On June 29th, the 2023 Graduation Ceremony of the School of Economics and Management (SEM) at Tongji University was successfully held at the Tongji 129 Auditorium.

Xu Yongming, an alumnus (Bachelor’s in Construction Project Management, Class of 1981; Ph.D. in Business Management, Class of 2009), Tongji University Trustee, President of the Shanghai Tongji University Alumni Association, Vice President of the SEM Alumni Association, and Director of Shanghai Airport DIMENSION Momentum Advertising Co., Ltd., delivered a speech as the alumni representative.

In his speech, themed “A Great Era,” Xu Yongming reflected on encountering his generation’s “great era” – the era of China’s modernization and development awakening – upon his graduation. He noted that today’s graduates are now entering their own “great era” – the era of high-quality development in Chinese modernization.

Xu Yongming encouraged the graduates, emphasizing that while times change, every era presents its own challenges and opportunities. Hope the graduates always hold onto “poetry and distant horizons,” integrating personal ideals and aspirations into the development of the times and the modernization and progress of the motherland, thereby achieving personal growth and value.

Full Text of the Speech:

Respected President Lei, Party Secretary Shi, Dean Xie, esteemed leaders, faculty members, and fellow students:

Good afternoon!

First, I must thank the School for giving me this opportunity to attend your graduation ceremony and share this wonderful moment with you.

I am an alumnus from the Class of ‘81 in Construction Management’. The vibrant atmosphere here today fills me with excitement, reminding me of the great era when I enrolled and graduated.

What constitutes a great era? It is when you are young and encounter an era of transformation. That is a great era. Our great era was when China’s economy began to awaken and develop, an era of enlightenment for modernization and development. When we were young, we met such a transformative time.

Today, you too have arrived at a great era – an era where a grown-up China continues its high-quality development and modernization. You are young, encountering a great era equally filled with transformation, challenges, and opportunities.

I believe every young person who immerses themselves in the torrent of the nation’s development strategy will surely feel the greatness of this era, just as we did back then. We knew we were in a transformative time, like hearing the starter’s pistol without being entirely sure of our track. Though we had nothing then, we were full of passion for the future. With virtually no money, we could still head south to Shenzhen or even cross oceans, much like the aspiring youth who went to Yanan in earlier times. Shenzhen then was not the bustling metropolis it is now; it was a small fishing village. When we went abroad, we carried $40, a suitcase of books and clothes – including a large English-Chinese dictionary. The nation’s development and transformation needed knowledgeable and talented university students, but even more so, it needed young people with ideals and aspirations.

Everything has its intrinsic nature, ultimately not for others.

Let us not easily abandon the poetry and distant horizons in our hearts, nor be confined by society’s singular or even vulgar reference systems. A person’s success should not be measured by wealth or official position; it should come from self-evaluation. Fully realizing one’s inner self is the true standard of success.

Let us embrace a little more romance and a little less anxiety. As long as we keep the nation’s grand vision in mind, shoulder our responsibilities bravely, and regard the modernization and development of our motherland as our unshirkable duty, our lives will be filled with boundless opportunities.

A simple analysis of the five defining features of Chinese modernization will make you strongly agree with my perspective.

Finally, I wish you all a splendid future. May you passionately embrace this era of great transformation with your youth and usher in an even greater new era. Thank you!