More than 500 alumni gather at HIT

Reported by: LIU Peixiang
Photographed by: FENG Jian, JI Xing
Translated by: JIA Yingxue
Edited by: Jonathon Wylie

Thirty years have passed by. People’s appearances have changed, but their passion has remained. On August 15th and 16th, more than 500 alumni returned to HIT from all over the world to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their graduation. They talked about their love of their alma mater, mentors, and the friendship of their schoolmates. President of HIT and Alumni Association President, ZHOU Yu, sent a congratulatory message to the alumni while away on a business trip. On behalf of HIT, he welcomed the alumni on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of their graduation. He hoped that the alumni would enjoy talking about their golden memories of HIT and look forward to a better future for HIT. Vice President AN Shi, Alumni Association Vice Presidents, and HIT Education Development Foundation Vice Presidents, SUN Heyi, CUI Guolan, and HIT Alumni Association of Jiangsu Province Secretary-General XIANG Yinkang and the 1980 alumni, celebrated the happy occasion together.

At 6:30 on the morning of the 16th, nearly one hundred alumni gathered in front of the HIT Main Building, to walk through the campus. The organizer, alumnus of class 8062, LIU Tongmin said she thought that only a few dozen people would participate in this activity. However, after notification, many alumni responded enthusiastically. They hoped to walk around the campus and take a look at the campus’ scenery. Alumni excitedly pulled hands together and made a circle, shouting "create happiness, enjoy happiness ......" They seemed to return to their college time with smiles on their faces as they greeted one another. “You’ve become thinner.” “You are still so beautiful.” “How have you been all these years?” They shook hands, hugged, greeted and blessed one another. They walked by the main building, along the pedestrian street, passed canteens, dormitories, the stadium, and the Science Park in the cool morning breeze. They walked and talked all the way, using their cameras to record every memorable moment. "This was my dormitory......" "Is this the original stadium? I often skated here ......" "Is this the original zoo? Completely changed ......" It seemed that time had gone back, and they had gained their youth again. They reflected on many happy memories. ZHEN Ziyi, who came back from Canada, is an alumnus of 8015. He said that it was particularly amazing that 22 of 24 in his class came back together for this time. LIU Wen, alumnus of 8093, introduced the "Sunshine Class Weekend" hiking team, which was led by alumni REN Junqiu and set up in Beijing. Depending on the weather, they hike in the Olympic Forest Park and other places almost every weekend. They have attracted the active participation of many alumni and even alumni on business trips in Beijing sometimes participate. Alumni in Beijing and Harbin also have held hiking activities together at the same time in different places to show their unity. "We want to grow old together, and enjoy life together. We will try to live every day to the fullest. We will work 50 years for our country with healthy conditions." This was the common aspiration of all the alumni.

In the past three decades, the alumni’s passion for HIT hasn’t faded away with time. They are no longer young, but they are still dedicated to their careers. On the morning of the 16th, alumni returned to their departments and classes to talk about their memories and their future with classmates and teachers. At noon, they gathered at the cafeteria to eat special food prepared by HIT. The food was similar to what they ate 30 years ago. They ate and drank to commemorate the past 30 years. Later, they took group photos in front of the HIT Main Building. Their smiling faces were captured in the photos to commemorate their happy time of being home at HIT.     

At the Activity Center, alumni signed their names on a seven-meter-long board. This board will enter the HIT Museum as a souvenir. At the Activity Center it was very busy with people shaking hands and hugging and expressing how much they missed each other. Photos from 1980 were shown on the screen to music. There were youthful smiling faces on the black and white photos. When alumni saw their class photos, they would cheer excitedly. 

 “In the summer of 1980, a lot of young talent, with firm belief in reform, entered HIT. In the summer of 2014, it is again the start of reform. We have gathered at HIT because of our friendship,” said the emcee MA Yingying, who hosted the homecoming ceremony with Alumni Representative ZHANG Yuliang, and student representatives, XU Mingxuan and JIA Shaohua.

Assistant President of the Shenzhen Academy of Aerospace Technology ZHANG Huaxuan read the congratulatory letter from President ZHOU Yu, which was addressed to those “Gathered at HIT after graduating 30 years ago.” In the letter, ZHOU said that 30 years in human history was just a moment, but in an individual life it counted for nearly a third of one’s lifetime. Thirty years time since graduation had brought people into their age of “Zhi Tian Ming,” which means “the age of 50s.” As HITers, the graduates of 1980 have made contributions to our country and people in their respective positions. They have paid the price of hardship, but at the same time, they have gained happiness. This is a wealth that will be with them continually, and benefit their life. HIT is proud of them, ZHOU relayed in his message. When they returned to HIT, they would feel the changes and development. The development couldn’t be made without their efforts and concern. President ZHOU expressed his hopes that alumni might continue to concern themselves with the future development of HIT, and make contribution to build HIT into a world-class university. HIT would always care for them, support them, and would be their home and strong backing forever.

Assistant President AN Shi reported the overall layout, development status and future blueprint of HIT to the alumni. Assistant President AN said that the year 2020 will be the Centenary Celebration of HIT. It will also be the 40th anniversary of the 1980 alumni. He welcomed them to return to HIT again at that time.

