天津大学生家教
点击（674） 发布时间:2021-06-02 09:37:13
Life is really full of uncertainty. I never imagined that I would get the Medal of Honor from NYU Shanghai.There are a lot of rumors about me, and one of them is that I graduated from an American University, but I didn’t. I came from a very remote small town in southeast China. I hope your chancellor did not invite me here because of these rumors. Actually Chancellor Tong gave me the invitation several months ago. At first, I did not accept the invitation because I was not so sure that I would be the right person to stand here to give the graduation speech.One small story I want to tell you today is that one small thing changed my idea about [whether] to accept or not. One day, Professor Tong came to my office, and he took a portrait of me in NYU Shanghai graduate school clothes. The portrait was painted by one of the graduate students. And in that painting, I saw a different self. I was young, handsome, and upbeat. So at that moment, I liked the painting very much, and it's still in my office. And I made the decision that I will come here to do the graduation speech today. I think it's an honor to know that today, you brought me here - it was not just the chancellor's idea, I think. So I really appreciate that you gave me the certainty that I can come here and give this speech, and that helped me to make the last decision. Actually, I came from a remote town, a southern city in China, 34 years ago, to Shanghai for college. I always think about how I grew up like the person who today stands here from very long years ago. In my remembrance, I know that my hometown in very ancient China, long years ago, actually, the name of my hometown was named “百越”[“One Hundred Yue States”]. In ancient China, many people migrated here, different nations migrated here in southeastern China, and the language in different villages is totally different. However, they had to communicate with each other, then there was some very ancient language that grew up there. So it looks like NYU Shanghai, I think. In ancient China, lots of people from different nations came on the same side, together, to communicate.
Just about 2,000 years ago, before China's first unified empire, the great Qin Empire, not the Qing dynasty, was founded - before that, our land was finally incorporated into Chinese civilization. So it's very amazing that today the China, we are a big group, people from everywhere and civilization here is merged. But amazingly, 125 years ago in 1896, the place began to introduce modern secondary school education to the small town. The students there began to learn English and math. That is the time for Qing dynasty. 125 years ago, the people there, the youth there began to learn English and math there. At that moment, Chinese education and modern education began to join together in this remote small town. I graduated from the high school there, and when I graduated 34 years ago, I wanted to go further, to see the wider world.
I went to Shanghai Medical College, which until today, is a famous and prestigious medical college in China. Today the name is Fudan Shanghai Medical College. When I graduated, I began to be a physician and started my favorite career as a doctor. At that time, I made the choice for interest, but not for salary, because until now, Chinese doctors’ salaries have lagged far behind those of our American peers. While at the same time, those of the Chinese business elites are already very close to its American peers, including the guest speaker who was standing here last year. He is likely to earn more than most of his American peers.
So this is the question: How would you make the choice in the future? It's not related to salary, I think. It should be related to your interest. This is the first experience I hope to bring to today's graduating students: After graduation, when you will find a career that suits you, you will feel it, just like me. I majored in infectious disease in medicine, specializing in the treatment of disease caused by microorganisms which live with us together in the world, just like the coronavirus, bacteria, everything. But sometimes, disease will be caused by such microorganisms. This major is a huge privilege, as it allows me to learn the role of humans. We’re just one of the species in the world, and I can look at the world as a whole. Each time I diagnose a new disease, I can learn more deeply about nature.
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