Speech by Yu Minhong at Peking University's 2008 Opening Ceremony

Speech by Yu Minhong at Peking University's 2008 Opening Ceremony

Dear students, leaders:
good morning guys!
I am very pleased that President Xu has given me such a high honor and talked about my experience at Peking University.
It can be said that Peking University has changed my life. It has promoted my own place and made me move from a rural child to the world. It is no exaggeration to say that without Peking University, there is definitely no one for me today. Peking University left me a series of good memories, probably leaving a series of pains. It is in the midst of good and painful, in the midst of frustration, struggle and progress, I finally found myself and started to do something for myself, for the family, for the society.
Student life is very beautiful and has many wonderful memories. I still remember that there was a boy in our class. Every day, the violin was pulled down in the girl's dormitory, hoping to attract the attention of the girl. The result was that the girl threw the water bottle. I still remember that in order to attract the attention of the girls, I helped the girls to take care of each winter and summer vacation. Later, I found out that the girl had a boyfriend, and I asked her why she would let me take a bag. She said that in order to let her boyfriend take a break. I also remember that when I first entered Peking University, I didn't speak Mandarin. When the class started the first time, I introduced each other. I stood up and introduced myself. As a result, our monitor stood up and said to me: "Yu Minhong, Can you speak Japanese?" I used it for a whole year and used the radio to imitate the broadcast of the radio station in the woods of Peking University, but today Mandarin is still not well spoken.
People's progress may be a lifetime. At Peking University is a beginning, not an end, of our lives. There are many things that are particularly touching. For example, we are fortunate to have met Professor Zhu Guangqian. In his last days, the classmates of our class took turns taking a wheelchair every day to accompany him for a walk in Peking University. Whenever I push a wheelchair, my heart is full of worship of Professor Zhu Guangqian, a sense of sacredness. Therefore, the area where I read the most in college is aesthetics. Because he wrote a "Western Aesthetic History", which is the second book I read after I entered college.
Why is it the second one? Because the first one came like this, I went into the dormitory after I entered Beijing University. I have a classmate who is already in the dormitory. The classmate was lying in bed reading a book called "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich." So I asked him a word, I said, "Do you still want to read this book at university?" He took the book off his eyes, looked at me, ignored me, and continued to read his book. This eye has always stayed in my heart. I know that going to Peking University is not just about coming to school, but I have to read a lot of books. You are qualified to call yourself a student at Peking University. So the first book I read at Peking University was "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" and I read it three times. Later, I went to find this classmate. I said, "Let's talk about "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich"", he said: "I have forgotten."
I also remember that my tutor, Professor Li Funing, was the director of the English Department of Peking University. When he gave us the fourth volume of the New Concept English, he wrote the board very completely and very beautiful every time. Always write from the upper left corner of the blackboard, and wait until the bell rings, just write to the bottom right corner. I still remember Professor Luo Jingguo, the teacher of my history of English literature. I was in a bad mood in the last year of Peking University, which led to the failure of the exam. I found Professor Luo said: "If I fail to pass this course, I will not be able to complete the business." Professor Luo said: "I can give you a passing score, but please remember, in the future you must make a worthy me. Give you a career with a score. "So, the tolerance, knowledge, unrestrained, and freedom of Peking University teachers, so that we can truly become students of Peking University, can really get the spirit of Peking University. When I heard that President Xu Zhihong sang "Invisible Wings" to the students, I opened the video and moved to tears. Because I think the president of Peking University should be like this.
I remember that I had a lot of depression when I was at Peking University. First, the Mandarin is not good, and the second English level is a mess. Although I took the college entrance examination after three years of hard work, I was admitted to Peking University - because I was listed twice, and the last time I was admitted to Peking University. I never thought that Peking University was the place where I could go to school. She was a holy place in my heart and I felt that I could never reach it. But that year, my college entrance examination score exceeded the Peking University admission score by seven points in the third year of the exam. I finally made up my mind to fill in the words "Peking University". I know that there will be many people who score higher than me. I don't think I will be accepted. I didn't expect Peking University's admissions teacher to be very eye-catching. I expected it today after thirty years. But in fact, my English is very poor. I don't listen or speak in the countryside. I only speak grammar and words. When our class was divided, fifty students were divided into three classes. Because my English test scores were good, I was assigned to Class A, but after one month, I was transferred to Class C. Class C is called "Voice Tone and Hearing Impairment Class."
I also remember that I had never read "Dream of Red Mansions" before I entered Peking University, so I saw that my classmates were reading a book and I was desperately chasing. As a result, I read almost eight hundred books at the university and spent five years. But still did not catch up with my classmates. I remember that my squad leader, Wang Qiang, is a book, and now he is also in New Oriental, the dean of the New Oriental Institute of Education. Every time he bought a book, I followed him. At that time, Peking University gave us more than 20 yuan of living expenses per month. Wang Qiang had a good idea of ​​dividing the living expenses into two, half for buying books and half for buying food tickets. The money to buy a book is never used to buy a meal ticket. If he doesn't have a meal ticket, he will borrow it everywhere, and if he can't borrow it, he will steal it everywhere. Later, I found out that his habit was very good. I also used my living expenses as two, half to buy books, half to buy food tickets, and I robbed him when the meal ticket was finished.
