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.

　　今年是香港中文大學(深圳)建校十周年，三月份的時候，我們在這裏，在禮文堂舉行了隆重的慶祝典禮，向建校以來一直幫助和支持我們的社會各界朋友彙報辦學的成果，分享成功的喜悅。正如我在校慶大會上曾感歎的，奮鬥的十年，每一天都顯得格外漫長，而這十年卻又過得這麼快！(The days are long, and a decade is so short!)這十年裏，我們從無到有，從一片荒蕪的空地和幾幢廢棄的廠房，到如今風光秀麗、蓬勃發展的萬人校園；從“黃埔一期”經管學院的286名新生，到如今七所學院、七所書院，來自世界各地的本、碩、博在校生超過11000人；就在本月，我們的第七所學院——公共政策學院也剛剛誕生……

　　看著這所大學日新月異的變化，我要感謝深港兩地政府、大學理事會、香港中文大學以及社會各界對學校的大力支持，同時也要感謝我們的家長和同學對學校的支持與熱愛！是你們的信任和支持成就了這所大學的飛速成長與發展，也令我們更感責任重大！今天，我知道有許多的家長也來到現場見證孩子重要的人生時刻，也有很多家長在線上觀禮，在這裏我希望請在座的同學們為我們的家長鼓掌，感謝他們一直以來的陪伴與支持，感謝他們為你的成長所做出的奉獻！謝謝各位家長朋友！

　　同學們，你們在今年入學，也具有十分特別的意義。一方麵，你們恰好見證與分享了這所大學辦學十年的成果；另一方麵，你們將肩負承前啟後的使命，將與這所大學一起開啟下一個十年的嶄新篇章。

　　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.

　　同學們，今天我想和大家來探討一下，我們來大學是來做什麼的呢？有同學會說，是來學知識的。學知識固然沒錯，大學可以幫助你接觸到世界上最前沿的知識與技術發展，但如果隻是來學知識，我們未必需要到大學來，上網課也是可以的，現在的網課教學也很發達，何況知識是無窮盡的，如果學知識需要來上大學，那大學以後就不必學了嗎？

　　有同學會說，來大學是為了學技能。當然也沒錯，無論是分析能力、邏輯思辨能力、寫作能力、語言能力等等，各方麵的能力都是非常重要的，但如果在人工智能的背景下來看待這個問題，我們今天在大學所學到的技能，明天有可能遠遠達不到廣泛應用於社會的智能機器的水平。技能是重要的，但同學們，人生就像航海，就像駕駛一條航行於汪洋大海上的船，駕駛船的技術固然重要，但如果船本身不停地在漏水的話，縱使你有再高的技術也無法施展，永遠記住，船本身比駕駛技術要重要得多。

　　也會有人說，我們來大學是為了研究世界的。當然，這個世界上有許多人在研究方方麵麵各個領域的問題，像是生物問題、金融問題、能源問題、世界發展問題等等，我們每天在網上、在媒體上看到的都是這些訊息。是的，我們來上大學是要研究世界的，但研究世界是需要認知基礎的，當你隻懂得加法減法，你能夠研究乘法除法嗎？

　　因此，今天我想告訴大家的是，你到這裏來上大學，不僅僅是來獲取知識，不僅僅是來掌握技能，也不僅僅是來研究世界的，你是來提升自己的，我希望在這四年裏，無論你的智力、情商、領導力、想象力和創造力都能有一個巨大的飛躍。我常常說招收了一群優秀的學生不是我們的目的，我們的目的是希望我們的學生在四年後能有一個巨大的增值，這個增值在數學上常常叫Δ(delta)。

　　那如何來做到這個Δ呢？我為什麼要在這裏講這個問題呢？現在很多時候，我們總是過於關注外部世界，受到外部世界的牽引與影響，而忽略了自我的探索與成長。我們應該更多地關注自己的內心，關注自己的身體，關注自身的成長，提升自我。你是你自己最重要的財富和資源，在你的一生裏，也隻有這一個“自己”。不要總是把注意力過多地放在外麵，在意別人如何評價自己，從別人的評價中來找尋自己的定位，來建立自己的價值，我們有的同學甚至會從別人的幸福中來找到自己的不幸，又從別人的不幸中找到自己的幸福，這不是一個有自信的人生態度。

　　我希望大家來到大學之後，能夠通過學校、學院、書院各種不同的活動來找到自己。我們要在擁擠的世界裏找到自己，在擁擠的自己裏找到世界，怎麼說呢？在擁擠的世界裏找到自己，你就有“自信；在擁擠的自己裏找到世界，你就有“胸襟”！這樣，一步一步地去找，去發現自我，去強健自我，去完善自我，慢慢地你會找到隱藏在自己身上的特殊使命和這一生注定要做的事情。同時有強大的自信和堅忍不拔的意誌去完成這個使命。同學們，這就是我認為你在這個大學裏最應該做的事情。

　　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!