On October 13, Alumni Association of College of Foreign Language in Nankai Univeristy was formally established. Yang Qingshan, secretary of the Party Committee of Nankai University, met with representatives of foreign language alumni, including English major alumni of 1958, China's senior diplomat Lu Congmin, English major alumni of 1958, former General Staff of the PLA Hou Gang, Hou Gang, 1972 English major alumni, Wang Lili, former vice president of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. Zhu Guanglei, Vice President of Nankai University and Executive Vice President of Nankai Alumni Association, attended the inaugural meeting of Nankai Foreign Language Alumni Association.
Yang Qingshan expressed his gratitude to Alumnus of Nankai College of Foreign Language for their long-term interest in supporting the development of their alma mater and congratulated the establishment of Alumni Association of College of Foreign Language. He said that in the past 100 years, Nankai University has always adhered to the glorious tradition of patriotism and dedication, the spirit of the school motto “dedication to the public interest, strive for progress with each passing day”, and strives to cultivate talents for the country's prosperity and national rejuvenation, and has won highly affirmation and support from the party and the state. The establishment of a school for 100 years is a major opportunity for the development of Nankai. It is hoped that the majority of foreign language alumnus will continue to support the development of their alma mater and jointly promote the pioneering new century and new glory.
Lv Congmin said that Nankai spirit, Nankai character and Nankai culture have cultivated generations of young students and become a valuable source of wealth and motivation in their lives. The outstanding alumni represented by Premier Zhou Enlai are models for all Nankai people to learn from. As a Nankai-er, they would consciously demand themselves with higher standards by following the example of the Nankai sages and seniors and work hard to do credit to Alma Mater. The Alumni Association of College of Foreign Language in Nankai University is a bridge which links all alumni together and links the alumni and the Alma Mater together. Based on the common specialty and knowledge system, everyone is more energetic and cohesive. They are eager to establish the Alumni Association so that they could extensively contact alumni and actively cooperate together to contribute more to the Alma Mater.
The inauguration ceremony of the Alumni Association of the College of Foreign Languages was held at the College of Foreign Languages at the Balitai Campus. At the ceremony, Zhu Guanglei and Zou Yujie who is the Party Secretary of the College of Foreign Languages unveiled and awarded the flag to the Alumni Association. Zhu Guanglei, alumni representative Lu Congmin and teacher representative Chang Yaoxin delivered speeches respectively.
Zhu Guanglei said in his speech that the Foreign Languages discipline of Nankai University had a long history as one of the earliest established departments of liberal arts. The establishment of the Alumni Association of the College of Foreign Languages would surely build a broad platform at a new starting point by which the Alma Mater and alumni serve each other and all alumni can help each other. It was hoped that the Alumni Association would inherit the fine traditions of foreign language disciplines, unite the majority of Nankai foreign language people, serve the national cause, and contribute to the development of the alma mater.
Lv Congmin said that alumni are the blood of the Alma Mater, and the Alumni Association is a window to show the image of the country and introduce the Chinese education and Nankai spirit. The education concept of “Justice and Capability” had been advocated and promoted by the Alma Mater since its establishment, so that generations of students have been enhancing their responsibility of serving the country and the people and have been cultivating the innovative spirit and courage to explore and their practical ability to solve problems. What they had gained from the university was not only the knowledge and skills of serving the society, but more importantly, the moral quality of patriotism and serving the people. They were grateful to the cultivation of the Alma Mater, and countless students would benefit from the intangible spiritual wealth of Nankai for the rest of their lives.
Chang Yaoxin said that Nankai was a university with a unique and glorious mission. The foreign language discipline had gone through the same glorious course as Nankai under the guidance of the school motto of “Justice and Capability”. The establishment of the Alumni Association of the College of Foreign Languages had made alumni more clearly aware of their important responsibilities and mission. The students from the Collge were all over the world, working hard for Nankai, for the motherland and for the cause of the party. As a teacher, he felt very proud of his alumni. He hoped that the alumni and the teachers and students of the College of Foreign Languages would jointly contribute wisdom and strength to the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Nankai.
To repay the Alma Mater for its contribution, Zhao Wei, the 1979 alumnus from Japanese major, donated and established the “Zhaowei Scholarship” to reward undergraduates with excellent academic performance in the Japanese department. At the donation ceremony, Zhao Wei submitted a donation check to the College. On behalf of the University, Yan Guodong, Dean of the College of Foreign Languages, presented a donation certificate to Zhao Wei.
On the same day, more than 100 Nankai alumni from home and abroad attended the conference. The representatives from the Nankai Beijing Alumni Association, the Tianjin Alumni Association, the Shanghai Alumni Association, the Alumni Association of Foreign Trade, and the Alumni Association of the College of Tourism and Service Management were present to give congratulations. A congratulation message was sent from the Nankai Alumni Association in America and the Nankai Alumni Association in Japan.
After the inauguration ceremony, the Alumni Association of the College of Foreign Languages held its first congress. The meeting adopted the the Articles of the Alumni Association of the College of Foreign Languages in Nankai University (Revised Draft) and the related thing about its organization and construction.
It is reported that since the establishment of Nankai University in 1919, the Foreign Language discipline has cultivated more than 8,000 foreign language professionals in English, Russian, Japanese, French, German, Spanish, and translation. At present, the Alumni Association of the College of Foreign Languages has contacted more than 4,000 alumni whose influence has spread at home and abroad.
