. Faced with the rapidly changing complex world and a new round of technological industry revolution, breaking the boundaries of knowledge systems and promoting interdisciplinary integration have become a common trend. Crossing disciplinary boundaries not only requires intersection, but also integration. Intersection is a physical combination, and fusion will cause chemical reactions, create new substances, and produce innovative results.
This year, the school has launched a new "cultural school calendar" to cultivate a fertile ground for innovation and education. For students, they should not be limited by their academic background and engage in various integrated innovation practices. To enhance the initiative of communication in the process of warming up like molecular motion, to increase the probability of thinking collision in the process of boosting, to stimulate infinite possibilities of innovation, and to accumulate deep energy for achieving self level transitions.
Secondly, breaking through the barriers of discovering new knowledge. There are many types of innovation, among which the most fundamental and important is the original innovation with the goal of discovering new knowledge. Discovering new knowledge is the process of breaking through known boundaries and expanding human knowledge boundaries, often divided into two stages. The first step is to propose new questions, think about the correlation between multiple seemingly unrelated things, and discover new connections. The second step is to solve new problems, clarify the causal relationship and underlying theoretical mechanisms of new connections. The better the new problem is raised, the greater the jumping nature of the new relationship, the greater the breakthrough of knowledge boundaries, and the greater the value of innovation.
Fudan University is a university that excels in basic research. The core task of Fudan people in serving the construction of a modern country is to make original innovation at the forefront of the world and play a strategic role in the national innovation system. The competitiveness of various disciplines in the fields of literature, society, science, engineering, and medicine cannot be separated from the original innovation core. The most important learning for students is to learn how to innovate in the original way, to learn how to propose good problems, and to continuously improve their ability to solve problems.
Thirdly, break free from the marginal calculation of returns. From an innovative perspective, the spirit of excellence and refinement are completely different. Refinement often revolves around self-interest, calculating benefits, avoiding risks, and balancing marginal effects; The spirit of excellence is to prioritize the realization of ideals, to make progress without retreat, and to disregard utilitarianism as the pursuit of excellence. On the path of innovation, if one chooses to follow research due to weighing gains and losses, they will lose at the starting line. On the road to success, if one is too concerned about short-term gains and losses and uses precious college time to create a beautiful resume, it will only gradually distance themselves from the spirit of excellence.
Fudan people should possess the qualities of "excellence and fun", pursue outstanding careers, possess interesting souls, and always maintain interest and creativity in their thoughts, knowledge, and life.
Today's China must climb the technological "Mount Everest" to achieve its dream of modernization. For those who aspire to climb Mount Everest, only by being the first without the second, daring to rise from the north slope and walk their own path in China, can they better solve problems. Today's Chinese youth can only achieve true innovation by participating in global competition across all age groups and tracks. To pursue true excellence, one must dare to stand at the endless forefront of science, plant one's own tree with all one's heart in uninhabited areas, rather than just picking the fruits left by others.
Be brave enough to make progress, and also have a soft heart to experience the world
"Young is great!" Chen Shangjun, a senior professor of humanities at Fudan University and dean of Renzhong College, spoke as a teacher representative. "I have been studying and working at Fudan University for 47 years, and I have always felt that Fudan is an open, inclusive, diverse and warm university. In my heart, Fudan is the best university in China. I work very fulfilling every day, grow every day, and gain every day. The only regret is that I grow old unconsciously."
"In recent years, traditional Chinese studies have been very popular. If we were to evaluate Wang Guowei as the first scholar of the 20th century, I believe he was still the one who made comprehensive explorations for the transformation of old studies to new ones." Chen Shangjun said.
Wang Guowei cites three passages of Song poetry in "A Tale of Human Poetry" to describe the three realms experienced by those who have achieved great success in university education. The first paragraph comes from Yan Shu's "The Magpie Treads on a Branch": "Last night, the west wind withered the green tree, and I climbed a tall building alone, gazing at the ends of the earth." This means breaking away from the common sense, transcending the mortal world, or not rushing for quick success and instant benefits, not entangled with daily right and wrong, with a lofty heart, and pursuing eternity. The second paragraph comes from Liu Yong's "Butterfly Loves the Flower": "As the belt widens, one will never regret it. Being worn away by Yi will make one haggard." This is what Mencius said: "It pains one's bones and muscles, it pains one's heart." One must put in hard work, and no one can succeed casually. The third paragraph comes from Xin Qiji's "The Qingyu Case": "He was searched for thousands of times in the crowd. Suddenly, looking back, that person was in a dimly lit place." This is the ultimate solution that is unforgettable and persistent in pursuit, unexpected and reasonable, also known as the "great enlightenment under words" in Zen Buddhism. It is also a moment of realization for many scientists both at home and abroad when they made key breakthroughs.
