Farewell,
My University
——How Different Generations of Chinese Celebrate Their Graduation
Fang Wenyu, Ning Yuqi, Liang Ying
"
From teenagers to adult, from campus to society, from ending to the beginning, China’s graduation season is the gala of joy and sorrow in June. Caps tossing high up in the air, the momentous milestone in life is usually accompanied by beloved family, friends and teachers. However, the wild divergent views of graduation season 40 years ago are gradually fading in the cheers and tears today.
"
Graduating in 1972, Yan Ge arduously struggled amid the cultural revolution, a sociopolitical movement that paralyzed China’s economy and society from 1966 until 1976. In those distorted years, the educated youth responded to the call of “working in the countryside and mountainous areas”. The turmoil set nerves jangling, with the graduation season went on silently.
“A talk with the teacher assigning the working position in the countryside is a sign of my graduation,” recalled Yan. The tension and perplexity muted graduation songs. Drifting apart across the country, the graduates endured pains of separation. “I only wish I had a camera at that time.” said Yan.
Suffocated by the ten-year disorder, university students saw the dawn from the survival predicament. The graduates in the late 1970s cherished more of the hard-won opportunities of study.
In an era of material scarcity and conservativism, the graduation season seems to be reserved and placid. Without cap or gown, the graduates queued for hours in front of the photo studio to freeze their innocent smile.
A photo of Zhang Liwei with her roommates taken in photo studio
Zhang Liwei, a 1979 graduate of the Medical School of Zhengzhou University in central China, recalled the scene of her graduation. With a subtle boundary lying between boys and girls at that time, celebrating the graduation separately was a common phenomenon. Girls would have a get-together while boys would get drunk to honor their youth and bid farewell.
“We enjoyed an excellent Henan Opera at the largest theater in Zhengzhou,” Zhang said with emotion, “though I couldn’t remember the name of the opera, I would never forget the names of my companions that night.”
The reform and opening-up launched in 1978 brought genuine benefit to students of the 1980s. Commencement ceremony and photographs were no longer exotic rarities. Students were free to address their feeling at the ceremony, explicating their love for friends and visions for future.
Ning Qun on his graduation album
In those years, sacrifice and responsibility were the keynote of graduation. Ning Qun is one of the witnesses of the time. Graduating from the First Military Medical University in Guangzhou in 1989, he still remembered their burning passion towards the future and the sorrow of saying goodbye to his comrades.
The song “camel bells” resonated with the sound of weeping and goodbyes. Words of “innovation”, “truth seeking” and “dedication” shined scarlet flashing on the graduation album. Dressed in military uniforms, the students replaced the bewilderment of the 1970s with enthusiasm. “The distribution command to the army ignited our passion at the commencement ceremony,” uttered Ning with a boyish smile.
Dressed in military uniforms, the students replaced the bewilderment of the 1970s with enthusiasm. “The distribution command to the army ignited our passion at the commencement ceremony,” uttered Ning with a boyish smile.
The 1980s, however, still left regrets and pities behind. “A smartphone to store contact information was all I wanted if I had the chance to go back,” Wang Xuan, a graduate in 1980, said as memory flooded back. Retiring in 2010, Wang was in deep remorse to her classmates whom she has lost touch with.
In the 1990s when China made itself through turmoil and start to open up, the second generation of baby boomers born in the late 1960s and early 1970s were stepping out of the campus. The country was like a child who brushed up again, eager but somewhat restrained. In the days of material scarcity, a color photo was a luxury for the graduation season.
Yu Wen's graduation photo with her classmates
“What graduation meant for us were those pictures taken on campus and the wishes left on the memento books,” said Yu Wen, who graduated from a medical college in north China’s Shandong province.
“It was a fashion to swap clothes among girls when taking graduation pictures, so that you could have multiple plumage,” Yu said. She added that the so-called commencement ceremony was just a meeting of all the graduates.
In those days when the society was poised to embrace a prosperity, grads turned to a big dinner to celebrate their transfer from a child to a social person and extend the time with those who once sat beside.
When the folk song “the table you” that memorized old classmate was sweeping across the country in 1995, Tian Ying graduated from the Beijing-based University of International Relations. “Beer seemed to be never enough and the same words came on rounds and rounds among classmates before we left the campus,” said Tian.
There were no graduation party, only guitars staving off the melancholy of the parting on the lawn.
Stepping into a millennium, grads were increasingly free to bid farewell. The most popular photography equipment at that time was a point and shoot camera.
“We wandered around the sites on campus that store our memories, taking pictures with our classmates,” said Mu Ling, who graduated from Shandong University in 2005.
“A coincidence that a boy in my class volunteered to take pictures for a girl whom he has never met before made them keep in touch forever. An acquaintance because of taking graduation photos stretched to a marriage.” Mu described an impressive story when she graduated.
At that time, the beauty camera apps that China’s current smartphone generation cannot live without was still beyond the sight. Without white and flawless selfies, all the photos were plain and original. In retrospect, Mu jokingly said that at that time she dressed like a bumpkin, but she still missed it.
Individuality is brewing, but still limited. Throwing the mortarboard into the air seemed crazy, which is a necessary posture for graduation today. “Academic regalia was rare then. Only by making a reservation, can you borrow it for several days,” said Mu.
A creative graduation photo taken by unmanned aerial vehicle
2010s is said to be a generation of those born in the 1990s, who is not as shy as their parents to express their individuality and enjoy privileged material conditions. Parting in the 2010s is no longer those blurred eyes and portraits in black and white.
In the past five years, graduation activities have shown an increasingly diversified trend, both in content and form. Going far beyond a picture wearing academic regalia, retro-style pictures, red carpet for grads, dance party, and videos taken by drones are decorating the-once-sad season.
However, the ever-diversifying graduation activities have sparked public concern. He Yicong, who is now an associate professor at Shanxi University, narrated the change he had experienced and witnessed.
The expense of the various activities in graduation season has overwhelmed the students from less privileged families. Parties, photographs, frequent gatherings and graduation trips have created new burdens. Reluctant to have classmates’ spirits dampened, these students or their families have to pay for the bill.
According to a survey done by the Social Survey Center of China Youth Daily, 42.9% of the interviewee claimed an expense of more than $462 in their graduation season，while 30.9% deem it as a financial burden.
Another problem is a matter of time. The senior year students are usually occupied by graduation trips or graduation photographs. “They are taking photos or on their way to take photos,” complained He, “the quality of the graduate thesis is sliding. The restless heart prevents them from digging into the thesis, even if they finally spare time to polish it.”
1970s
The Mute Generation
Perplexity and Conservatism
1980s
The Ardent Generation
Dedication and Enthusiasm
1990s
The Thriving Generation
Freedom and Vitality
21st Century
Individuality and Diversification
