ke a testimony to the education of Tsinghua that I can actually deliver a speech in English and be understood by most students. That would challenge any university in the US for somebody to deliver a speech in Chinese and be understood. So I think this is demonstrating that the quality of education of Tsinghua is ready to groom you all to be the leaders in the years to come.
Thirdly, I wanted this speech to be heard by the world.
The world we live in today is more connected than at any other time in human history. And yet, with the massive transformations ongoing both in China and across the globe, it also has never been as confusing. There are profound social issues in China, worrying frictions around the world and massive misunderstanding, especially on China related issues.
In a time of confusion, the best solution, or at least the best path to a solution, is to communicate.
So let’s start with confusion.
Graduation is a time of joy and celebration for enjoying a much-needed dose of freedom after all the stresses of the past months and years. But it’s also a time of confusion. It certainly was for me, when I graduated 16 years ago. “Future” is a big and daunting word; it brings excitement and hope, but also uncertainty and anxiety. You are entering an unknown period of your life. Unknown not only academically or professionally, but also personally – you are not “college students” anymore, you are young adults, taking charge of your own lives. How to live a meaningful and fulfilling life, is the answer we are all ultimately seeking.
You might think that, by now, after 16 years, I must have figured it all out. I’m sorry to tell you, I haven’t. But I have made some progress at least: I’ve learnt to be more at peace with my confusion.
So let me share with you a few lessons I’ve learned on this not so glorious journey of living at peace with confusion.
李一諾在清華大學(xué)生命科學(xué)學(xué)院2016年畢業(yè)典禮上演講
Lesson One: Take a Historical Perspective
If being Chinese gives us any advantage, it’s that we have a longer history, and we have more opportunities to learn from it. But this is not only about learning, it’s also about putting things in perspective.
Let’s take healthcare as an example. This is an area where the world has made huge strides, and China, has made arguably the biggest contribution to the improvement of basic human conditions. In the 1970s when I was born, China had 27 million cases of malaria each year. In 2014, there were 57 cases of local transmission. In 1990, China’s maternal mortality rate was 97 in every 100,000 lives births. By 2013, it was lower than that of the United States. TV dramas set in a glamorized historical China are often big hits, but it’s worth noting in these times (at the end of the Qing dynasty for example) the reality was that millions of children didn’t live beyond their 5-year birthday and 80% of people were illiterate. People fantasize about going back in time, but looking at this data there’s no way I would want to go. Chances are that I would have been an illiterate women who died giving birth to a child.
Citing this historical data is not to minimize the issues China has now; of course there are huge healthcare challenges facing our population, and they’re very different from those of the past. But understanding this historical context allows one to learn from what worked in the past, and to think about what healthcare system levers are available to address healthcare issues in the present-day setting. A historical perspective helps one to look at issues and solutions with a different lens, which will more likely lead to better outcomes.
This is also not only about putting things in perspective, it’s also about having a more balanced view of the world.
When I was younger, I was eager to discern the good from the bad, the black from the white. Labeling and generalizing seem like an easy shortcut to answers in a confusing world, but it can also be massively misleading. If we can learn anything from history, it is that everything happens with preludes, and most choices made seemed reasonable within their own context and their time. So having this view allows one to make sense of the world, connect with historical f
