*纽黑文会场Yel Science Building
April 6, 9 p.m. Beijing time, Yale Center Beijing.
At 9 a.m. ET, Yale University.
Separated by an ocean and a 12-hour time difference, the 10th Yale U.S.-China Summit began. With the theme of "Forge a Shared Future", Shi Yigong, President of Westlake University, was invited to deliver a keynote speech.
He "borrowed" the slogan of the 2008 Beijing Olympics - "One World, One Dream", and focused everyone's attention on what all mankind has - "One World, One Future".
"Only through international exchanges and cooperation can we have a bright and prosperous future. With this as the topic, Shi Yigong shared three stories from different historical stages in his keynote speech.
01
Yung Wing and Yale
The first story goes back to the 19th century, and Shi Yigong will tell it on many occasions.
The protagonist of the story, named Rong Hong, was later known as the "father of Chinese students".
In 1847, Yung Hong followed his teacher Brown to study in the United States, and three years later he was successfully admitted to Yale University, becoming the first Chinese college student to study in the United States. After graduating, Rong Hong returned to his homeland and began his 16-year effort to lobby the Qing government to send students overseas for education.
In 1872, under the unremitting promotion of Rong Hong, the Qing government sent the first batch of young children to study in the United States, starting the historical journey of Chinese sons and daughters to study abroad in pursuit of the dream of national rejuvenation.
Among these people, Liang Dunyan and Cai Shaoji, presidents of Peiyang University, China's first modern university, Tang Guoan, the first president of Tsinghua University, Tang Shaoyi, the first premier of the Republic of China, and Zhan Tianyou, the railway king during the Republic of China, were produced.
There is also this story in the "First Lesson" of doctoral students at Westlake University
Five years ago, on April Day, on World Book Day, Shi Yigong read the story with all teachers and students in the school for the first time.
Five years later, in April, at the Yale U.S.-China Summit, he once again shared the past of Yung Hong and Yale, as well as their shared vision for "one world".
"He is wise, persistent, patriotic and open-minded, passionate and rational, and has been promoting Chinese education to modern times for more than ten years. Shi Yigong said.
The first story began in 1847 when Mr. Yung Wing (容闳) followed his mentor, Priest Brown, to the U.S., becoming one of the first Chinese students to study overseas. He enrolled at Yale three years later and obtained his bachelor's degree in 1854. Yung Wing returned to China soon afterwards and began his 16-year effort of lobbying the Qing government to send students overseas for education. His effort won support from two government heavyweights: Zeng Guofan（曾国藩）and Li Hongzhang（李鸿章）.
In 1872, the Qing government finally approved Yung Wing's proposal. That Summer, 30 Chinese students, aged between 9 and 15, set sail on a steam boat from Shanghai, arrived in San Francisco 33 days later, and were placed into American schools and universities. This program continued for three more years and allowed a total of 120 Chinese students to learn, grow, and explore on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.
In 1881, ordered by the Qing government, 93 students returned to their homeland. They had collectively changed China's course, quietly but profoundly. Among these returnees are Zhan Tianyou (詹天佑), a legendary railroad engineer; Tang Guoan (唐国安), the founding President of Tsinghua University; and Tang Shaoyi (唐绍仪), the first cabinet Prime Minister of the Republic of China.
In 1895, one of these early pioneers, Cai Shaoji (蔡绍基), an alumnus of Yale Law School, assumed the presidency of Peiyang University, arguably China's first modern university. Over the following two decades, several modern higher education institutions were founded in China.
The clear benefits of advanced learning and cultural exchanges motivated the creation of many other programs in China. Among these, the Tsinghua School was established in 1911 as a dedicated preparatory school for college studies in the U.S. In 1925, the Tsinghua School formally became Tsinghua University, with U.S.-trained students coming back to play a crucial role in the university buildup for decades to come.
02
China and the United States
Fast forward 100 years, and it's a story that looks very similar, but very different.
If Yung Hong's story is about the spread of Western learning to the East, then the second story, which began in 1978, is the real integration and growth of Eastern and Western cultures and wisdom.
From the 19th century when Yale graduates traveled to China to run schools, to the 2014 Yale Center in Beijing as Yale's first university-run foreign physical center, the changes here are also a testament to the unstoppable exchanges and cooperation between the East and the West over the past century.
In 1978, reform and opening up.
At the end of December of that year, a group of 52 Chinese students and scholars, with an average age of 42, embarked on a flight to the United States to study. This is the first batch of mainland students from the People's Republic of China to study in the United States, and they set foot on American soil five days before the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States.
The historical pictures of a hundred years ago seem to overlap at this moment.
