To construct a world-renown university label without targeting at academic excellence or indulging in charity is what Tsinghua University currently tries to do. As Tsinghua's year long centennial celebration is starting in May 2010, its alumni in Britain have been busy discussing what they can do for their "mother school" in a recent reunion.

The Alumni Reunion

Thinking that I can have a relaxed Saturday afternoon meeting some friends' old university mates, I innocently stumbled into a two hour lecture where almost a hundred people sat through speech after speech. In a nutshell, it all came down to the essential question: what's to be done so that Tsinghua's name in UK has the same weight as Cambridge / Oxbridge.
 

Ideas for Branding

" Tsinghua is the symbol of the Chinese nation, so branding is essential. We need to make people in the UK recognise Tsinghua through a clear and simple message. This is our task of branding." Professor Guo Yike, President of Tsinghua Alumni Association in UK, sat the challenge. Many ideas were discussed.

A social science PhD student suggested the idea of publicizing Tsinghua's history through books, documentary and gallery. "Tsinghua students started coming to the UK since the 1940s, their experience is little known even to the second wave of students who came in the 1980s. We can emphasise this history through the media and ask Oxbridge professors who worked closely with Tsinghua to input their comments."

Other ideas resulting from a lively discussion included hosting "Tsinghua drink nights" where alumni bring their professors or employers; putting a Tsinghua documentary on Facebook and U-tube, changing existing Chinese associations' names to include "Tsinghua", selling a UK Tsinghua hoodie, and even making Tsinghua's history a research course at UK universities.

"It is important that next year we'll have one celebration in UK and not two. By uniting together, we're solving the Taiwan problem for China." said Professor Guo with a touch of humour, referring to the fact that Tsinghua had a campus in Beijing and another in Taiwan, the alumni of which have been meeting separately. He also suggested building a strong friendship between china and UK's academic circles by sending teams of UK professors and prospective students to visit Tsinghua.

The Uniqueness of Tsinghua Alumni Network

"I was very much influenced by the alumni culture of Tsinghua during my student days", said Dr Kai Yu, who founded the Alumni Association seven years ago. Despite Tsinghua's alumni in UK being so scattered, the initial committee of 10 people manually tracked down 200 alumni to join the network.
Surprisingly, the unexpected formalness of the meeting was more impressive than boring. The singing of the Tsinghua University song triggered a sweet nostalgia of my school days in China and the humourous rising of the Tsinghua University flag by attaching it to the end of a projector screen that gradually rose was a novelty that triggered a round of laughter amongst the audience.

A Distinct Aspect of Chinese Culture

But even without these dramatic episodes, the event's high level of organisation, the sincerity and enthusiasm that alumni invested into the discussion and the intimate atmosphere of this home away from home all deeply moved me. I dare say that asking alumni to formally write out suggestions for centennial celebration online and voting for the top ideas is unachievable for alumni of English universities as that their level of university loyalty is incomparable with the Chinese. Furthermore, behind the meeting's seemingly propagandist speeches publicizing China's recent achievements and urging students to be "eggs and not bananas" (meaning to retain Chinese characteristics as opposed to become westernised) often picked on by western press as a communist trait of Chinese meetings, the association's bureaucracy demonstrated complete transparency by reporting back their detailed work to the members, and that the plan for a new year is created through a perfect democratic process.
Chinese alumni reunions are special because they demonstrate an inherent part of the Chinese culture that flourishes even more in a foreign land. It is through this invisible but unstoppable collective spirit that Tsinghua will soon make a big name across the world.

For more information see:
http://www.tsinghua.org.uk/wiki/index.php
http://www.tsinghua.edu.cn/qhdwzy/index.jsp

 

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