Alumni representative Zhou Hairan is giving a speech   Photo by He Yang

Distinguished leaders, teachers, as well as my dear fellow schoolmates,

Good afternoon, everyone!

First of all, I feel really grateful for the precious opportunity offered by my school. On the behalf of all the graduates, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my alma mater, the leaders as well as teachers. Secondly, I would like to extend the warmest welcome the newly enrolled fellow students.

Now, please allow me to make a self-introduction. My name is Zhou Hairan. In 2002, I became a student of DNUI and graduated in 2006. By now, it has been 10 years since my graduation. Today, it’s a great honor for me to attend the opening ceremony with great emotion. When I began my study here, there were only two departments. But now, DNUI has become a real national university of second rank with 15,000 students studying here. I feel really honored and proud.

As a senior schoolmate, I have two points to share with my fellow students.

First, it is about puzzles in learning. When I was at school, I could not understand the meaningof learning, let alone the value of knowledge. I simply thought that to finish the high school is to enter into a university, or there would be no way out; to finish college study is to get the diploma and then find a job. I didn’t realize the truth of learning at that time. One day, six years after graduation, an idea suddenly occurs to me: What kind of life I need? What kind of person I would like to be?

Finally I made a cautious decision: Resign and start a business of my own! Then, a series of problems followed one after another, because I have no knowledge of finance, business management, and equity trading, which coincided the saying “It is when you are using what you have learned from books that you wish you had read more books than you have.” Ever since, I began to learn the knowledge I needed. On the day I chose the project I would like to do, I spent 8 hours on the notes of the professional knowledge relating to the project I decided to do. I realized that to learn the professional knowledge relating to the project well meant a large market waving to me ahead. That is the moment I realized the fun and significance of learning. I led my team to make every effort and got the turnover of 15 million within 2 years, which made us become the elites in our own field. The knowledge I have mastered can solve all the problems proposed by the dealers and clients. Then I realized that the people with only academic qualifications might be knocked out, but the people with learning power would not be eliminated in the society. Recalling my college life, I found that the greatest wealth I got from the university is not only the knowledge and skills, but more—the learning power!

Second, it is about the design of one’s own experiences. When entering into the university, I found that college life consisted of not only learning, but also extra-curricular activities, so I joined  the Student Union. However, I encountered a "Waterloo” in the first interview. I was stumped by a simple question, because I did not have any experience of preparing for an activity. After that I made a summary: my experiences were few. Then I set a goal, because I want to prove myself! I began to take part in and plan many activities while others were playing with balls or computer games!

Opportunities are always reserved for those who are prepared. When making the preparation for the event of celebrating the New Year's Day, I proposed to set up a message board for guests to write blessings on it. Out of expectation, my proposal drew the attention of the President as well as other leaders of our school. The President unveiled the blessing board in person, and the cloth was later retained to the historical archives of our school. Then I became popular as a freshman clerk right away. Later I became the head of the Student Union. During this period, I organized many activities for sponsorship, for the school-wide computer knowledge contest, and so on. All these experiences have helped me lay a solid foundation for the future entrepreneurship! Now in retrospect, but for the experiences in DNUI, I would not be that successful! As a senior schoolmate, I hope that every of you do not waste time, and try to make limited time more valuable!

In April of this year, I received an invitation from alma mater, then I came back to share my story of entrepreneurship with our schoolmates. The effect of my sharing is beyond my expectation, because the schoolmates felt encouraged and inspired after hearing my words. I also hope that I will be able to share more life experiences with all of you. If you are confused or are willing to make your life more fulfilling, please come to my sharing class. Due to the time limitation, so much for today’s sharing. For further information about me, please search on Baidu or Youku entitled: Zhou Hairan, a Guy Who Can Unlock More Unknown Secrets! Finally, I wish all my schoolmates had a good and fulfilling university life. I wish every student a brighter and better future after graduation!