"I have been studying Tang Dynasty literature for decades, and only once have I reached this feeling, that I suspect Sikong Tu's" Twenty Four Poems "is a fake book with no conclusive evidence. One night, while reading, I suddenly discovered ironclad evidence and was pleasantly surprised. This is a significant discovery that can rewrite the entire history of Chinese literature and literary criticism." Chen Shangjun said.
Chen Shangjun humbly exclaimed that in recent years, he had a rare understanding of Li Bai. When he saw that he had three drafts of "Selected Works" in his youth and had repeatedly revised his surviving poems, he realized that he was a genius and had worked very hard. "I believe that those with exceptional talents can make good use of their talents, work hard, and achieve limitless success. Those with even slight shortcomings should not be discouraged, as hard work can change everything. Of course, learning is hard work." He reminded undergraduate freshmen, "I have learned a lot of deterministic knowledge in middle school. When entering university, please understand that the world is three-dimensional, everything is diverse, and answers and right or wrong are relative. Forget the past and start anew."
Chen Shangjun quoted two paragraphs to encourage his classmates. One is the two private seals of Tan Sitong, a martyr of modern reform, one is brave and progressive, and the other is fragrant and sorrowful, that is, brave and enterprising, and passionate about things. "If the latter sentence is expressed in modern poetry, it means that when you see flowers blooming and falling, do you still have tears, classmates? Students should be brave enough to make progress, and also have a soft heart to experience the world." The second is an inscription by his mentor, Mr. Zhu Dongrun: "Pursue knowledge with the most difficult methods, and understand life from the most resolute direction.".
What kind of Fudan person do you want to be
For 2023 freshmen, what kind of Fudan people do they want to be?
Both parents of undergraduate student Wen Jiazhe from the School of Basic Medicine graduated from Shanghai Medical University, the predecessor of Fudan University Shanghai Medical College. His parents' words and actions planted a seed of medicine in his heart early on. He was once selected for the Shanghai High School Talent Program and participated in a study on the gene regulation mechanism of human gastric cancer with Professor Fudan.
Before entering the ranks of college students, Wen Jiazhe asked himself, "What kind of person do you want to become?"? His answer is to become a responsible person with a sense of mission, and also a selfless contributor regardless of fame or fortune. "I have been warned more than once that the path of medicine is a difficult one, but I believe that if I can alleviate a little pain for others and bring some happiness, my life will be given some meaning." He wished everyone could find their career and direction in life, and be an excellent and interesting Fudan person.
Ye Junjie, a doctoral student from the School of Computer Science and Technology, comes from Shouning County, Fujian Province. He grew up in the mountains and had limited exposure to computers before entering university. When he first enrolled, he couldn't keep up with the pace of his teacher's lectures. "I was not very confident at the time, but the teachers told me that the starting point does not represent the end point, and a zero foundation does not mean that I cannot reach the top. I studied every course diligently, from being a computer novice to gradually establishing my own knowledge system."
Ye Junjie said that by daring to challenge oneself at Fudan, one can constantly approach the limits of their thinking. "There are many uncertainties about the future path of scientific research, but I believe that within the campus of Fudan University, we will definitely gain nourishment, magic, and infinite possibilities to explore ourselves, explore science, and explore the future. Let's be an unrestricted Fudan person together."
Guo Peiqi, an international student from France, is a master's student at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs. In her opinion, Chinese is very interesting, and she chose Fudan because she watched a Chinese TV drama in high school, in which there was a very handsome boy studying at Fudan University. In the future, she wants to engage in Sino French exchange work. "The atmosphere of Fudan University makes me feel very comfortable, and my classmates are also very enthusiastic. I hope to make more friends from all over the world."
