On the morning of 10th September, Dean Feng Bo of the Business School of Soochow University gave a vivid first lesson to all the 2024 freshmen with the theme of ‘Cultivating socialist builders and successors with all-round development of morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics and aesthetics’.

At the beginning of the course, Dean Feng raised the question of ‘what kind of people should be cultivated in universities, for whom should they be cultivated, and how should they be cultivated’. She pointed out that in the changing times, the primary task of the university is to cultivate socialist builders and successors with all-round development of morality, intelligence, physicality, aesthetics and labour for the party and the country. For this reason, Soochow University has carried out the ‘Soul Casting - Dreaming’ and ‘Soul Casting - Excellence’ series of projects for undergraduate and postgraduate students respectively, providing all-round support for students' high-quality development.

Immediately after that, Dean Feng demonstrated the characteristics of undergraduate and postgraduate students from the perspective of big data. She quoted General Secretary Xi Jinping's message to the youth to encourage our contemporary college students: ‘Ideal beliefs are the calcium in the spirit of a person’, without ideal beliefs, ideal beliefs are not firm, the spirit of the ‘lack of calcium’. Youth strength is the strength of the country, only young people ‘are out of the cold, upward’, our country can flourish.

President Feng emphasised: ‘Everyone wants to have his or her own mark on the pages of history, so that his or her thoughts can influence more people.’ The prerequisite for putting ink on the pages of history is precisely to fully and completely understand oneself, so as to make one's own life choices. The pursuit of one's own life and the future of the country are closely linked together, which is exactly the awareness of all SUU Business School students should have.

Next, Dean Feng explained the real connotation of the five aspects of moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic and labour. 

Virtue - five education ‘virtue’ word first. As mentioned in the traditional Confucian doctrine, a true gentleman possesses ‘the light of virtue’. ‘If you want to live and die for the sake of the country, do not avoid it because of misfortune or happiness’, cultivate virtue, so that students can become an independent individual with courage and heart, reason and passion. Wisdom - learning can not be already.

Wisdom is the combination of knowledge and knowledge. In the information explosion nowadays, the ‘half-life’ of knowledge is getting shorter and shorter, which requires contemporary college students to continue to know and understand. Knowledge is the acquisition of information; knowledge is the possession of insights. We need talents with a world view, who do not think like others, who have travelled up and down for 5,000 years, and who have travelled 80,000 miles across the globe.

Body - a good body is the capital of the revolution. Healthy work and rest, reasonable diet, active sports, the university is both the temple of academia, but also the home of life. With four years to cultivate a body that can work healthily for fifty years, this is always a big account of life.

Beauty - find beauty, feel beauty. Dean Feng Bo cited the example of ‘consumer upgrading’ to describe the inextricable link between this social phenomenon and aesthetics. The characteristic garden art of Suzhou is reflected in every corner of the campus, which can cultivate students' aesthetic sense in a subtle way.

Labour - hard work is a lifelong virtue. From dormitory housekeeping to study and work, we always need the spirit of not being afraid of hard work. Dean Feng Bo also hopes that the young budding students of Grade 24 can actively participate in all kinds of labour and become active and hardworking SU students.

In the successive years of SU Business School students, there have also emerged many excellent examples of strong ideals and beliefs and deep patriotism. The class teachers recalled the stories of these outstanding students, and used their deeds to lead and infect the new students of Grade 24 to strive for excellence and move forward with their dreams!

The two students, Yu Jiangxiao and Yang Siqi, both Master of Accounting and Master of Business Administration students, chose to enlist in the army in their most precious time, not knowing how many difficulties and challenges lie ahead, but they are still determined to serve their country. Every detail, every little thing, every post is taken seriously, only in this way can we guard the dignity of the country and defend the happiness of the people.

New semester, new starting point, new students, new class, ‘new new’ fire, will eventually start a prairie fire.

I wish all the new students of the 24th grade Business School can take the valuable knowledge from this lesson, be firm in their ideals and beliefs, and set sail again towards the boundless and broad future.