Step back in the face of interests, Tsinghua President sends a message to graduates: Take a step forward in the face of responsibility, happiness | Wang Xiqin | Graduates | Meaning | Life | Life | Emotions | Reason
On site of the 2023 undergraduate graduation ceremony at Tsinghua University. All images in this article are provided by Tsinghua University
On June 24th, the 2023 undergraduate graduation ceremony of Tsinghua University was held. Pengpai News learned from Tsinghua that after deliberation at the Tsinghua University Affairs Conference, 3511 undergraduate students from the 2023 cohort have been approved to graduate. After deliberation and approval by the Tsinghua Degree Evaluation Committee, it has been decided to award bachelor's degrees to 3618 students from the 2023 cohort. In addition, it has been decided to award a second bachelor's degree to 81 students and a minor bachelor's degree to 292 students.
Graduates take a group photo as a souvenir.
At the graduation ceremony, Tsinghua University President Wang Xiqin spoke in a speech titled "Sensitivity to Emotions and Good Use of Reason", stating that emotions enable us to keenly perceive this colorful world, and reason enables us to have a clear understanding of this complex world. A life without emotions is dull and uninteresting, and a life without reason is chaotic and disorderly. The interaction between emotions and reason is the foundation for building a positive human nature. Using emotions to stimulate rational intelligence can make people full of vitality and not hesitate, while using reason to control emotions can help people maintain composure and not exceed limits. We need to learn to be sensitive to emotions, make good use of reason, and handle relationships with ourselves, others, and nature well.
Tsinghua President Wang Xiqin.
"Logic is the foundation of understanding," said Wang Xiqin. "Logic is the foundation of reason, helping us identify patterns and trends from existing knowledge, extract essence and characteristics from complex phenomena, and grasp the laws of development of things.".
He hopes that graduates can master the method of seeking truth from facts, guide emotions with reason, make peace with emotions, analyze themselves more thoroughly, have a clearer understanding of themselves, accurately grasp their own advantages, accept their own shortcomings calmly, do not feel inferior, anxious, arrogant or paranoid, and always maintain a resilient willpower and a high mental state.
"Altruism is the source of happiness." Wang Xiqin said that everyone is an independent individual with their own interests, but overly focusing on personal interests will only make a person worry about gains and losses, haggle over every detail, and even do things that harm others and are not beneficial to oneself. Various troubles and anxieties will also come with them and cannot be shaken away. To dispel these negative emotions, it is necessary to step out of the small realm of self and make good use of the great wisdom of altruism.
Wang Xiqin hopes that graduates will adhere to the principle of putting the people first, have a "great country" in mind, take a step forward in the face of responsibility, take a step back in the face of interests, and shine with youthful brilliance in the cause of serving the country and the people.
"Life is the mother of meaning." Wang Xiqin pointed out that modern society brings people rich material wealth, but it easily makes people feel powerless and empty; Granting people full personal freedom can easily lead them to the loneliness of drifting and the loss of meaning. Many people are thinking about the meaning of living and often get confused about it. We must see that life is a miracle of nature, arising from countless coincidences and containing infinite possibilities. Life itself has meaning, and without it, there can be no meaning. We should cherish every moment of life experience and appreciate the uniqueness and greatness of life.
Wang Xiqin hopes that graduates will adhere to the principle of putting life first, revere the power of life, respect the laws of nature, establish a sense of community between humans and nature, expand the pattern of life, and achieve greater meaning in life.
The following is the full speech of Tsinghua President Wang Xiqin at the undergraduate graduation ceremony:
Dear classmates, teachers, distinguished guests, family and friends:
Today, we celebrate the graduation of over 3000 undergraduate students together. On behalf of the school, I extend warm congratulations to my classmates and your relatives and friends! Sincere thanks to the teachers who have carefully trained you!
The college years of the 2023 graduates are quite special. In the past few years, the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the achievement of the first centenary goal, the successful hosting of the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics, and the smooth transition of epidemic prevention and control have all been milestone moments. They have taught us to unite as one, to not forget our original aspiration, to feel that unity is strength, to understand that perseverance is victory, and to enhance our confidence as Chinese people. However, the unprecedented changes and the interweaving of the century long pandemic, coupled with the accelerated breakthroughs in new technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum information, have also made the world full of uncertainty. Many emotional elements have been added between countries and people, and the world calls for rationality and order.
We often get caught up in the entanglement between emotions and reason, and constantly grow and mature in the harmony between emotions and reason. Emotions enable us to keenly perceive this colorful world, while reason enables us to have a clear understanding of this complex world. A life without emotions is dull and uninteresting, and a life without reason is chaotic and disorderly. The interaction between emotions and reason is the foundation for building a positive human nature. Using emotions to stimulate rational intelligence can make people full of vitality and not hesitate, while using reason to control emotions can help people maintain composure and not exceed limits. We need to learn to be sensitive to emotions, make good use of reason, and handle relationships with ourselves, others, and nature well.
