Renmin University of China (RUC) held the opening ceremony for undergraduate freshmen of the Class of 2025 on Aug 25.

At the ceremony, students delivered a collective recitation of the original campus-history piece "We Came from Yan'an." 

Through their performance, guests and new students were taken back 88 years in time, retracing the footsteps of the pioneers of the Shaanbei Public School, revisiting a chapter of revolutionary history, and experiencing the indomitable spirit and pioneering strength that define the RUC community.

Zhang Donggang, secretary of CPC RUC Committee, warmly welcomed the Class of 2025 undergraduates on behalf of the university. He noted that RUC was born amid the flames of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and has advanced resolutely along the path of national rejuvenation. 

As one of the first universities founded by the CPC, RUC carries a proud revolutionary tradition and a distinctive red legacy. Marking the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, Zhang encouraged students to remember the great spirit of the war and to write new chapters of achievement for a new generation of RUC students in the grand journey of Chinese modernization.

Lin Shangli, president of RUC, emphasized that the university was founded to contribute to the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. He encouraged students to align their personal growth with the timeline of China's modernization, and to strive to become pillars of national rejuvenation and pioneers in building a strong country.

At the ceremony, Chen Hong, a representative of the families of heroes of the War of Resistance, joined a digital recreation of martyr Zhao Yiman to revisit the spirit of resistance as expressed in wartime family letters. 

"Dear students," she said, "you must always remember the arduous years when the Chinese nation fought for survival, and remember the countless martyrs like Zhao Yiman, who fought for the nation's survival, for national rejuvenation, and for the cause of human justice, and who now rest eternally in the land beneath our feet."