Shi Yigong graduated from the United States with a Ph.D. degree
In the decades since, there have been more and more such international students, and Shi Yigong himself is one of them. In April 1990, he departed from Shanghai Hongqiao Airport to study in the United States. That year, about 20,000 students from Chinese mainland went to the United States to study for PhDs. By the end of 2019, more than six million Chinese students had earned degrees overseas, and more than half of them chose the United States.
"Chinese students and scholars are playing an increasingly important role in exploring the frontiers of human knowledge. Shi Yigong said that a considerable number of international students have stayed in the United States after graduation to develop their careers, and they have made considerable contributions to scientific research institutions and high-tech companies in the United States, and those who have returned to China after completing their studies have also brought the power of change and development to all aspects of Chinese society. "The academic discoveries and technological breakthroughs of the Chinese are profoundly changing the world and our common future. ”
By the end of 2019, more than 4 million Chinese students had returned to their homeland, creating a major force of transformation in every corner of the Chinese society. For another example, in the past 15 years since 2008, the number of innovative new pharmaceuticals approved by China's National Medical Products Administration has increased more than 30-fold compared to the previous 15 years. The vast majority of these drugs were discovered by overseas returnees.
Most importantly, collaboration between Chinese and American scientists is a major source of breakthroughs in basic research. The cross-border flow of students, scholars, entrepreneurs, and tourists has brought tremendous benefits to China, the U.S., and the global community. Now, China hosts approximately half a million international students. Such exchanges are a crucial feature of modern society and a pre-requisite for sharing the same earth planet by all nations and all peoples.
West Lake and the World
Compared to the first two stories, the last one has just begun.
"I am a direct beneficiary of reform and opening up. In his speech, Shi Yigong said that he was born and raised in China, and has studied and taught at top universities in China and the United States, and has experienced first-hand the transformative impact of Sino-US educational exchanges and scientific cooperation. "This experience has shaped my strong belief in the common future of humanity, a future of seeking common ground while reserving differences, a future of deepening cooperation and exchange. ”
Inspired by this, he and a number of colleagues started a new business in 2015 - to establish a small, sophisticated, research-oriented university in Hangzhou, China. "Our common dream is to build it into an international center for high-level education and scientific research, and a new generation of students who will go out from here can benefit China and the world and promote the progress of human civilization. ”
Westlake University International Summer School
Internationalization and global vision are one of the talent training concepts that Westlake University has always adhered to.
Up to now, Westlake University has hired 230 academic talents from 15 countries and regions around the world, and has established cooperative relations with 45 universities at home and abroad. Every summer, summer camps in multiple disciplines are also open to high school and college students from all over the world.
Shi Yigong said that this institution of higher learning, which grew up in the land of China, is and will continue to be committed to the future of China, the world and mankind. "Climate change, food security, health crises, etc., are the challenges we all face, and universities are the perfect coordinates to address these challenges. ”
Unlike Yale of more than 300 years old, Westlake University was founded less than six years ago. Supported by both public funding and private philanthropy, Westlake is a new-type research university, the first of its kind in the history of modern China. The word "new-type" defines a new concept and reflects our role as a vanguard in reforming higher education in China. Westlake is governed by a Board of Trustees, and is committed to advancing the frontiers of science and technology by nurturing the next generation of scientists, engineers, and leaders with a global mindset.
At Westlake, we are proud to bring together students, scholars, faculty, and staff from many countries and different cultures. 230 exceptional scientists from 15 countries and regions have joined us as faculty members. Of these, 11 have a Yale background. Both Chinese and English are official languages at Westlake, and all science courses are taught in English.
Last year, we hosted 31 American students on our campus for a summer program. During their stay, they exchanged their views on science, research, society, and the world with local Chinese students. They engaged in collaborative studies, participated in recreational activities, and worked together on research projects. The friendships these students enjoyed in the summer program will continue for many years to come.
We strive to build bridges with institutions worldwide. By now, we have established partnerships with 45 universities worldwide. We played host to 37 students of Cornell University who were stranded in China during the fight against COVID. We enrolled our first undergraduate class of only 60 students in Fall 2022; they will go to our partnering universities in the U.S. for one-semester exchanges in the coming Fall. We are developing a truly international community to build bridges between China and the rest of the world.
Westlake was built in China, but it serves the entire world and all humanities.
At the end of the keynote speech, Shi Yigong once again responded to the theme of "One World, One Future".
"We are living in a time of uncertainty, so we will need global cooperation more than ever, and this is the value of U.S.-China academic cooperation and exchanges. Universities, he said, are bastions of knowledge, innovation and diversity, and as history has told the story, these collaborations should transcend political differences and transcend national borders.
"Instead of being a spectator of history, it is better to take action to create history and create the future. ”
来源：西湖大学 策划 | 俞熙娜
Editor丨 Feng Yi
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