On the morning of November 18, the Unveiling Ceremony of Chu Kochen Statue was held at the International Campus to celebrate the campus’s 5th Anniversary since its Grand Opening. Professor HE Lianzhen, a member of the standing committee of CPC Zhejiang University Committeeand Vice President of ZJU, and OUYANG Hongwei, Dean of the International Campus, unveiled the Chu Kochen Statue together. The ceremony attracted over 130 attendees, including representatives of relevant ZJU departments, all the key administrators and representatives of faculty, staff and students of the International Campus. Representatives of the statue creation team were also present at the ceremony. WANG Yufen, Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party Committee and Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of the International Campus presided over the ceremony.
The Chu Kochen Statue, standing at 2.3 metres tall, is located on the east side of the Central Lake of the International Campus, on the podium in front of the library. The plaque, placed in the southeast, was engraved with the theme with four Chinese characters, “归来·远望”, meaning “Return & Vision”, all in seal script (an ancient style of Chinese Writing). The statue design was based on the portrait of ZJU’s former President Chu Kochen in his younger days, who was dressed up in a suit, holding a scroll in his left hand and sticking his right hand in the pocket, looking ambitious and full of vigor. The statue depicts the charisma of President Chu when he returned to China after his overseas study and assumed office as ZJU President. The statue aims to guide faculty, staff and students in commemorating his strength of character, promoting the spirit of seeking truth and cultivating patriotism.
Chu Kochen boarded the ocean liner to United States and he was one of the second batches of overseas students funded by the Boxer Indemnity Scholarship Program in September 1910. He was twenty years old then, standing on the deck of the cruise ship, while looking back at his homeland, he also looked forward to the future. In 1913, Chu Kochen graduated from the College of Agriculture at the University of Illinois, and in 1918, he received his Ph.D. Degree in Meteorology from Harvard University. He had declined many invitations from many colleges and universities in the United States and chose to return to his long-separated motherland with a passion to serve the country. In 1930, he took up the role to announce weather forecasts made by the Chinese and this marked the beginning of modern meteorology in China. From 1936 to 1949, he served as the president of Zhejiang University. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (The Second Sino-Japanese War), he moved the university to the west and successfully completed the “Long March of the Literati Army” in the history of Chinese higher education. During that 13 years, ZJU was transformed from a local university with only 16 departments in 3 colleges of Arts and Sciences, Agriculture, and Engineering to a comprehensive university with 27 departments in 7 colleges of Arts, Sciences, Agriculture, Engineering, Law, Medicine, and Teacher Training. And thus, ZJU became one of the top 4 universities in China, acclaimed as the “Oriental Cambridge” by Joseph Needham, a world-famous historian of Science and Technology. From the founder of meteorology in China to the President of ZJU, from a scientist to an educator, Chu Kochen had advocated and practiced the “truth-seeking spirit” and set a “truth-seeking” role model for ZJU faculty and students.
Professor HE delivered a speech during the statue unveiling ceremony. She pointed out that the report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC stated, “To build a modern socialist country in all aspects, we must develop a socialist culture with Chinese characteristics and be more confident in our culture”. The spirit of the University is the soul, the emotional support of faculty, staff and students, as well as a vivid interpretation of the university culture. The spirit of ZJU has been enriched with new connotations through the pioneering efforts and continuous struggles across the generations of ZJUers. Among them, former President Chu Kochen is a perfect example, who not only inherited the university’s tradition but also advocated and practiced the distinctive “truth-seeking” spirit, which has influenced ZJUers for many decades. As 3 national ministries and commission have issued the plan to build the International Campus into an international collaborative education model, and on occasion of the 5th Anniversary of the Grand Opening of the International Campus, the unveiling of the Chu Kochen Statue provides a spiritual impetus for the faculty, staff and students of the International Campus to open a new chapter of their careers.
WENG Liang, Deputy Director of the Development and Liaison Office of ZJU, delivered a speech on behalf of ZJU’s alumnus, ZHU An, the son of the former President Chu Kochen. ZHU stated that the statue not only resembles the former President, but also depicts forward-looking, diligent, ambitious and full of vigor. He conveyed deep respect and gratitude to the statue creators.
SHEN Zhanyu, a ZJUI undergraduate student of Class 2023, also delivered a speech. Having just completed his exchange study at the University of Illinois, he said that former President Chu Kochen, who had returned after studying abroad to serve the country was his role model. Back in 1936, former President Chu posed the following two questions to ZJU students, “Why do you come to ZJU?” and “What do you want to be after graduation?”. As for SHEN Zhanyu, he said that his goal to study at the International Campus is ultimately to contribute back to the prosperity of the country, the rejuvenation of the nation, and the happiness of the people. He further called on ZJUers to uphold the university’s motto of “seeking truth and pursuing innovation”, remember the entrustment from predecessors, commit to global engagement and always seeking the truth, so as to grow into promising youths with national identity, international vision, global competitiveness and global responsibility.
A student presented flowers to the Chu Kochen Statue.
Article: XUE Qian, SUN Xiaolei
Editing: SUN Xiaolei
Editing in charge: XUE Qian