CUHK-Shenzhen: Boosting Shenzhen’s Innovation Development and Promoting Fine Chinese Culture

Recently, during the inspection in Guangdong, General Secretary Xi Jinping expressed the expectation that college students should concentrate on their studies and become talent who can contribute to the society. The teachers and students of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen are deeply encouraged and have shown the enthusiasm to seize the opportunity of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, so that they can contribute to the reform and opening up of Shenzhen in the new era, and spread the fine traditional Chinese culture all over the world.

Innovative talent for Shenzhen's reform and opening up

Greatly inspired by the important speech of General Secretary Xi Jinping, Prof. Tong Shilu, associate professor at the School of Management and Economics (SME), said that technological innovation is the strategic support for building a modern industrial system while talent is the core of technological innovation. He believes that Shenzhen, as the most important technology innovation city of the Greater Bay Area, has attached great importance to scientific research and talent cultivation.

Guangdong through the development of the Greater Bay Area, Shenzhen will attract more talent from home and abroad. Shenzhen's unprecedented investment in higher education greatly improved the research environment. A large number of outstanding talent have been attracted to Shenzhen to make contribution to the development of Shenzhen. “Many of my colleagues used to work at overseas universities. We returned home because of the increasing demand for talent in the domestic research field."

Professor Tong believed that more and more outstanding talent will gather at Shenzhen, as the government provides higher volume of funding and financial support for research and development. Not only a number of young talent settle down in this city, but also many scholars with high achievements establish their laboratories here, such as the collaboration between Nobel Prize laureates, Turing Awards and Fields Prize winners and CUHK-Shenzhen.

"They are conducting cutting-edge research projects here."

The opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge in October will also further promote regional talent mobility and contribute to the innovation and development in Shenzhen. Zeng Yuchen, an SSE junior of Diligentia College, CUHK-Shenzhen, said: "The opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge marks a further deepening of exchanges between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. As an innovative center of the Greater Bay Area, Shenzhen has provided a good development platform for our generation of young people. We will get more opportunities and a more inclusive development environment when we study and live in such a city that values technology innovation. We should seize these opportunities and contribute to the development of national science and technology innovation.”

Spreading fine traditional Chinese culture

In his speech during the inspection, General Secretary Xi Jinping encouraged students to spread the fine traditional Chinese culture to all parts of the world.

"I am very pleased to hear the speech of the General Secretary, because my classmates and I are already in action", said Huang Jiajun, a Translation junior of HSS and Diligentia College.

Huang has been to Indonesia for a study tour in this summer with the team of CUHK-Shenzhen Student Affairs Office and Social Practice Center to learn about the development of local Chinese education.

"In the half-month survey, we saw that the prosperity of the motherland has brought a Chinese Culture Craze to Indonesia. As a carrier of Chinese culture, the language of Chinese is popular with the local people. Here, we not only met Chinese teachers sent by the Chinese government but also overseas Chinese who have settled in Indonesia for many years and are doing their best to train local Chinese teachers. Through this research trip, I realize that overseas Chinese are also indispensable for the internationalization of Chinese culture. With the efforts of Chinese from home and abroad, we will construct a sound environment for the promotion of Chinese culture and build up a more positive Chinese image."

Except for the research team, there is another volunteer activity to protect water resources in Indonesia organized by the University. Li Yijie, a Translation junior of HSS, joined this team. She exchanged with young students from different countries during the two month in Indonesia, and introduced Chinese culture to them.

Adhering to the motto of The Chinese University of Hong Kong ("To Combine Tradition with Modernity, and Bring together China and the West"), CUHK-Shenzhen always encourages students to appreciate both Chinese and Western culture, learn from the past and the presence and pay equal attention to Arts and Science. Li Yijie said that the University pays great attention to the study of traditional Chinese culture and has opened general education courses such as "In Dialogue with Humanity" and "In Dialogue with Nature" for every student. In this semester, Li Yijie specially took courses such as "Chinese Classics" and "Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Appreciation". Li believes that cross-cultural communication is necessary in the context of globalization, and while appreciating the excellent traditional culture of China, young students should communicate with more overseas students with an open and inclusive attitude so that Chinese culture can really go global.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen highly values international exchanges and global visions. During overseas practice or study, CUHK-Shenzhen students are also expected to assume responsibility for spreading traditional Chinese culture. Currently CUHK-Shenzhen has concluded agreements with more than 70 prestigious universities to jointly nurture undergraduate and post-graduate students. The forms of cooperation are very diverse, including bachelor/master joint degree, joint training programmes, inter-school exchanges, overseas study tours and international summer courses. The proportion of CUHK-Shenzhen students with overseas study experience has exceeded 60%. In the year of 2018 alone, nearly a thousand students of the University went abroad to participate in various academic exchange activities. Mr. Songhao Li of SME (Junior student) and Ms. Yuyang He of SSE (Junior student) were successfully admitted to the Visiting Student Program (VSP) offered by the University of Oxford for 2018/2019 Academic Year. Only 12 students were admitted to this year's VSP.

CUHK-Shenzhen alumna Tinghua Jin is currently pursuing a master's degree in Accounting and Basic Analysis at Columbia University. She said with excitement: "Although I have just been studying in the United States for two months, I have successfully obtained a summer internship in Hong Kong next year from one of the nine major investment banks in the United States. I am very proud of it because it only recruits a dozen in the world. While feeling the internationalization in New York, I also hope that I can spread China's excellent culture through my own efforts and let foreign friends feel the unique charm of China.”

Jin also said: "As one the first batch of bachelor degree graduates of SME and Diligentia College, I am deeply grateful to CUHK-Shenzhen for her cultivation. My ultimate goal is to familiarize myself with the atmosphere of the international financial market, contribute to the development of the Greater Bay Area of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao and to the economic development of the motherland, thus promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”

The teachers and students of CUHK-Shenzhen, though from all corners of the country, will always make joint efforts to serve the country with their wide vision, broad mind and profound knowledge. Their efforts will contribute to the innovation and development of Shenzhen and the spread of excellent traditional Chinese culture all around the world.