It is no exaggeration to say that the classmates of our class were at Peking University at the time, which is really one of the most studied classes. And our class was very active at the time, and there were several light poets. Later, a famous poet named Xichuan, whose real name is Liu Jun, is our class. I still remember that our class was the first to be popular. At that time, it was an excellent group of Peking University. But one night everyone was having a good time. The result was a veil dance. The second week was criticized by the Ministry of Education. At that time, dancing must be very formal, and when boys and girls are a little closer, they think that they are violating the discipline. So you are now happier than we were at the beginning. Not only can you dance, but you can walk hand in hand on the campus. If the boys and girls go hand in hand on the campus, they will be thrown into the unnamed lake, so they usually walk in the campus after 12 o'clock in the evening. .
I also remember that our class of 50 students, just twenty-five boys and twenty-five girls, I was very excited after hearing this ratio, I think everyone should be a match. I didn't expect the girls to look at the handsome and handsome boys. Girls like me are not very good-looking, and they are full of rich feelings and have great potential for development in the future. Girls generally don’t see it.
I remember that I struggled for two years and hoped to catch up with my classmates in the results, but just as Teacher Lu Zhi said, although you may have a good test in the middle school entrance examination, it is the first place, but the elite of Peking University is too More, your front, back, left and right may be high IQ students, but also the provincial champion or second. Therefore, chasing classmates at Peking University is a very difficult process. Although I almost have to learn an hour or two more than other students every day, my grades are still ranked in the last few in the class when the second year of college is over. Very hardworking and very depressed, no girls come to love me to comfort me. The result of this is that I got a serious illness in the third year of college. This disease is called infectious invasive tuberculosis. At that time, I was dizzy, because I was reading "Dream of Red Mansions" at that time, just reading the chapter of Lin Daiyu who died of tuberculosis and vomiting blood. I thought my life ended. Then the doctor at Peking University Hospital told me that the disease can now Healed, but needs to live in the hospital for a year. I lived in the hospital for a year, I was depressed for a year, read a lot of books, and wrote more than 600 poems. Unfortunately, a poem has not been published. Since then, I have been associated with writing poetry, but I have a lot of emotions, but there is no beautiful writing, so I finally did not become a poet. Later, I felt very fortunate because I found that people who really became poets later had an accident. We wrote poems together with the poet Haizi, who was not so famous at the time. Later, he wrote a beautiful poem called "facing the sea, spring blossoms", and each of our classmates can probably recite it. Later, when I heard that he committed suicide in the lying track, he cried for a whole day. From then on, I put down my pen and never wrote poetry again.
I remember when I was in Peking University, when I graduated from the fourth year of college, my grades were still ranked in the last few in the class. However, I had a good attitude at the time. I know that I am smarter than my classmates, but I have the ability to continue to work hard. So at the graduation ceremony of our class, I said such a passage. Now my classmates can still remember, I said: "Everyone has achieved excellent results. I am a backward classmate in our class. But I want my classmates. Rest assured, I will never give up. I have been doing things for five years in the past five years. I have worked for 20 years in ten years, and I have worked for 40 years in 20 years." I said to them: "If it doesn't work, I will keep my mood happy and healthy. I will send you away after I am 80 years old."
There is a story that there are only two kinds of animals that can reach the top of the pyramid. One is the eagle, flying up by his own talent and wings. We have a lot of eagle-style characters here, and many students can learn to reach the peak without too much effort. Many students may easily enter the famous universities such as Harvard, Yale, Oxford, and Cambridge to continue their studies after Peking University graduates. There are a lot of classmates who are full of talents. If you don't need to learn, you have such talents. For example, my squad leader Wang Qiang, which I mentioned just now, his imitation ability is superb. Go to any place, listen to any sentence, listen to the imitation. It will definitely not come out. So he worked as an announcer at the Peking University Radio Station for four years. I listen to his voice every day, my heart is full of hatred. Therefore, talented people are like eagle. However, everyone knows that there is another animal that has reached the top of the pyramid. That is the snail. The snail must only climb up. It can take a month, two months, or even a year or two to climb from low to upper. At the top of the pyramid, people did find traces of snails. I believe that the snail will never climb up smoothly, and will definitely fall, climb, fall, and climb again. However, what the students need to know is that as long as the snail climbs to the top of the pyramid, the world it sees in its eyes, its achievements are exactly the same as the eagle. So maybe some of our classmates are eagle, some are snails. When I was at Peking University, including until today, I always thought that I was a snail. But I have been climbing, maybe I have not climbed to the top of the pyramid. But as long as you are climbing, it is enough to leave yourself with a life-changing day.
