Dear students, faculty and staff, it is my great pleasure and honor to address you on this special occasion. However, it is somewhat a pity that I am only able to welcome you via the Internet but not in person as originally planned owing to the COVID-19pandemic. Last summer, I visited your university and met with President Yangsheng Xu, who graciously invited me to attend your graduation orinauguration ceremony. You have my word, I said, but sadly I failed to keep my promise as things gradually went beyond our control. While the outbreak is under control at home, the situation in the United States, especially in California where I am, is not yet clear. I have just come back from outside.There are not many people out there, and most of them are still wearing their masks. But then again, I'm glad to be able to take off my mask and address you all here through the Internet.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong boasts a long-lasting history, and a tradition of academic excellence. Over the years, the University has produced generations of outstanding talents. I hope that all of you, as new students of this long-established institution, will both aim high and stay down to earth in your future academic pursuits. Research is not an easy thing. Sometimes you may feel envious when you look at other people making great results. But when you do it yourself, you'll know that it's quite boring, and Rome wasn't built in a day.
So my dear students, just stay patient. Quick success is neither realistic nor feasible. Then as to how you should learn, I would like to share my insights here. Today, we are living in a very exciting internet age. Thanks to the Internet, I am able to speak to you across the Pacific Ocean against the dreadful pandemic. The Internet has empowered alot of things, and has changed our lives to a great extent, especially for young people. I have supervised several university graduate students in the United States. One thing I noticed about them was that they have access to aparticularly large amount of information. Once I inadvertently mentioned to them a decades-old result from long ago in our profession, and they hunted down the relevant information very quickly, even though it was not published as a formal paper in any journal. I was deeply amazed. As we have more and more information at our disposal, we don't have to be limited by the primitive tools of pen and paper, but can move on to smarter and more efficient methods. Of course, that tradition of hard work and earnestness is something we should still keep alive. Therefore, I hope that our young students can make the most of the information advantage brought to us by the information age, and outperform our generation. In this regard, I think I am already lagging behind many young students. Last year and the year before last, I returned to Peking University to teach a summer course. I noticed that the students today aregreatly different from the impression that many people have of Chinese students in the past. They are no longer rigid, introverted, nor silent for fear of making mistakes. Instead, they are very knowledgeable; they are very active in thinking; and they dare to express themselves. This is indeed a good thing that I hope you can carry forward.
During my last visit, I only spent two or three days in CUHK-Shenzhen, but I was particularly impressed by your university. One is the natural environment. Sometimes when I walked around the campus, I couldn’t believe that it is a university. It's more like a spot in the wilderness, which offers a very pleasant experience. Another highlight of your university is the outstanding cultural environment, thanks to the many efforts of President Yangsheng Xu. In my last short but delightful chat with President Xu, I found that we had a lot in common, not only in terms of our majors, but also in traditional Chinese literature and poetry. So, in such an excellent environment, I hope all of you will be able to reinforce your cultural accumulation, which may also be a source of sound and happy growth.
Finally, I wish each of you a happy and prosperous life at CUHK-Shenzhen. Thank you all!