Ladies and gentlemen:

It’s my great pleasure to travel across 10,000 km to be here with you today. The great Chinese philosopher Confucius once said: “Is it not delightful to have friends coming from afar?” It means that, despite geographical distance, we come together, become friends and have conversations. It’s just delightful.

Last month, the President of Germany Joachim Gauck visited Tongji University and delivered an excellent speech. In his speech, Mr. Gauck noted that Tongji University has gained its strategic importance in the exchange of education, science & technology and culture between China and Germany. I fully agree with him on this point. Over the past century, many Chinese people got to know about Germany through Tongji University. I believe the same must happen here, where many German people get to know about China through Tongji University, our students and teachers. Today, our way of communication is getting increasingly convenient, which has led to more diversity in our cooperation, and ultimately more results.

As Samuel P. Huntington’s “The Clash of Civilizations” hypothesis points out, cultural difference is a key factor that inhibits effective communication between peoples of the world. The clash of civilizations will become the primary source of conflict in the future, posing the greatest challenge to world peace and development. As is shown on the PowerPoint slides, Germany and China hold fundamentally different views towards certain issues. Difference is not a bad thing. It makes the world diverse and colorful. It can in fact be a beautiful thing. The Chinese scholar Mr. Xiaotong FEI said: “Find your beauty, and that of others. Share the beauty, and achieve unity.” It urges people to not only see good and value in oneself but also to learn to appreciate it in others. Only by mutual appreciation can we see the world with enormous beauty in it. In this way, we will be sincere and close with each other to create a harmonious world. It is quite similar to the “Spirit of Contract” as valued by Europeans. For two parties to reach a contract, the broadest possible consensus shall be reached. Chinese people use another phrase: “seeking harmony in diversity”. We allow for the existence of difference and diversity and are set to search for common ground for inclusive development. Through communication and exchange, we will be able to identify the greatest “common divisor” in order to develop together. The cultural difference between China and Germany is objective. It is not a matter of which culture is more advanced or backward, nor better or worse. We can bridge many differences through mutual appreciation and communication.

In today’s world, every country puts a great emphasis on cross-cultural communication. Through exchange and learning about each other’s culture, we wish to enhance our mutual understanding so as to resolve differences and conflicts while at the same time nurturing friendships. Thus, we can work together to generate knowledge and technology for world development and peace. In this process, the education sector, universities in particular, plays a critical role. Through exchange of universities, we are able to provide solutions and pathways towards solving of many common global issues. This is where the beauty of university lies. Moreover, we have all come to realize that, the promotion of communication between continents and countries can be best done by the young generation or students. Cooperation between universities creates opportunities for students of different backgrounds to exchange and understand each other’s culture and civilization. In this sense, what we are gathered here today to talk about, whether it’s cooperation between academic institutions, universities or between Tongji University and the DAAD, are all indispensible to the development of education, science, world cultural exchange and civilization. I have also come with such a mission. I’m here to ask all of you for your kind support. By supporting the cooperation between Tongji University and the institutions of higher education in Germany, we are able to promote cooperation between our countries, and ultimately to contribute to the world civilization.

According to the great man Goethe: “The sacred and bright spirit that creates anything extraordinary is always associated with the youth and creativity”. As early as 1872, the Qing Government of China sent the first group of young children overseas to the United States for study. A total of 120 children in 4 groups went to USA to study knowledge and culture. Due to various reasons, not all of them graduated successfully. However, some of them have become very important figures in China. Among them were Shaoyi TANG, the first Prime Minister of the Republic of China, Tianyou ZHAN, the famous railroad engineer as well as another 10 people who became minister of foreign affairs, minister of education and university presidents. In 1907, Dr. Erich Paulun from Germany came to Shanghai and established Tongji. What Dr. Paulun might not have foreseen back then was that his ideas and efforts have created opportunities for generations of Chinese young people to realize their dreams. He and his school helped fulfill those dreams. Nearly 300,000 students in the following 110 years have gained skills and creativity during their study in Tongji. In different ways, they have realized their dreams of serving China and the greater world. Among them are outstanding representatives such as Prof. Guohao LI and Prof. Gang WAN who are excellent cultural envoys for China and Germany. Therefore, until this day, we admire Dr. Paulun and are grateful for what he has done for us. He has played a significant role in disseminating the German culture and civilization. Moreover, he has contributed greatly to the human civilization as a whole and the development of science and education.

