On Oct. 17, 2019, we are about to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of Nankai University. Throughout a century, a host of talents encounter with Nankai, where they spend their prime youth or meet a NKer in their life-long journey. Write your stories happened between you and Nankai University! Let it be part of Nankai University.
Four Seasons in Nankai University
Kong Yankun
In Nankai University, beautiful scenery and fair stories unfold themselves in four seasons.
As it is yet cold, you are still greeted with the blooming spring flowers. Beside Xinkai Lake, before the chemistry building and on the Jingye Square, the benign figures of flower buds flash before your eyes. White jasmines are shimmering in the heave of the Xinkai Lake, the yellow color melting into the emerald. Another different splendid view! It is the hint of Spring. The peach trees, before the Jingye Square, start to flourish, and all of a sudden, the wood is covered with a pool of pink, appealing to the students and teachers. Standing under the peach trees for a while and a glimpse of the blossoms immediately give you a sense of loveliness and vigor of lives. If a book from the library to your liking happens to be with you, a pause for reading under the peach tree will bring you into the sea of knowledge when the sweet-scented blossoms come out. Early in the morning, it will be delightful the whole day when one begins his morning reading by the first ray of sunlight under the peach tree. Unfortunately, accompanied by Pro. Cui Lifang in the English Department, we were totally surrounded with the beauty of nature and the poetic aestheticism in the lesson of English Poetry Appreciation beside the peach wood.
The Great Central Road beyond the Second Main Building, when summer comes, is a perfect place for the visitors to have the shadows of the exuberant trees. Going for a walk on the road, you are likely to encounter the blossoming Orgchophragmus violaceus beneath the trees. Therefore, I prefer, taking a few more steps, to head off to the great central road for the gorgeous scenery, and then step into the second main building for self-study. It is relaxing to study here, because the serene room, after a regular visit to the whole building, grants me a half day for reading. At rest, out of the window, I look around and wonder whether one more leave is added. Occasionally, the trees and flowers become my audience when I read out, by the window, the materials and passages for classes.
In summer days, the most eye-catching scenery is the lotus above the Mati Lake, which usually reminds me of that in my hometown--Daming Lake. Like the magnificent fairies, the lotuses blossom after a year’s struggling growth. The virtues of lotuses are already put into play in the “Like Lotus Saying”. But what impressed me most is not just the lotuses themselves, but their persistent striving for growth.
The golden yellow leaves drift from the branch to the ground. The CFL becomes a treasure dotted with golden leaves, frequented by the white cat lying at the gate of the CFL. The lazy cat is lying there in a sloppy autumn afternoon. However, Autumn is still a season for harvest. It is in the rooms of the CFL that I have taken the lessons given by Pro. Hu Cui’e, Wang Hongyin, Lu Shisheng and Su jianhua. In the lecture hall and Liangzheng Hall, I am fortunate to have wonderful and inspiring lectures given by famous scholars that broad my horizon. In a cool autumn day, you are likely, walking in the school, to wonder whether there is a lotus foot on the lotus beneath the Mati Lake, or the fish is big and fat, or what new knowledge you have acquired before. When an unexpected rain arrives, it’s a good chance to take a stroll in rain, smell the fresh air or hold a book to read before the table with the cracking of the rain.
As the winter comes, nothing is more fascinating than the arrival of a heavy snow. If it is a fine day, the anticipation for snow is all the more stronger. While the flying snowflakes haveputheavy coatsonthewhole university, the ground is dotted with the footprints of birds and cats. Supposing that there is no sign of walking, you are able to draw freely the pictures at your will with your feet. The just meal time when you stay out in the cold for long, the canteen is the optimal place for warming up. Whether the spicy and tasty Malatang ( small hot-pot) in the first canteen , or the steaming hot Yangtang ( soup made of sheep ) with chopped green onion floating on the surface in the second canteen, or the fresh home style dishes in the third canteen will keep both your stomach and heart warm.
Until now, I have spent more than 5 years in Nankai. But I am assuredly unwilling to leave. After all, what is the most beautiful in the world is the four seasons in Nankai University.
(by the graduate of the Foreign Language and Literature 2017 in Nankai University)
