July 27, Nankai University’s Lotus Festival 2020 and Opening Day were held on the Dazhong Road at Balitai campus. The event was welcomed by teachers, students, graduate students of the high school and Tianjin residents. At consultation booths, schools and colleges explained to the candidates and their parents the enrolment policy and disciplinary characteristics of Nankai University in 2020 and helped students to fill the application form. In the meantime, at the Mati Lake in the north of Dazhong Road, lotus flowers were blooming. The fragrance of the flowers permeated in the 100-year-old campus in the summer breeze, attracting students and their parents to appreciate and take photos. They enjoyed themselves so much that they were about to forget to leave!

 

Nankai University’s Vice Chancellor Kexin Yang attended the event and talked with the staff. Because of the requirements of the epidemic prevention, this year’s offline consultation was only opened to top 3,500 candidates in Tianjin college entrance examination. In addition, appointment was also required before entering the campus, and because of the different periods of consultation, the crowd was diverted as well. The consultation time for each candidate was one hour, with two parents at most. Candidates without appointment couldn’t enter the school. Nankai University has opened the hotline number 022-60365167 (in which the numbers “5167” in Chinese are pronounced like “I want to apply for the university” in Chinese) for candidates and their parents who are unable to enter the campus. The system intelligently allocates the local enrolment consultant to answer calls and provide consulting services according to the number of the home area.

 

In China, the lotus is considered the symbol of nobility. Grown in muddy swamps and rising above the surface to bloom with remarkable beauty, the exquisite flower, untouched by any impurities, it symbolizes the purity of the heart and mind and represents longevity, humility, honour and tranquillity. This is also the pursuit of Nankai, and the lotus flower is the university flower of Nankai.

Photo: June 2019, a tourist took photos in front of the House of Jialing at Nankai University

Born in the month of lotus and taking he (荷, lotus in Chinese) as the infant name, the famous scholar Prof. Chia-ying Yeh has been using her holiday every year to give lectures back to China since 1979. When she returned to Nankai in autumn, she always felt sorry for missing the Mati Lake’s lotus blossom period. Thus, she wrote a poem specially for Nankai’s lotus flower to express her sorrow. Now Prof. Yeh has settled in Nankai and is engaged in teaching and scientific research in the House of Jialing, which is located on the bank of Mati Lake at Balitai campus of Nankai University. For this deep friendship with Nankai, Prof. Yeh wrote another poem to express her happiness and gratitude.

Photo: July 21, Prof. Chia-ying Yeh celebrated her 96^th birthday at Nankai University

A few days ago, Prof. Yeh celebrated her 96^th birthday at Nankai University. Via the Nankai University’s official WeChat platform, this graceful old lady with deep feelings for Nankai welcomed candidates to apply for Nankai University: “Hello young students, I am Chia-ying Yeh. I am waiting for you at Nankai. Come to Nankai in autumn! Let’s talk about poems! Everybody’s welcome!”

This year’s Lotus Festival and the Opening Day were also live broadcasted online. The person in charge of the Admissions Office of Nankai University provides online “cloud consulting” service for the parents of the candidates, explaining the enrolment policy and the unique majors of Nankai University in 2020. Nankai University’s NKU History and Culture Publicity Group shared the profound 100-year history of Nankai online, so that candidates were able to take a “cloud” trip to Nankai. Moreover, Nankai University’s New Center also provides live broadcast, which made students and their parents feel the beautiful atmosphere of the campus, visiting Nankai “on the cloud” and approaching to understand this 100-year-old university’s culture and tradition.

(Reported by Chengjin Wei, Photographed by Chengjin Wei and Shuohao Wang, Translated by Yuchen Shi, Edited by Davide Francolino and JianjingYun)