The DAAD is the world’s largest funding organization for the international exchange of students and researchers. It offers funding for exchange programs and international research projects targeting students and researchers from Germany and other countries, thus connecting German universities to universities in other countries and regions. It’s fair to say that DAAD is the envoy for world cultural exchange and educational development. It has helped fulfill dreams of countless students and teachers and contributed greatly to the human civilization. Over the past 30 years, under the support of DAAD, Tongji University has implemented about 10 cooperation projects with universities and institutions in Germany, benefiting over 1,000 teachers and students. They in turn become cultural ambassadors that bridge communication between our cultures.

Tongji University is a very important higher education organization in China and comes on top in many fields as compared to its counterparts. We have set a goal to establish ourselves as a world leading university. We aim to become not just the best one in China, but also one of the most influential universities in the world. To achieve this, we shall focus on our internationality. We wish to attract elite teachers and students from all over the world to come teach and learn so as to promote development of the civilization. In the meantime, we would like to see our graduates continue their higher education in top universities in Germany or elsewhere. Knowledge and great minds await them. Tongji University is currently working on its international development. We have established partnerships with over 200 top universities in dozens of countries. The cooperation includes mutual recognition of academic credentials and degrees, short or long- term visiting student programs, teacher visits and joint research projects. We have established close ties with about 60 German universities. We are grateful for the tremendous support that we’ve received from our German friends. We’d like to thank the DAAD for your consistent and great help in the past 30 years. We hope that our cooperation shall carry further and deeper into the future.

Germany is a great nation. You have nurtured a great many scientists, artists and ideologists. As mentioned by Friedrich Von Schiller in his inaugural lecture at the University of Jena in May 1789, should universities cultivate bread scholars or philosophical minds? Schiller chose the latter and emphasized on how universities should cultivate students’ interests with science and guide them to think about the destiny of human beings. The great educator Wilhelm von Humboldt has advocated that universities shall have missions, and that they shall not be limited to imparting knowledge and educating people. They shall also serve the nation and society and conduct scientific research. Tongji University is guided by the same vision. We focus on cultivating students that are concerned with the common destiny of the human race, interested in science and technology and who are at the same time innovative with practical skills.

What are the common issues facing humanity nowadays? War and peace? Poverty and disease? Harmony between man and the nature? Or any other big topics? We believe that we can work on the issues of sustainability and harmonious coexistence of man and the nature. In recent years, Tongji University has brought forward an important concept: Our vision is to establish a sustainability-oriented, world-class university.

What constitutes a sustainability-oriented, world-class university? I’ll explain it in five aspects.

Firstly, our university shall advocate the concept of sustainable human development. The great Chinese revolutionist Sun Yat-sen advocated the notion of “What is under heaven is for all”. Today, we also have a stone pillar in front of our university’s history exhibition hall with inscription that reads “Tong Ji Tian Xia”, meaning that we shall unite and fight for the happiness of human race from every corner of the world. A piece of ancient Chinese literature states that “one shall cultivate oneself, put family in order, govern the state, and bring peace on earth.” It’s the same idea. As philosopher Hegel said: “As long as there are still people watching the starry night sky, the nation still holds hope.” We call for our youngsters to dream, look at the stars and be sustainable. We wish to popularize the concept among university students, teachers and the general public: The human race shall achieve sustainability and develop in a sustainable, healthy and ecological way. During the development process, there exist problems such as environmental pollution, ecological damage, social governance, poverty and war. Universities shall strive to help solve the issues through technical solutions as well as fitting concepts, methods and philosophical ideas. The purpose of university is to cultivate talents who are concerned with the human destiny and its sustainable development. Its mission is to spread the concept of sustainable development across the world. Universities shall take the lead!

Secondly, universities shall provide knowledge and technology that are necessary for sustainable development. Same as the “rationality” concept by Max Weber, when we promote sustainable development, we must pay attention to have not just rational tools but also rational value, with the latter in focus. We hope our society can emphasize more on happiness of the people instead of on money and GDP growth. As Carl Marx pointed out, human development cannot exceed the level of development of its productive forces. Therefore, at specific historical times, when facing side effects such as environmental pollution from developing productive forces, we must rely on our technical strength and scientific methods to make improvements accordingly. In this process, it’s obvious that universities play an important role. Universities must take actions to help solve technical problems throughout human development. It’s our obligation to do so. By promoting researches that focus on sustainability, production knowledge and technology, we help innovate on and generate new ideology, theories, materials and ideas. We also should pay attention to apply existing science knowledge and technology to solving development issues. For example, Tongji University is working on establishing a “Sustainability Interdisciplinary Cluster” that integrates disciplines such as environmental protection, new energy, energy efficient buildings and smart cities so as to seek solutions to social and economic sustainability. We have carried out thorough cooperation with Germany in the fields of water environment management, Industry 4.0 and new energy material development. All the efforts apply scientific tools to sustainability.

