On the afternoon of September 11, 2018, all 481 students of Fudan Law School’s new incoming cohort of undergraduate and graduate students gathered in the auditorium of Leo Koguan Law Building for the Law School’s Opening Ceremony 2018.

Dean WANG Zhiqiang, Vice Deans DU Yu and LI Chuanxuan, Fudan Law School CPC Committee Secretary HU Huazhong, and representatives of the teaching faculty were also present at the ceremony, which was presided over by Vice Dean LI Chuanxuan.

The event opened with a welcome video prepared by the Law School for the new students. Student representatives of the incoming cohorts, ZHAO Yidi and GUO Xueqing, delivered speeches on behalf of the incoming undergraduate and graduate student cohorts respectively, each expressing their understanding of Fudan spirit and their future aspirations as Fudan students. Current graduate student XIE Guangyu then took the stage to share her experiences here at Fudan Law School and welcomed the new students to the Fudan family.

ZHAO Yidi

GUO Xueqing

XIE Guangyu

Next, Professor DUAN Housheng and a new faculty member Dr. SHI Hongpeng each gave a speech as representatives of the teaching faculty. They both imparted their wisdom on the pursuit of knowledge. Professor DUAN encouraged the students to always uphold the values of fairness and justice, integrity and rationality, and to make their time at Fudan a transformative phase of their life-long learning, while Dr. Shi implored students to take a comprehensive approach to learning and to find meaning not just within the realms of their academic studies, but also within the society at large.

Professor DUAN Housheng 

Dr. SHI Hongpeng

In closing, Dean WANG Zhiqiang delivered his welcome speech to the incoming students, centered on the topic of studying. Students at Fudan are here to study, not to intern – for practical experience, while important, should be built on a strong foundation of in-depth knowledge and understanding of law in the books; students are here to study, not just to listen to lectures – greater take-aways are gained through active reading of literature; students are here to study, but not just to study law – for the students of the Law School should take on an inter-disciplinary approach in their learning, combining knowledge from different fields of study to keep up with the developments and needs of society. With that, he wished every student great academic success and an enjoyable campus life at Jiangwan.

Dean WANG Zhiqiang