Source: News Center
Written by: News Center
Translated by: YANG Qing

On November 10th, a sunny and warm day, Honglok Campus was imbued with laughter everywhere. On the Great Central Lawn in front of the Swasey Hall, more than 1,600 alumni who were admitted into SYSU in 1977, 1978, 1982 and 1988, were wearing the special-made academic robes and having a special "degree ceremony". It is not only the scene of 2012 Alumni Reunion Day, but also the official launching of the 90th anniversary celebrations of Sun Yat-sen University.

In 2008, SYSU officially established the Alumni Reunion Day and announced that on the second Saturday in November every year it would invite alumni from home and abroad back to school for celebrations and hold a special ceremony for the students who entered or graduated from the university 10 (20, 30…) years ago. This year coincides with the 30th anniversary of graduation of the alumni who entered the university in 1977 and 1978, so SYSU held a “degree ceremony” similar to the “degree granting ceremony” for current graduates and invited the alumni of 1982 and 1988 to participate in the activities together, enabling the alumni to re-experience the excitement of graduation and the solemnity and sacredness of the degree granting ceremony.

Xu Ningsheng, President of SYSU and President of Sun Yat-sen University Alumni Association, Yu Shiyou, Deputy Secretary and Secretary of Discipline Inspection Commission, teacher representatives including Huang Tianji, Feng Dawen, Peng Kunren, Xiao Jiewen, Chen Guoqiang, Li Yuesheng, Li Liangde, Shi Kailiang, Yuan Jiayi, Lü Cuiling, Yao Qingda, Liang Biqi, Chen Junhe, Chen Shujian and You Liming, alumni representatives including Cai Dongshi, Chen Pingyuan and Chen Xiaoqi, leaders of functional departments, heads of schools and departments, and supervisor representatives attended the launching ceremony. The ceremony was hosted by Li Ping, Deputy Secretary of SYSU Party Committee and Executive Vice President of Sun Yat-sen University Alumni Association.

President Xu Ningsheng participated in the activity of Alumni Reunion Day as a physics graduate of 1977. On behalf of the University he extended warm welcome to alumni from home and abroad who gathered together in Kangle Yuan. President Xu Ningsheng said that it was significant to launch the 90th anniversary celebrations on such a special day. He introduced the new opportunities the University had faced in recent years, hoped that the alumni would continue to support the development of their alma mater and cordially invited them to the grand gathering in two years.

Cai Dongsheng, a Chinese graduate of 1977, gave a speech to express his deep affection for the alma mater as an alumni representative. He interpreted the sense of pride, success and happiness that the four glittering and meaningful characters “Zhong Da Xiao You” (the alumni of SYSU) had brought to him and expressed his deep gratitude for the alma mater. He said excitedly that since the fate would bestow the title "Zhong Da Xiao You” (the alumni of SYSU) on us only once, we could choose nothing but to cherish and value it. At this moment, perhaps only three shortest sentences could express the deepest voice of the alumni --- “I love my alma mater. I love my teachers. I love the alumni of SYSU.”
Xu Ningsheng, President of SYSU, Yu Shiyou, Deputy Secretary and Secretary of Discipline Inspection Commission, Li Ping, Deputy Secretary of SYSU Party Committee, Lei Shangbin, Honorary President for Life of the Alumni Association of Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Science on East Coast, U.S., Huang Duanyi, President of the Alumni Association in Toronto, Canada, Chen Pingyuan, President of the Alumni Association in Beijing, Guan Weide, Vice President of the Alumni Association in Australia, Gao Wen, former President of the Alumni Association on East Coast, U.S., Jin Chaohong, Vice President of the Alumni Association in Hong Kong, Wang Jianmao, Vice President of the Alumni Association in Shanghai, and teacher representatives launched the 90th anniversary celebrations of SYSU together.

The alumni of 1977 and 1978, Li Dongling, Champion of the 2012 Venus Singing Contest, and Cao Xuemei, Champion of the "Charming Singers” campus singing competition in Guangdong College Students Art Festival, respectively sang the songs--- "Surf sings as ever", "Cheer for Today" and "Embrace Tomorrow", written by Chen Xiaoqi, a leading figure in Chinese contemporary pop music "and an alumnus of 1978 from the Department of Chinese at SYSU. These three songs happened to string “yesterday-today-tomorrow” together as a timeline and expressed the implied meaning that the alumni of 1977 and 1978 recalled “yesterday”, the current students embraced “today” and the alumni and students looked forward to “tomorrow” together.

It is reported that Chen Xiaoqi’s “Australia- New Zealand Music Tour”, the first big event after the launching of the 90th anniversary celebrations, will be held in the first quarter of next year.