On the morning of October 25, 2021, the opening ceremony of the 2021--2022 academic year of the Silk Road School, Sino-French Institute and International College of Renmin University of China (RUC) was held successfu in Kaitai Building, Suzhou Campus. Full of longing and expectation, the freshmen of grade 2021 gathered in Suzhou Campus of RUC to embark on a new journey of life with a youthful attitude of struggle.

The opening ceremony was presided over by Li Jiugao, Deputy Director of the Administrative Committee of Suzhou Campus of RUC, Dean of International School and Sino-French Institute, and Deputy Dean of Silk Road School.

On behalf of RUC, Du Peng, Vice president of RUC, Deputy director of the Administrative Committee of Suzhou Campus, and Dean of Silk Road School, extended a warm welcome to the students and expressed sincere respect to the parents who worked so hard to train their students. He expressed his heartfelt thanks to the leaders and guests from all walks of life who have long cared about and supported the school-running cause of Renmin University of China. He hopes that students studying in China will make use of the opportunity to learn about China, understand China, tell Chinese stories, spread Chinese experience, and build bridges to eliminate prejudices and misunderstandings in the world.

Fang Weiwei extended welcome and congratulations to the freshmen, and introduced the Suzhou campus and the 2021 freshmen. He pointed out that since its establishment, the Suzhou campus has always been committed to continuously improving the talent training system, innovating talent training models, improving the quality of talent training, and striving to cultivate international high-end talents. The campus has three colleges and schools: Silk Road School, Sino-French Institute, and International College. In recent years, the Suzhou campus has been steadily increasing in scale, and has continuously made new achievements in discipline construction, talent training, and international cooperation and exchanges. In 2021, there are a total of 472 freshmen in the Suzhou campus. Among them, the Silk Road School has 32 international students from 21 countries and regions including Rwanda, Poland, Zambia, Mexico, and Mongolia. Up to now, Silk Road School has enrolled 200 students from 60 countries and regions including China, Pakistan, Dominica, Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and India, with students from all over Europe, America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania.

Liliane Umutoniwase (Li Nian) from Rwanda spoke at the ceremony as a representative of the freshmen of Silk Road School. Li Nian graduated from China West Normal University with a bachelor's degree in International Economics and Trade. During her study days in China, she liked China more and more, and she became more interested in the extensive and profound traditional Chinese culture. Li Nian said that China is a very important cooperative partner of Rwanda. Over the years, the two sides have maintained close cultural exchanges. Under the “Belt and Road” initiative, more and more Rwandan compatriots hope to come to China to better understand and learn from China. She said that she was lucky to be a member of the Silk Road School and looked forward to gaining more knowledge here in the future.

At the ceremony, a collection of videos recorded by freshmen of the Silk Road School was played, which fully demonstrated the grace of Silk Road School students at home and abroad, expressed their vision for the new semester, and their greetings and blessings to the school and teachers.

It is believed that the 2021 freshmen of the Silk Road School will live up to the mission of the times, strive to be the first, move forward with their dreams, and write wonderful youth answers.

Translated by Li Changhao&Zeng Yingxin