Although the 1980 alumni graduated 30 years ago, they have remained concerned with the development of HIT. FDH PE Investment Fund Management (Tianjin) Corporation President, WANG Qifu, and Beijing Institute of Architectural Design Chief Architect, LIU Xiaozhong gave speeches as the representatives of the 1980 Alumni. WANG said that after graduating 30 years ago, they were now back at HIT, to the place they were missing so much, to the place where their dreams started, to the place where they first entered into society, and the place which was their stage. He thanked HIT for her gifts of knowledge and strength, confidence and courage. He thanked teachers for their strict management and earnest teaching, which had helped all the alumni to gain success in their lives. He thanked schoolmates for their help and support, as they gave to one another most precious friendships and built up one another’s confidences. When they looked back at their past and looked forward to their future, WANG believed they would remain so proud of being HITers wherever they might go.

LIU Xiaozhong said that this reunion had been anticipated for 30 years. It was so exciting. The three decades they had been waiting not only crossed two centuries, but also witnessed their transition from youth to middle age. LIU thanked teachers’ nurturing and teachings. The selfless love of teachers and classmates and sincere friendships are like wine, they get better as they grow older. No matter where they are, no matter what the situations might be, they will continue to show concern for each other, bless each other, and their hearts will always be linked closely. He expressed his hope that this short reunion would become eternal, and that all the alumni might remember this happy time. 

 “HIT is still a cherished place, even after we graduated so many years ago. We have come back to school with cherished memories of university life, with a thankful heart......” an alumni said affectionately. At the ceremony, alumni representatives BAI Qiuchen, HOU Xiufeng, XIANG Shang and LI Guangwei gave HIT two special commemorative gifts. One gift was two Shoushan stone seals, carved by 8061 alumni LV Hongjun. One seal was carved “Gui Ge Yan Ge,” the other was carved “Gong Fu Dao Jia,” which is HIT’s motto. Another gift was calligraphy written by 8015 alumni BAI Qiuchen, which said “Sui Yan Cun Cao Xin, Bao De San Chun Hui.” It was adapted from a traditional Chinese Poem, meaning such kindness of the warm sun, can't be repaid by grass. Alumni changed the Chinese word “Shei” to “Sui,” which means that although they were like the grass, they still wanted to repay the kindness of the warmth of HIT. They thought that the changing of that word could more accurately express their gratitude for HIT.

In order to repay HIT for its excellent education and training, the 1980 alumni contributed a total of 1.2 million yuan to set up a "1980 Alumni Charity Fund." This fund will help students from poor families by giving them free tickets, food cards, winter clothes, daily necessities and other requirements to successfully complete their education. Vice President AN Shi, Alumni Association Vice Presidents, and HIT Education Development Foundation Vice Presidents, SUN Heyi and CUI Guolan awarded a memorial medal and commemorative certificate to alumni representatives ZHANG Hua, WANG Qifu and ZHANG Huanong, the President of Vision Group.

After the donation, alumni representatives and HIT teacher and student representatives performed on the stage to celebrate the reunion. The tenth department 8001 class sang a song, Qing Chen Wo Men Ta Shang Xiao Dao, together which let alumni relive the happiness of pursuing dreams and working hard. Fourth department alumni, ZHANG Liangyu, sang a song, Lang Hua Li Fei Chu Huan Le De Ge, affectionately expressing how much the alumni miss HIT and Harbin. First department alumni, CHAN Weitao, recited a poem, Sui Yue, which let alumni realize the different feelings that life brings. The sixth department, "Sunshine Class Weekend" hiking team, used cheerful song and dance to bring alumni back to the time of their youth, causing the audience to interact with cheers. Teachers and students performed together: Xin Zhong De Hua Er Na Ji, I Love You, China, Huang Tu Qing, Shi Jian Dou Qu Na La, Zhui Meng, Wo Xiang Xue Hua Tian Shang Lai and other exciting programs, making each performance to seem better than the one before. “If you use one character to sum up the past 30 years, it is 'changing'; if you use one word to sum up the past 30 years, it is 'unchanged'," an alumni said. Time had changed, as had their ages, appearances and experience, but their youthful dreams, HIT motto and HIT spirit which were engraved on their hearts were still the same. Whether they live in the north or south, or all over the world, they will always remain deeply concerned about HIT, and will miss teachers and students.

 “Though 30 years have passed, walking around the campus, I can still feel the passion. Seeing old classmates still reminds me of the hard work in that time,” an alumni said. In a wonderful reunion moment, all the 1980 alumni sang together, Zai Guo Er Shi Nian Wo Men Lai Xiang Hui, which expressed their hope and belief that they will have another reunion in 20 years. They sang the song to promise they would be here after 10 years and 20 years, and to wish that their great motherland might become more prosperous, and to wish for HIT to create new glories.

Old pictures are shown to the alumni

Awarding a memorial medal and commemorative certificate to alumni

Alumni representative giving seals to HIT

Alumni representatives giving speeches and performing

Alumni singing together

The performance of alumni

The dancing of HIT students

A performance celebrating the reunion

The performances celebrating the reunion were wonderful

Alumni sign their names for a memorial

Alumni signing their names on the board

Alumni finding their photos from the old pictures

Alumni participate in a walk around campus

Alumni walking at the campus

A commemorative group photo.

Many group photos were taken of the alumni

Group photo of alumni

Alumni enjoy time together

Alumni taking photos

Group photo of alumni