On September 21^th, Suzhou Campus held the opening ceremony for the class of 2026 Freshmen in the Suzhou Branch School of RDFZ, where more than 900 freshmen with different academic backgrounds including undergraduate, master's and doctoral programs jointly embraced the new academic year. Attendees included Zhang Donggang, Secretary of CPC RUC Committee; Ma Huaide, President of RUC; Wang Xiaohu, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC RUC Committee and Vice President; Shan Jie, Deputy Mayor of Suzhou; as well as faculty and staff representatives from departments and colleges of Renmin University of China, Suzhou Campus and Suzhou Branch School of RDFZ. 

Zhang stated that the Suzhou Campus constituted a pivotal component of the university's multi-campus development strategy, serving as a new growth pole in the new era, a new engine for enhancing internationalization, and a new strategic fulcrum for serving the world-class city cluster in the Yangtze River Delta. The commencement of the One-stop Learning and Living Complex Project in 2026 marks a new and significant step in the high-level development of the Suzhou Campus, and the leapfrog development will be inscribed in the history of Renmin University of China. He encouraged the students to forge the spirit of pioneering, uphold the character of reassuring the Party and serving the people, practice the down-to-earth work style of seeking truth from facts and doing real practice and solid work, shoulder the responsibility of blazing new trails and driving undertakings forward, and integrate their youthful endeavors into the broader picture of national development.

Ma Huaide addressed the freshmen with "vision" as the key word. He stated that "vision" is rooted in the red spirit of the Shaanbei Public School and is also the spiritual core of the Yuanjian College of the Suzhou Campus. He hoped that students would make good use of the practical fertile ground of the city of Suzhou, and in the unity of knowledge and action, turn "vision" into "the visible" and "ideas" into "solutions." He hoped that students would appreciate the enduring and ever-renewing continuity of Chinese civilization in the Jiangnan humanities, and in exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, firm up their lofty aspiration to contribute to human peace and development. He also hoped that students would carry forward the pioneer spirit of "always striving at the forefront of the times," innovate through inheritance, surpass through innovation, and let their youth blossom on the new journey of building a strong nation and national rejuvenation.

Shan delievered that in recent years, the collaboration between Suzhou and RUC has been continuously deepened, who have made sustained efforts in such fields as top-notch talent cultivation, humanistic economics research, artificial intelligence and smart governance innovation, and international talent exchange, thereby steadily expanding the landscape of university-city collaborative education. Suzhou has over two thousand years of profound cultural heritage of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the bold spirit of reform. It’s not only a place for study, but also a living textbook where one can delve into. He looked forward to students becoming observers, participants, and storytellers of Suzhou.

At the same time, the "Artistic Expression and Cultural Transmission" intangible cultural heritage on campus activity of Renmin University of China was officially launched at this year's opening ceremony. It aims to establish an integrated pathway combining intangible cultural heritage with aesthetic and labor education, deeply synergizing the university's academic research strengths and disciplinary resource advantages with local intangible cultural heritage craftsmanship and folk art resources. Sheng Xiaoyun, Suzhou Pingtan artist, first-class actor, Vice Chairperson of the Chinese Ballad Singers Association; Xu Jianping, national representative inheritor of the representative intangible cultural heritage Ming-style furniture making technique; Zhou Jianming, national representative inheritor of the representative intangible cultural heritage    Guangfu Olive Pit Carving; Chen Weibing, national first-class artist and Vice President of the Chinese Heavy Color Painting Research Association of the China Artists Association; and Yao Yuehua, Executive Director of the Yao Jianping Embroidery Art Museum, were appointed as aesthetic education mentors of Renmin University of China.