I often tell my classmates that if our lives don't leave some days for yourself to make your tears full, your life is white. Many of our classmates have entered Peking University with excellent results, but Peking University is by no means the end of your study, but the starting point of your life. In the middle of the years between the ages of one and eighteen, you listen to the teacher's words and listen to your parents' words. Now you really started your own independent life. We must create some days for ourselves to be touched, and you can touch others. We have rich families here, and there are also poor families. The starting point of our lives is not whether you choose to be born in rich families or poor families. If you are born in a poor family, you can't say that Dad has taken me back. I don't want to be here. Staying. But the end of our lives is chosen by ourselves. All of our classmates have gone very well in the past. They have already reached the front of many Chinese children at the age of 18, because Peking University is the pride of China and can be said to be the pride of the world. However, going to Peking University does not mean that you have done a good job. It does not mean that your future path can go well. What should you do in the next 50 years, 60 years, or even 100 years, become every classmate? The question to think about. As far as I am concerned, I feel that as long as there are two things in my heart, we can achieve our own life.
The first is called ideal. I have a feeling since I was a child, I hope to travel across the horizon to the distance. I call it "the desire to cross the horizon." It is also because of this strong desire that I have the courage to continue the college entrance examination. Of course, there are role models in my life. For example, I have a neighbor, very famous, and it is my lifelong role model. His name is Xu Xiake. Of course, it was a neighbor five hundred years ago. But he is indeed my neighbor, Jiangyin, Jiangsu, and I am also in Jiangyin, Jiangsu. Because of the worship of Xu Xiake, it directly led me to score 97 points in the college entrance examination. It is also Xu Xiake who brought me the feeling of crossing the horizon, so I also made up my mind that if Xu Xiake traveled all over China, I would travel all over the world. And I am now realizing my dream. Therefore, as long as you have ideals and ambitions in your heart, you will eventually succeed. All you have to do is to have the ability to work hard, endure frustration and failure in this process, and constantly expand your mind to be able to do things better.
The second thing is called conscience. What is conscience? It is to do good deeds, to be worthy of being worthy of others, to have a gesture of sharing with others, and to be willing to serve others. Conscience people will manifest themselves from the things you do in your specific life, and what you do must have an impact on your future life. I have two small stories. After I finished speaking, I ended my speech and it took a long time.
The first little story. There is an entrepreneur and I talked about a story of his college. They have a classmate and their family is rich. They bring six apples to school every week. The classmates in the dormitory thought that they were one person. As a result, he was eating one day. Although Apple is his, he can't grab it without giving it to you, but from this classmates left an impression that this child is too selfish. Later, this entrepreneur succeeded, and the classmate who had eaten Apple had not succeeded, and he hoped to join the team of entrepreneurs. But then everyone talked about it and said that he could not be allowed to join. The reason was very simple, because he never showed the spirit of sharing when he was in college. Therefore, for the students, the first point in the college era, you have to share what you have with your classmates, feelings, thoughts, wealth, even an apple can be divided into six petals to eat together. Because you have to know, you can get more in the future, and your efforts will never be paid in vain.
Let me talk about my own story. When I was a student at Peking University, I always had the spirit of serving my classmates. My personal performance has not been very good, but I have loved labor since I was a child. I hope that the diligent work will attract the attention of teachers and classmates. Therefore, I have been cleaning the classroom health since the first grade. After I arrived at Peking University, I developed a good habit of cleaning the dormitory every day. This cleaning was cleaned for four years. Therefore, our dormitory has never been ranked as a hygienic value. In addition, I take the kettle in the dormitory every day to water my classmates and use it as a physical exercise. Everyone saw me getting used to water, and finally there was such a situation. Sometimes I forgot to fetch water. The classmates said, "Why did Yu Minhong still not fetch water?" . But I don't think it's a bad thing to get water. Because everyone is a classmate, mutual help is taken for granted. The students must think that I have done this thing in vain. After another ten years, by the end of 1995, New Oriental had achieved a certain scale. I hope to find a collaborator. I went to the United States and Canada to find my classmates. They were examples of my life when they were in college. Including the teacher Wang Qiang and so on. In order to seduce them back, I brought a lot of dollars, spending money very generously in the United States every day, and letting them know that they can make money in China. I think maybe this will get them back. Later they came back, but gave me a very unexpected reason. They said: "Yu Minhong, we went back to you for four years of water for us." They said: "We know that you have such a spirit, so if you have food, you will definitely not give us porridge, so Let's go back to China and work together for the New Oriental. "There is New Oriental today."
A person's life is a life of struggle, but some people live a great life, and some people live a very trivial life. If we have a great ideal and a kind heart, we will be able to pile up many trivial days and become a great life. But if you are boring every day, have no ideals, and stop making progress, then the days of your life will pile up forever. Therefore, I hope that all the students can build their ordinary everyday days into a great life.
Finally, on behalf of all the old alumni, I expressed my heart to the more than 3,000 new students present. On behalf of all the old alumni and New Oriental, I donated 2 million RMB to President Xu to provide some help for the students' study, activities and growth.