Logic is the foundation of understanding. By applying logic, we can establish a clear thinking framework, integrate different information together, form organized judgments and reasoning, and engage in clear thinking and expression. Without logic, one cannot explain the reason clearly and will fall into a state of lost or chaotic thinking. Logic is the foundation of reason, helping us identify patterns and trends from existing knowledge, extract essence and features from complex phenomena, and grasp the laws of development of things. Our former president, Mei Yiqi, wrote in "A Brief Explanation of the University": "The spirit of scholarship and the methods of thinking, although completely belonging to the psychological life of reason, are actually closely related to the strength of will and the stability of emotions." "Will needs to be exercised, and emotions need to be regulated.". Rationality based on logic is the filter, stabilizer, and transformer of emotions. It helps people filter out excessive emotional reactions, detach themselves from emotional impulses, calmly contemplate the reasons behind them, discover positive factors in negative emotions, and transform them into a driving force for rejuvenation, leading to a state of enlightenment. Classmates, I hope you can master the thinking method of seeking truth from facts, guide emotions with reason, make peace with emotions, analyze yourself more thoroughly, have a clearer understanding of yourself, accurately grasp your own advantages, accept your own shortcomings calmly, do not feel inferior, anxious, arrogant or paranoid, and always maintain a resilient willpower and a high mental state.
Altruism is the source of happiness. Everyone is an independent individual with their own interests, but overly focusing on personal interests will only make a person worry about gains and losses, haggle over every detail, and even do things that harm others but are not beneficial to oneself. Various troubles and anxieties will also come with them and cannot be ignored. To dispel these negative emotions, it is necessary to step out of the small realm of self and make good use of the great wisdom of altruism. Confucius said, "If one desires to establish oneself and become a person, then one desires to reach and become a person.". When the traffic is congested at the intersection, if everyone wants to take the lead and not give way to each other, but instead cannot leave; If everyone understands each other and passes in an orderly manner, traffic will actually be smooth. Altruism is not only the way of a gentleman, but also a rational action. It makes society beautiful, warms the world, brings inner happiness, and enriches life. It is better to enjoy music alone than to enjoy music together. Unifying personal interests with the fundamental interests of the broadest masses of the people is greater happiness. Professor Zhao Jiahe, from the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University, devoted his entire life to the cause of education in China. He has been teaching for 43 years and has trained many outstanding talents for the country. After retirement, he donated all his savings from decades of frugality to support over 3000 students from economically disadvantaged families in impoverished areas to complete their high school education. But he is very stingy with himself, wearing a synthetic sweater for over a decade, and even if he suffers from cancer, he is reluctant to take imported medicine. He remained anonymous and silently devoted himself until the last moment of his life. His deeds were not known until four years after his death. Teacher Zhao's life is happy. He is like a charcoal fire, burning himself, warming others, illuminating the path of students, and lighting up the lamp of happiness for thousands of households. Classmates, I hope you adhere to the principle of putting the people first, have a broad mind of "the greatness of the country", take a step forward in the face of responsibility, take a step back in the face of interests, and shine with youthful brilliance in the cause of serving the country and the people.
Life is the mother of meaning. Modern society brings people abundant material wealth, but it can easily make people feel powerless and empty; Granting people full personal freedom can easily lead them to the loneliness of drifting and the loss of meaning. Many people are thinking about the meaning of living and often get confused about it. We must see that life is a miracle of nature, arising from countless coincidences and containing infinite possibilities. Life itself has meaning, and without it, there can be no meaning. We should cherish every moment of life experience and appreciate the uniqueness and greatness of life. Whether it is the melancholy of "fallen leaves, trees from a foreign land, lonely nights with cold lamps", or the contentment of "geese leading sorrowful hearts away, mountains carrying a good moon"; Whether it is the loneliness of "floating like a sand gull in heaven and earth" or the surprise of "meeting occasionally after a long separation, it is suspected to be in a dream", they will enrich our life experience and help us understand the true meaning of life more deeply. Despite the development of human science and technology to this day, we have not yet discovered any extraterrestrial life. Cherishing and caring for the Earth, respecting and treating life kindly are the rational choices of humanity. In the turbulent river of time and in the vast space of the Earth, countless lives work together to create the past, present, and future of this wonderful world. Classmates, I hope you adhere to the principle of putting life first, revere the power of life, respect the laws of nature, establish a sense of community between humans and nature, expand the pattern of life, and achieve greater meaning in life.
You are the first batch of undergraduate graduates from Tsinghua University after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, born at the right time and shouldering heavy responsibilities. I hope that you will be sensitive to emotions, make good use of your reason, devote yourself to the hot practice of building a socialist modern country in an all-round way with firm confidence, full of enthusiasm and vigorous attitude, and achieve wonderful life in the magnificent journey of comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with Chinese path to modernization!
Wishing everyone a happy graduation!