Thirdly, universities shall put the sustainability concept into practice. Universities shall be a leader in social ideas and lifestyle. We can set ourselves as a leader in sustainable development by building energy-saving, climate neutral and ecologically sound campuses. How to achieve sustainability? What we need to do include promotion of the concept, application of technology, demonstration of equipment and learning through practice. In applying new materials, technology and equipment, we expect to encounter problems and challenges. Universities are capable of testing new things to demonstrate how they can be done. We have built many energy efficient buildings on our campuses. We also have quite a few student organizations and facilities that promote the climate neutral concept. Every year, we receive groups of students and teachers from other universities as well as the general public, with whom we share the concept. Moreover, we are especially focused on interaction with the society to transform our research results into productive forces. Around our main campus in Shanghai, an industrial cluster called “Tongji Knowledge and Economy Circle” has taken shape. It consists of several hundred enterprises, some of which offer climate neutral technology and products. Here, the wisdom and knowledge of Tongji can be directly transferred into application.

Fourthly, universities shall promote sustainability as a way of life to the students. Tongji University actively engages students in environmental-protection activities. Students are encouraged to participate in courses, lectures and international academic activities on the topic of energy-saving technology. We have expert professors who lecture on the concept of sustainability. I myself also give lectures to undergraduate students on sustainability. Every year, we organize study tours and internships for our students in Germany and other European countries so that they can learn from your practices and exchange with young people from other countries on sustainability. Our students also initiate a wide variety of activities every year to promote environmental protection awareness, the low-carbon lifestyle, “empty plate” campaign, power/water conservation, etc. We have launched the “Dream Support Initiative” for students with entrepreneurial ambitions. We have set up the “Venture Valley” on campus in order to provide business venues and funding. Our professors will guide students through the process to implement their business ideas which include environmental protection and pollution treatment projects. Later this year, we will work with the University of Munich to host the Global Entrepreneurship Forum for University Students at our Venture Valley. The forum offers a great chance for young people from all over the world to meet and exchange their business stories. All of the activities and platforms have ensured a sustainability-oriented atmosphere which help guide students towards a sustainable way of life.

Fifth, universities shall incorporate the concept of sustainable development into their culture. Past experiences tell us that any regulation can be sustained as long as it becomes part of the culture, and that any ideology can reach the bottom of our heart as long as it is adopted by our culture. Therefore, to promote the concept of sustainability, we shall make it an integral part of our culture that guides us and our behaviors. From now on, we shall integrate sustainability into the culture of our universities so that it becomes an important element in our cultural inheritance. We can also use music, painting, dance, poem, performance as well as other forms or media to embody the concept so that it can be experienced by people in the form of art and thus is passed on in the process. Tongji University is working on cultivating such culture that many on-campus activities reflect the concept of environmental protection, low-carbon development, green and eco-friendliness. We hope the cross-cultural communication between our young students can also include the sustainability topic so that people around the world is able to enjoy its beauty!

Ladies and gentlemen, starting from Mr. Humboldt, we have been emphasizing on the mission of universities to inherit and disseminate culture. All of you here today also recognize the active role that university plays in cross-cultural communication. We think that, besides its role as an envoy for cultural exchange, university shall also initiate communication and become one of the most active participants on the international cultural exchange arena. How do we communicate then? We can do so through publication of academic works and papers. But more importantly, we need to “go out” and interact with people. Communicate face-to-face. Therefore, it’s increasingly important to enhance cooperation between universities, especially on the personnel level. The Greek philosopher Protagoras said that “Man is the measure of all things”. Thus, we shall further communicate and cooperate to strengthen our relationship. We shall work on three aspects, namely personnel interaction, government support and participation of universities, enterprises and social organizations. We can carry out talent initiatives, technological cooperation and dialogues on art and humanity, among others. Next I’d like to talk about areas where our university would wish to conduct further cooperation with Germany. By working together, we can strengthen our cultural exchange, which in turn helps sustain our cooperation.

1. The Exchange of students and teachers.

Tongji University has well established student exchange programs with a few German universities. We have worked with Ruhr University Bochum, Technical University of Darmstadt and Technical University of Berlin for nearly 40 years. This graph also shows the close cooperation we are conducting with Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Bauhaus University Weimar, Marburg University, the University of Stuttgart and Offenbach School of Design. The cooperation involves fields such as environment, water treatment, Industry 4.0, architecture and civil engineering, design and media, medicine and pharmacology as well as chemistry, covering nearly half of the disciplines in Tongji University. It’s fair to say that we have established close and extensive cooperation. But as far as we can see, the cooperation remains mostly one-way, that is to say that a larger number of students from Tongji are coming to German universities. In the next step, we wish to welcome more German students to China for exchange in our University.

