On the morning of the 26^th of December, a symposium was held in Ming De Building to discuss the construction of the new RUC East Campus. RUC President LIU Wei, Vice Chairman of the University Council ZHANG Jianming, Vice President YI Zhihong, and Vice Chairman ZHENG Shuiquan attended the meeting, which was presided over by Vice President HE Yaomin. The meeting began with Vice President HE introducing the symposium topic and then briefing the attendees on the present developments in the task of constructing the new campus. He noted that so far, East Campus construction has received approval from the Ministry of Education, the former tenants have been moved and compensated and the properties have been demolished, and has obtained approval from the Beijing Planning and Land Resources Management Committee, so that formal construction is expected to begin in 2017. Since the end of November, the Work Planning Office for the construction of the East Campus (Tongzhou Campus) has been working hard on developing a plan, utilising examples drawn from the experiences of other universities from China and abroad, focussing on four major aspects in the overall plan: East Campus functional niche, capital raising methods, overall plan optimisation, and organised work systems. The purpose of the symposium was to discuss these four areas to make a work plan that will ensure the construction of the East Campus goes along without a hitch. The Director of the Work Office and General Manager of the Logistics Group for the Tongzhou Campus LIN Jianrong gave three separate reports on the proposed plans for functional niche, capital requirements and fundraising methods, and organised work systems. Campus Construction Administration Office Director LI Ming gave a report on the final of the four topics, overall plan optimisation. After each of the reports, the attendees held lively discussions, putting forward opinions and suggestions on how to proceed with the development plan. Vice Chairman ZHENG opined that constructing the Eastern Campus is an important strategic move for the future development of the university, as well as an important issue for the students, teachers and faculty staff. He emphasised the need to strictly adhere to the requirements of the University’s policy making procedures, conduct ample investigations, extensively seek the opinions of all involved, and continue to perfect the plan so that we are adequately prepared for the next step in construction. Following, Vice President YI noted that the East Campus construction is an important milestone for the university, which has caught the attention of RUC’s alumni. She emphasised the need to see the University’s 80^th anniversary as a turning point, to bring into play and utilise the resources of our alumni, and promote the importance of this task to our alumni to solicit their assistance in building the campus. During the meeting Executive Vice Chairman ZHANG pointed out that construction of the East Campus was an important step as part of RUC’s 100-year development strategy, requiring the University to strike a balance between innovation and historic traditions to bring out the strengths of the university. He concluded with some suggestions for the functional niche, fund raising methods, and plan optimisation for the campus. In his summary speech President LIU emphasised that the East Campus construction is a long-term, complicated project, requiring the whole campus to come together to overcome any difficulties that may arise. He asked all relevant departments to actively support and comply with the requirements of the construction task, so that it could be completed as early as possible, to facilitate the University in meeting its targets of becoming a “world class university that meets the needs of the people” and a “double first-rate university.”