Sign language at graduation event touches netizens

The touching scene of 1.5 hours of sign language interpretation for graduates from the Technical College for the Deaf, Tianjin University of Technology, the country's top college for the deaf, at the 2021 graduation ceremony on June 24, is expected to once again light up domestic social media.

Wang Xiaoou, deputy Party chief of the college, the first of its kind in China built in 1991, indicated that the interpretation is held in every large event with the gathering of the university's students.

During each such event, which brings together the majority of the students and teachers of the whole university, none of the college's students are absent and the simultaneous sign language interpretation is offered by their teachers.

"In fact, when the video on the touching scene hit social media and moved netizens in 2019, the teachers and students of our university didn't feel as surprised as netizens, because they experienced this many times," said Wang, who was also the interpreter for the ceremony this year.

For example, on June 23, at a celebration for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China at the university, they performed an excellent dance show.

Their teacher offered a particular poem recitation with sign language for them, and both moments were impressive and memorable.

[Video by Zeng Xiying /Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]