We should also promote teacher exchange programs. We can exchange teachers through short-term visiting programs, mid- and long-term teaching assignments as well as joint seminars and workshops. We need to increase the frequency of such activities, while at the same time enabling more comprehensive and extensive communications between our teachers. Tongji University will select a number of teachers to be part of the process in order to generate more concrete results.

2. International cooperation in educational establishment

The Action Framework For Sino-German Cooperation jointly published by the Chinese and German government in October 2014 states that “the Sino-German University (CDH) is a successful example of close cooperation between our universities”. The Sino-German College for Postgraduate Studies (CDHK), Sino-German College University of Applied Sciences (CDHAW) and Sino-German Institute for Vocational Training (CDIBB) of Tongji University have become models for Sino-German cooperation in the education sector. Tongji University has also set up similar institutions with France, Italy, Finland and Spain. Together with the UNEP and the UNESCO, we have established center of operations and research. All the efforts have achieved sound recognition in the Chinese society and are welcomed by students and parents alike.

For the future, we intend to continue cooperation with Germany. We think we shall work in three areas. Firstly, we hope to achieve sustainable cooperation that continuously receives support from our governments. The success of CDHK, CDHAW and CDIBB has demonstrated the absolute support from our governments. Building on the success, we hope to add tasks and responsibilities to the three joint projects so as to forge further long-term cooperation in education, science & technology, culture and social affairs. As China and Germany are key players in the world arena, universities shall utilize their think tanks to help support the policy decision-making process of governments. The second point is that we need support from enterprises. We shall engage more enterprises in nurturing more workforce. We can also offer more teaching positions in this regard. Germany has a long tradition in this area, so is Tongji University. Every year, a large number of enterprises work with China to offer funding for teaching position, lab establishment, scholarship as well as sponsorship for student entrepreneurial endeavors. German companies such as Volkswagen, Benz and Siemens enjoy great reputation in China and Tongji. I hope to see more German enterprises to join our partnership in the future. The third area is to optimize the internal governance structure for international joint projects so that operations run smoothly.

3. Co-establishment of high-tech laboratories

Co-establishment of high-tech laboratories has become an effective way for international cooperation in education. Tongji University has accumulated experience in this field. In recent years, we have worked with universities from USA, the UK, Italy and France to set up international labs for the fields of civil engineering, smart mobility and environmental protection. The facilities and human resources are made available to scientists and researchers from both sides. The cooperation has yielded great results. Therefore, we look forward to working with more universities or research institutes from Germany through the DAAD to set up high-tech laboratories. The growth and transformation of the Chinese economy offers great opportunities for a variety of disciplines to identify potential problems and develop solutions and technologies accordingly. Setting up laboratories together is a promising endeavor that we are willing to share with our German counterparts.

Recently, Tongji University has taken over the German-Chinese College from the Qingdao government. Historically, it witnessed the early cooperation in education between China and Germany. We have plans to restore the campus so that it continues to serve as an embodiment of the Sino-German friendship. We also plan to set up a science & technology park there and we welcome Germany to be part of the project. Together we will be able to establish a cutting-edge research institute that promotes scientific and technological cooperation between our two countries.

4. Humanities and cultural exchange

The Chinese philosopher Han Fei said that “State-to-state relations thrive when there is friendship between the peoples. And such friendship grows out of close interactions between the peoples.” Humanities and art are interconnected, subtle and beautiful, and serve as important media that facilitate friendship, interaction and close ties between peoples. University is the place to attract and produce art and culture. Tapping into this advantage, universities can help promote friendship and close ties between peoples.

Lately, the art and humanities departments in Tongji University have been actively engaged in cooperation with Germany. We have just concluded the German Music Week where German musicians and Chinese musicians worked together to stage wondferful performances in Tongji. Similar events that use music, painting and dance as media to overcome the barrier of time, space and language can also help promote mutual recognition, respect and cooperation between our peoples, especially the young generation. I am looking forward to more activities like this in the future. Tongji University has become an academic base to study German philosophy. We hope to have more joint projects with Germany in the field of philosophical research as well as education on music and art. It helps to promote cultural exchange while at the same time accelerate academic development.

Ladies and gentlemen, the world development relies on education, and the education sector needs international cooperation. We hope to see that Tongji University, the DAAD and German universities move further with our partnerships and make our share of contribution to the development of world civilization and education.

“In friendship, we are to each other like stars in the night sky who do not interfere but complement one another.” May the friendship between China and Germany last forever. And we wish the friendship tree between Tongji University, the DAAD, and German universities be evergreen.