Speech by Professor Yangsheng Xu, President of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen,

　　Dear entering students, colleagues, families, and friends,

　　Good morning and welcome to all! Today we are celebrating the beginning of an important journey for our 2024 incoming students. They are 1566 undergraduate students from 21 domestic provinces and cities along with students admitted for the first time from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, 240 international students from 16 countries and regions, 133 exchange students from 44 global partner universities, and 2097 master’s and doctoral students, who are now separately in the University Sports Hall, let’s give them a big applause. On behalf of all faculty, staff, and students, let me welcome you to join the CUHK-Shenzhen family. I also want to thank Prof Rocky Tuan, Prof. Aaron Ciechanover, Prof. Arieh Warshel for their excellent speeches, which are very enlightening and inspiring.

　　Dear students, you have been brought here not only by academic excellence, but also by a global vision and a spirit for innovation. You have each arrived here with unique stories to share, perspectives to inspire, talents and potentials to enrich the campus, dreams and aspirations to be developed and fulfilled. Today your stories intersect with the history of CUHK-Shenzhen, and I trust this will be the beginning of many inspiring and empowering stories and experiences.

　　今年是香港中文大学(深圳)建校十周年，三月份的时候，我们在这里，在礼文堂举行了隆重的庆祝典礼，向建校以来一直帮助和支持我们的社会各界朋友汇报办学的成果，分享成功的喜悦。正如我在校庆大会上曾感叹的，奋斗的十年，每一天都显得格外漫长，而这十年却又过得这么快！(The days are long, and a decade is so short!)这十年里，我们从无到有，从一片荒芜的空地和几幢废弃的厂房，到如今风光秀丽、蓬勃发展的万人校园；从“黄埔一期”经管学院的286名新生，到如今七所学院、七所书院，来自世界各地的本、硕、博在校生超过11000人；就在本月，我们的第七所学院——公共政策学院也刚刚诞生……

　　看着这所大学日新月异的变化，我要感谢深港两地政府、大学理事会、香港中文大学以及社会各界对学校的大力支持，同时也要感谢我们的家长和同学对学校的支持与热爱！是你们的信任和支持成就了这所大学的飞速成长与发展，也令我们更感责任重大！今天，我知道有许多的家长也来到现场见证孩子重要的人生时刻，也有很多家长在线上观礼，在这里我希望请在座的同学们为我们的家长鼓掌，感谢他们一直以来的陪伴与支持，感谢他们为你的成长所做出的奉献！谢谢各位家长朋友！

　　同学们，你们在今年入学，也具有十分特别的意义。一方面，你们恰好见证与分享了这所大学办学十年的成果；另一方面，你们将肩负承前启后的使命，将与这所大学一起开启下一个十年的崭新篇章。

　　Dear students, I hope over the past week you’ve had time to settle in, to learn your way around the campus and the local area, to explore a little, and that you’ve begun to feel at home at CUHK-Shenzhen. No matter where you come from or in what ways you may feel different from everybody else, please remember that this is your home, and you belong here. I can’t wait to see you bond with this place and its people and to find your role here. And if you don’t find one ready for you, you can create one! You will find that this is part of the excellent CUHK-Shenzhen tradition.

　　Beginning university life marks an important threshold. In many ways, you are now taking the steering wheel in your own hands. There is no set model to follow, though there are many good examples to inspire. I hope you will experience the joy of intellectual inquiry driven by the curiosity to learn; I hope you will know the thrill that empowers the soul in your quest for truth. I also want you to be prepared that the academic climb can be steep and, at times, daunting. But in pursuing this rigorous journey with courage, perseverance, and honesty, you will discover strengths you never knew you had.

　　Entering university means taking a significant step toward becoming an engaged and informed member of the larger society. Our university is not an ivory tower. It is a place to expand your understanding of the world, to explore diverse perspectives and ideas that challenge your assumptions and broaden your worldview. You will begin to see that your actions and decisions may influence people and things around you, and university years should be a time you seriously reflect on the ways in which you can connect with and contribute meaningfully to humanity and the world in large.

