“It was totally beyond my imagination that it was Grandpa Li Lanqing who my first teacher at UCAS,” freshman Guan Xiyuan said.
On 13 September, former vice-premier Li Lanqing visited the UCAS Yanqihu campus, delivering a lecture titled “Intellectuals and Cultural Attainment” to more than 400 freshmen and entering graduate students. The lecture was hosted by CAS President Prof. Bai Chunli.
Mr. Li joked that he was not a straight-A student at his high school. Using the ancient highest imperial examinations as a metaphor, he said, “Some of you are number one scholars or number 2, but I could be regarded, at best, as a successful candidate in the examinations.”
As a beneficiary of his love for culture and arts, Li said arts had made his retirement life more colorful, and had also left a bright page on his political life. In July 2001, during his stay at Moscow for the 112th meeting of the International Olympic Committee, Li, then executive vice-premier, sang “Moscow Nights” with former Moscow mayor Luzhkov. The same love for music promoted communications and helped created a positive environment for Beijing to receive the opportunity to host the 2008 Olympic Games.
Along with his enthusiasm for arts Mr. Li has strong curiosity. “It is curiosity that has produced a number of great scientists,” he told the students. Many leading scientists were obsessed with the beauty and mystery of science. He told a story whereby inspiration acquired from the piano helped Albert Einstein to formulate the Special Theory of Relativity. The former leader urged the students to devote more time to arts and culture so as to stimulate their curiosity and awe for the unknown.
During the lecture, Mr. Li displayed his first stone seal cutting after retirement, which is a seal of the Qin Dynasty engraved with four Chinese characters which read “revitalize the nation through science and education.” As a vice-premier, Li oversaw China’s science and technology, and education for ten years.
Mr. Li’s lecture changed the mindset of many entering students. “Previously I thought my only task at college was studying my major while putting aside my hobbies. After this class, I know that culture and arts can be so crucial in scientific research, and I will stick to my love for arts,” freshman Ke Mingyu said.
CAS owes much gratitude to Mr. Li who visited CAS in 1993 and 2009 on inspection tours, said Prof. Bai. In Septemnber 2000 Mr. Li approved a report by CAS to reform the academy’s educational mechanism, thus laying a solid foundation for UCAS’s development.
