On the afternoon of September 3, Xinya College held an opening ceremony for the students admitted in 2021 in the reception hall of the Central Main Building of Tsinghua University. A total of 93 freshmen were welcomed by members of the administrative office of Xinya College, representatives of course teachers,form teachers, representatives of teachers at the student community management center, freshmen's counselors, and representatives of senior students at Xinya College. The ceremony was presided over by Ruan Dong, Head of the Party Working Group of Xinya College.

To start of the ceremony, the Xinya Orchestra performedMirror Night. The brisk, profound melody vividly illustrated the inclusiveness of the people at Xinya College.

Ruan first introduced the guests present and extended a warm welcome to them, as well as to all the freshmen.

Senior students of the Xinya Orchestra, along with some freshmen, sang the college's anthemXinya Preludeto express their welcome to the freshmen, hoping that they could integrate themselves into the cultural community of the college as soon as possible.

Representatives of students admitted in 2020, 2019 and 2018 all delivered speeches. Yang Shiyu, a sophomore, gave her view on Xinya College and general education: freedom to define general knowledge, freedom to express ideas, and freedom to explore majors.

Qiu Ruikun, a junior student, shared his "prejudices" on life at Xinya College. He described the college by using three words: truth, options and inclusiveness. He continued to say that at Xinya, you can feel comfortable with who you are and freely express your experience and emotions, no matter how naive and biased they are. "Instead of offering the opportunity for me to choose freely among ready-made options, Xinya has shown me that there are infinite possibilities in life. Xinya's inclusive atmosphere encourages us to explore, making itself diverse and interesting.

Song Chenyang shared experiences from his three years at Xinya by saying that it has allowed him to break through the barriers of interpersonal relations and get rid of the labels put on himself. He also explained how he has gained a new understanding of who he is and how his mind has been freed from its shackles.

On behalf of the freshmen, Li Mingchang from Xinjiang gave a speech. He told how he had gotten to know and fallen in love with Xinya College, and expressed his yearning for his future life in the college and his persistent pursuit of personal ideals. The freshman also shared his newfound understanding of Xinya: "Xin" means new requirements for new talent in the new era, and "Ya" implies elegance and magnanimity, the academic aura of the college, the profound philosophy of the university, as well as its inclusiveness, truth and placidity.

On behalf of all teachers of Xinya College, Professor Ji Linhong from the Department of Mechanics delivered a speech. Noting that the current international situation is complex and the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, he said that Xinya is currently exploring a new model of talent training, aiming to cultivate talent who can play a leading role in all walks of life. He stated that Xinya students should be able to creatively develop the fine traditional culture of the Chinese nation and address major social challenges with the advanced technology of interdisciplinary integration. He suggested that students must have ambitious goals in life and keep making tireless efforts to build China into a great modern socialist country.

In his speech, Gan Yang, Dean of Xinya College, extended a warm welcome to all the freshmen and said that all students admitted into the college are exceptional talented people. He offered three pieces of advice to the freshmen: First, they should treat the first semester prudently, and choose fewer courses rather than more. The key task in the first semester is to find their own pace of learning, keep learning under their own control, and build self-confidence. He stressed that higher learning is not about how much knowledge you can learn, but about how to acquire the ability to develop knowledge. Second, they should cherish the time with their schoolmates, especially roommates, asking the students to foster the habit of going to the dining hall together with their roommates. He added that the core of leadership is affinity, and Xinya students should be amiable, interesting and likable. Third, Xinya students must realize that the current international situation has undergone great changes, therefore they need to grow up and mature as soon as possible. They need to pay more attention to and understand world affairs, China-US relations and China-Europe relations, and they should be inspired by a sense of duty to themselves, Tsinghua University, and the country.

Finally, Ruan emphasized the importance of the freshmen to enjoy themselves, which is an academicsuggestion Mr. Yang Zhenning gave him many years ago. He urged that college students should enjoy learning and academic research. In addition to earning credits and increasing GPA, they should enjoy the beautiful process. In his opinion, this enjoyment is what constitutes the deep motivation for students to learn and develop.

The ceremony ended with all the students and teachers singing the anthem of Tsinghua University. As new members of the college, the freshmen will now embark on their new journeys at the university.