Rong Hong, dancers inspire talents to return to China

A thousand returned overseas representatives, National "Thousand-Talents Program" experts, scholars from home and abroad, as well as guests from the Hong Kong and Macao SARs and foreign countries, gathered at the opening ceremony of the 4th Zhuhai International Students Festival & 2017 Overseas Students Entrepreneurship Week on Dec 8.

The opening ceremony began with the large sitdance Return, which unfolded with the diaries of several returned scholars and depicted their endeavors to help realize the Chinese Dream.

Large sitdance Return

Zhuhai Deputy Party Secretary Zhao Jianguo delivered a speech on behalf of the CPC Municipal Committee and city government. He stated that Zhuhai is poised for new challenge and reshaping an international habitable city with high-end industries, high-caliber talents, and high-quality life. Returned scholars are highly welcome to create startups and initiate careers in Zhuhai.

Zihong (Bill) Liu, chairman and CEO of Shenzhen-based Royole Corp, a global pioneer and manufacturer of advanced flexible displays, flexible sensors, and smart devices, made a keynote speech titled My Chinese Dream. He was later interviewed by CCTV Business Channel.

Opening ceremony [Photos courtesy WeChat Official Account (ID: zhyouth001)]

The spirit and forefather of Chinese overseas study, Rong Hong (Yung Wing), is still inspiring students a hundred years after his death, with more than 50 overseas experts and students visiting a memorial hall to Rong on Dec 7.

Rong Hong (1828-1912) was a noted Chinese educator, diplomatist, and social activist. He is a Zhuhai native born in Nanping Town who studied law at Yale University, becoming the first Chinese to earn a degree in America. In 1872, he initiated the Chinese Educational Mission (CEM), which sent 120 young Chinese students to study in the US. When they returned to China, these young men entered the diplomatic service, worked as engineers on infrastructure such as railroads, and served as naval officers, physicians, educators, administrators, and magistrates, contributing significantly to Chinese modernization.

The group visited the Rong Hong Memorial Hall at Zhenxian School, which he founded in person, and together recalled the pioneering spirit and the daring it took to accomplish those achievements back then.

A series of activities were organized for the group to experience the Town of Overseas Study as well as capture the city's unique charm of being open, innovative, ecological, civilized, and energetic. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, Haibin Beach (City Parlor), and Zhuhai Opera House were on the visit list.

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, which will benefit from policy advantages, is to become an innovative highland with a large amount of talent and resources, said the organizing committee office of the festival.

Zhuhai's favorable living conditions and environment were highlighted during the on-site visits, the atmosphere conducive to drawing relevant talent and projects to Zhuhai, according to the organizer.