　　同学们，今天我想和大家来探讨一下，我们来大学是来做什么的呢？有同学会说，是来学知识的。学知识固然没错，大学可以帮助你接触到世界上最前沿的知识与技术发展，但如果只是来学知识，我们未必需要到大学来，上网课也是可以的，现在的网课教学也很发达，何况知识是无穷尽的，如果学知识需要来上大学，那大学以后就不必学了吗？

　　有同学会说，来大学是为了学技能。当然也没错，无论是分析能力、逻辑思辨能力、写作能力、语言能力等等，各方面的能力都是非常重要的，但如果在人工智能的背景下来看待这个问题，我们今天在大学所学到的技能，明天有可能远远达不到广泛应用于社会的智能机器的水平。技能是重要的，但同学们，人生就像航海，就像驾驶一条航行于汪洋大海上的船，驾驶船的技术固然重要，但如果船本身不停地在漏水的话，纵使你有再高的技术也无法施展，永远记住，船本身比驾驶技术要重要得多。

　　也会有人说，我们来大学是为了研究世界的。当然，这个世界上有许多人在研究方方面面各个领域的问题，像是生物问题、金融问题、能源问题、世界发展问题等等，我们每天在网上、在媒体上看到的都是这些讯息。是的，我们来上大学是要研究世界的，但研究世界是需要认知基础的，当你只懂得加法减法，你能够研究乘法除法吗？

　　因此，今天我想告诉大家的是，你到这里来上大学，不仅仅是来获取知识，不仅仅是来掌握技能，也不仅仅是来研究世界的，你是来提升自己的，我希望在这四年里，无论你的智力、情商、领导力、想象力和创造力都能有一个巨大的飞跃。我常常说招收了一群优秀的学生不是我们的目的，我们的目的是希望我们的学生在四年后能有一个巨大的增值，这个增值在数学上常常叫Δ(delta)。

　　那如何来做到这个Δ呢？我为什么要在这里讲这个问题呢？现在很多时候，我们总是过于关注外部世界，受到外部世界的牵引与影响，而忽略了自我的探索与成长。我们应该更多地关注自己的内心，关注自己的身体，关注自身的成长，提升自我。你是你自己最重要的财富和资源，在你的一生里，也只有这一个“自己”。不要总是把注意力过多地放在外面，在意别人如何评价自己，从别人的评价中来找寻自己的定位，来建立自己的价值，我们有的同学甚至会从别人的幸福中来找到自己的不幸，又从别人的不幸中找到自己的幸福，这不是一个有自信的人生态度。

　　我希望大家来到大学之后，能够通过学校、学院、书院各种不同的活动来找到自己。我们要在拥挤的世界里找到自己，在拥挤的自己里找到世界，怎么说呢？在拥挤的世界里找到自己，你就有“自信；在拥挤的自己里找到世界，你就有“胸襟”！这样，一步一步地去找，去发现自我，去强健自我，去完善自我，慢慢地你会找到隐藏在自己身上的特殊使命和这一生注定要做的事情。同时有强大的自信和坚忍不拔的意志去完成这个使命。同学们，这就是我认为你在这个大学里最应该做的事情。

　　Dear students, a university education can be defined by many things. People will tell you it’s the GPA that shows on your transcript, the awards you win, the offers you receive, your academic discoveries, your involvement in student activities, volunteering and social services, the friendships you form… In a world where online resources are unlimited and AI outperforms humanity in most of our daily needed skills, the knowledge you earn and the skills you acquire over the next few years won’t decide how successful your university education is. Not even what research area you choose to engage in and how much you contribute to creating new knowledge. Ultimately you are here to improve yourselves, and the only way to achieve this is through self-discovery and world-discovery which are two complementary processes. The success of your university education will NOT be determined by where you start or where you end up. It will be determined by the extent of your growth, your ‘delta’, I just mentioned. I hope your years here will be a journey of growth — intellectually, emotionally, imaginatively, and creatively.

　　Dear entering students, we are happy and proud of your arrival here today, and I can’t wait to see how much prouder you will make us in the years to come.

　　Thank you, and best wishes to all!