Beijing Alumni Association Visited GDUFS’s First Graduates

On 1st September, six GDUFS’s alumni of 1965 gathered together at the invitation of the Beijing Alumni Association in Shengde restaurant near the Beijing North Third Ring Road. Beijing Alumni Association Chair LU Siming, together with alumni of 1970, WANG Yi, LI Zemin and ZHANG Xuexian, joined in the activity.

GDUFS’s alumni

The six alumni were CHENG Fenghua of the German major, ZHOU Shuichao, WU Ruomao, LI Qitai of the English major and ZHANG Ziqin and ZHENG Jun of the French major.

At the meeting, the alumni of 1965 told the story of their lives in GDUFS, reminiscing about their memories of campus life, and the tough study experience during the time of turbulence as well as the first few years of GDUFS. In 1965, as Chinese reserved diplomats, they were admitted to Guangzhou Foreign Studies University after strict selection and entered the former campus of GDUFS in Shougou Lin. In the first year of GDUFS, there were a total of 317 students studying four majors from two departments. In 1966, the Cultural Revolution broke out. Influenced by the turbulent political situation, students were caught in several political activities such as the Red Guard Rallies and Set-Down Movement. The alumni looked back on their chaotic study experience and appreciated the superior study atmosphere nowadays, encouraging their young alumni to seize the opportunities to deepen their knowledge.

LU Siming said that as the first graduates, the alumni of 1965 are the roots of GDUFS, and what they had experienced is of great historical value. He purposely baked a custom-made cake with the words GDUFS’s 50th anniversary on it and led some other alumni to present bunches of flowers to the six alumni of 1965.

They were presenting bunches of flowers

Vice-Chairman CHEN Hao and WU Shifan, Standing Deputy Secretary General JIANG Shuang, Deputy Secretary General ZHENG Zhuliang and some other leaders of the Alumni Association joined in this activity. Together, they sang the song the same song to lead the meeting to a close.

They were singing the same song.

This activity was another significant present for GDUFS’s 50th anniversary, following the 7.17 journey in grassland. The series activities of Visiting Alumni organized by Beijing Alumni Association will continue to discover GDUFS’s alumni in Beijing and record their spirits of struggling, independence and being ambitious as well as the contributions they’ve made to China in the form of documentaries. The producers of the series of documentaries are alumni WANG Yi, LI Zemin and ZHANG Xuexian, under the assistance of Vice-Chairman DUN Kun and Deputy Secretary General DENG Qiting.

Group photo of the activity
 

Alumni ZHANG Ziqin of 1965 wrote a poem on the affections after the activity.

The fellowship

Fifty years vanished all of a sudden

Travelers would never forget GDUFS’s affection

Encountered schoolfellows in the season of blossom

Poured each other with sublime wine

Though passing time whitened the hair

Fellowship would last forever

No need to concern the nostalgia after departure

The understanding would stick us