Source: Publicity Department
Translated by: Zhan Cheng
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

As the new year begins, all things start anew.

With the first ray of sunlight of 2022 over the charming Kangle Yuan, we would like to pay high tribute and extend our best New Year wishes to all our students, current and retired faculty and staff, alumni at home and abroad, and friends from all walks of life, who have always cared for and supported the development of Sun Yat-sen University.

The year 2021 was a landmark year in the history of the CPC and the PRC. The Chinese people celebrated the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC, fulfilled the First Centenary Goal, embarked on a new journey to achieve the Second Centenary Goal, and ensured a good start of the 14th Five-Year Plan.

The year 2021 was also a significant year in the development of Sun Yat-sen University. Guided by Xi Jinping Thought of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the University firmly promoted the “Four Consciousnesses”, fortified the “Four Matters of Confidence”, and ensured the “Two Upholds”. The University also strengthened and upheld the Party’s overall leadership on all its undertakings, carried out in-depth study and implementation of the spirit of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, furthered and expanded the learning and education of the CPC history, and unwaveringly pushed ahead with Party discipline inspections and rectification work. During his visit to the University, Premier Li Keqiang highly commended SYSU’s rich heritage and remarkable achievements, and encouraged students to uphold the University’s motto, work hard and serve the society and the country in the future. Premier Li’s words were extremely inspiring and uplifting for us all.

In 2021, Sun Yat-sen University continued the improvement of the Party organization system, strengthened primary-level Party building, and established Party branches for major projects, platforms, and teams. The University set up standards for the building of Party branches for students and faculty, and vigorously promoted Party building with a branding strategy featuring standardization, normalization and informatization. Efforts were also made to carry out project development and cultivation in “striving for advancement while keeping up with standards”, select multiple benchmark schools and departments, model Party branches, and studios for teachers’ Party branches secretaries who excel in both Party building and academic fields. It has also promoted comprehensive reform of “All Staff Education, Whole Process Education, All-round Education”, implemented the education philosophy of “cultivating better students with the best faculty”, and “bettering the faculty before cultivating the students”. The revolutionary spirit in SYSU’s DNA and its contemporary significance were thoroughly explored and integrated into the cultural development of the University, which fostered extensive ideological consensus among faculty and students, and pooled strengths to form synergies in the further development of the University.

In 2021, Sun Yat-sen University adhered to its motto of “Study Extensively, Enquire Accurately, Reflect Carefully, Discriminate Clearly, Practice Earnestly”, stayed focused on fulfilling the “Double First-class” development goals, and fully implemented the primary task of fostering virtue through education. With a focus on organic growth, it adhered to the “Four Orientations”, highlighted the improvement of the quality of talent cultivation, and broke new ground for talent-related work.

In 2021, Sun Yat-sen University accelerated high-quality development of talent cultivation, and actively explored the education model with SYSU characteristics. In September, the introduction of the cross-departmental enrollment and centralized education enabled all first-year students to live and study on the Guangzhou South Campus, where they are able to feel the cultural heritage and tradition of this century-old university. The University also adhered to the “Five Integrations”, and established a sound class entry mechanism. The development of high-quality teaching materials was promoted to improve the teaching quality assurance system. Efforts were also made to fully implement the “Excellence Creation” project and promote the teaching reform of medical education. Significant results were achieved in multiple areas, including enrollment quality improvement, national first-class majors, plans for strengthening basic disciplines to recruit top-notch innovative talents in basic disciplines, the national excellent teaching material award, and provincial teaching achievement awards.

In 2021, Sun Yat-sen University adhered to the “Four Orientations”, gave full play to its strengths in fundamental research and interdisciplinary integration, strived to make breakthroughs in key technologies, and significantly enhanced its capacity to undertake national tasks. With the return of “Zhong Shan Da Xue”, China’s largest-ever oceanographic research and training vessel, to its home port, and the delivery of the “Zhong Shan Da Xue, Ji Di”, a comprehensive scientific expedition vessel, SYSUers embarked on a new journey towards building China into a great maritime power. To meet the national strategic needs, the University stayed focused on tackling key technological problems to promote the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Initiatives were made in developing major scientific research and innovation platforms, such as the Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), the TianQin Research Center for Gravitational Physics, the National Supercomputer Center in Guangzhou, the Center for Precision Medicine, and Sunlight Spectrometer, as well as high-end think tanks such as the Institute of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Development Studies. Both the contract value and amount from commercialization of scientific and technological achievements of the University in 2021 alone exceeded the total figure for the whole 13th Five-Year Period.

In 2021, Sun Yat-sen University provided support for Fengqing County, Yunnan Province, and Fengyang Town, Lianzhou City, Guangdong Province, building an organic connection between consolidating and expanding poverty alleviation results and rural revitalization. The University worked hard in assisting Xinjiang and Tibet, and achieved great success in the fields of education, medical care and local development. The Kashgar Hospital Affiliated to Sun Yat-sen University (National Regional Medical Center) officially became a pilot unit of the National Regional Medical Center. More than 20 members of the volunteer teaching team held their posts with tenacity in regions such as Tibet, Yunnan and Guangxi, fighting hard for ethnic unity and rural revitalization with their patriotism and righteous ardor, and living up to the mission and responsibilities of SYSUers.

The coming year 2022 will witness the 20th CPC National Congress. As we embark on a new journey to fulfill the Second Centenary Goal, we shall continue to march ahead with courage, and write another new chapter in the development of Sun Yat-sen University.

We sincerely wish our motherland greater prosperity!

We sincerely wish our faculty, staff, students, alumni, and all friends happiness, great health and every success in the New Year!

CHEN Chunsheng and GAO Song
December 31, 2021