On September 6, more than 5,700 new undergraduate students and 4,000 new graduate students of Class 2025, filled with hopes and dreams, arrived from all over the country at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law (ZUEL), embarking on their new academic journey.
The campus was lush and vibrant. The main orientation avenues bustled with crowds, lined with welcoming banners hung overhead. The elaborately decorated orientation stations of various colleges were thronged with people, creating a festive atmosphere across the campus as all orientation procedures progressed in an orderly manner.
Warm Welcome: Leadership Extends Care to New Students
That morning, a delegation of ZUEL leaders, accompanied by heads of relevant departments, visited the Nanhu and Shouyi campuses in sequence to greet the new students. The delegation included: Hou Zhenfa, Secretary of the CPC ZUEL Committee; Zhu Fangwei, President and Deputy Secretary of the CPC ZUEL Committee; Chen Shi, Deputy Secretary of the CPC ZUEL Committee; Tan Hong, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC ZUEL Committee and Vice President; Zhang Qi, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC ZUEL Committee and Vice President; and Zhao Kai, Assistant President. They interacted warmly with new students and their parents and extended condolences to the staff and volunteers working on the front lines of the orientation effort.
“Is ZUEL beautiful?” “Yes!” At the graduate orientation headquarters on the Nanhu Campus, many new students and their parents took group photos with the university leaders. Amid the clear and crisp replies of “Yes!”, cameras captured these heartwarming moments. The leaders cordially chatted with the newcomers and their families, extending their sincere blessings to the new students.
“How many students have registered so far?” “What’s the percentage of non-local students among the new graduate students?” “Are there any special cases that need coordination?” At the orientation headquarters and various reception stops, over 2,000 staff members and 800 volunteers were diligently assisting with the intake process. Easily identifiable in their uniforms, they guided new students through registration and patiently answered all kinds of questions. The university leaders observed the registration process, inquiring about real-time enrollment data and the overall progress of the orientation work. They highly commended the dedication and hard work of the team, encouraging them to continue serving as attentive, warm-hearted guides for the new students, providing quality service and promptly addressing any concerns.
“A wide river flows with rolling waves…” At the orientation stop for the School of Law at ZUEL, five booths from five colleges were arranged in line. A group of male students performed a lively folk dance to cheerful rhythms, prompting freshmen and their parents to capture the moment on their phones as waves of applause filled the venue. A university leader beamingly praised, “Such a welcome is vibrant and distinctive, letting new students feel the school’s warmth right from their arrival!”
Guo Tianhao, a 2025 new undergraduate of the School of Law, hails from a family with three ZUEL alumni—his mother Liang Hongxia and his father Guo Yong, both university graduates. “Alumni hold a deep affection for their alma mater. My husband and I always said that if our child studied law, it had to be at our alma mater. We are so happy that he can now attend ZUEL as he wished,” Liang Hongxia told the leaders with a smile, expressing her hope that her child will become even more outstanding under the university’s guidance. She mentioned that the campus has changed a lot over the years, with a more beautiful environment, and that the on-campus “baby buses (the compact campus shuttle buses, affectionately called 'baby buses)” were a pleasant surprise for her.
“Where is your hometown?” “Where did you graduate from?” “The university is now your home.” ... At Building 9 of the Huanhu Residence Hall on the Nanhu Campus, and Buildings 40, 33, and 26 on the Shouyi Campus, the university leadership engaged in warm conversations with new students and their parents, extending a heartfelt welcome to the new arrivals. The leaders encouraged the students to interact more with their peers, participate in campus activities, and quickly integrate into campus life. The leadership also presented some new students with “care packages” containing stationery sets and classic books. “Please rest assured,” the leadership told the parents who had accompanied their children for registration. “The university will take care of our students as if they were our own children.” In response, the parents expressed, one after another, “We have absolute confidence in entrusting our children to ZUEL!”
“Why Did You Apply to Our University?” “What Are Your Career Plans?” Wang Chuyan, ranks first among the physical science applicants admitted to our university from Jiangxi. As a new student at the School of Accounting, she had a cordial exchange with a delegation of university leaders at Building 40 of the Shouyi Campus. “Zhongnan University of Economics and Law is one of the prestigious ‘Five Leading Law Schools and Four Key Departments’ (a renowned cluster of top-tier institutions in law and humanities in China), and its finance and economics programs also boast remarkable strengths. With a keen interest in accounting, I will dedicate myself to academic pursuits after enrollment, striving to achieve my goals as soon as possible,” Wang noted. The university leaders encouraged her to grow into a college student with lofty ideals, grand aspirations, a strong sense of responsibility, outstanding accomplishments, noble integrity, and refined cultivation, and to contribute her youthful vitality to building a powerful nation and realizing national rejuvenation.
Birthday Celebrations on Campus Day One
“Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you......”
Near noon, cheerful singing rang out at the orientation headquarters on the Shouyi Campus. Our university leaders joined the new students celebrating a collective birthday to cut the cake, and the warm atmosphere made the new students feel right at home. This has been a cherished orientation tradition at our university for 6 years. This year, it included 18 new students whose birthdays fell on move-in day, with 14 of them attending in person.
A “Tree of Growth” display immediately caught the eye inside the orientation headquarters. Its theme, “A ‘New’ Arrival, A Shared Future”, came to life as new students pressed colorful handprints onto the branches, symbolizing the start of their new life journey.
The scene was heartwarming.Hou Zhenfa and Zhu Fangwei cut the cake with the new student representatives, and the names of all birthday students were clearly marked on the cake.They also presented new students with books such asXi Jinping and College Students and The Birth of the Communist Party of China: Upholding the Original Aspiration and so on, offering literary nourishment to guide them into a promising college journey.
The leaders also gave students cards designed to plant the seeds of hope, urging them to take root in the fertile soil of ZUEL and grow to become young people with ideals, responsibility, perseverance, and a spirit of hard work.
“Just yesterday I was at home receiving warm wishes from my family, and today I’m celebrating at ZUEL with my teachers and peers. This is the most special and meaningful birthday in my eighteen years,” exclaimed Wang Runlei, a new undergraduate student from the School of Accountancy. Echoing the sentiment, a parent of Chen Zhelin, a new student from the School of Law and Economics, remarked after the event, “This celebration made our child feel completely at home and gave him a strong sense of belonging. We truly hope that he can study hard and grow happily here.”
Diverse Welcome Activities, Each Showing Its Unique Charm
To help new students enroll “smoothly” and have a warmer “first taste of college life”, various departments of our university have made targeted efforts and launched several exclusive services and activities for new students, striving to create a warm, efficient and enthusiastic atmosphere. For example, the teacher-student service hall has been put online, and an online “one-stop” self-service registration system has been launched, slashing procedural time; free on-campus circular “Baby Buses”(free shuttle buses) have been arranged to connect the school gate, registration points of various colleges and dormitory areas, providing “on-demand pickup” to help new students reach their destinations easily; in collaboration with Donghu High-tech Zone, multiple “Han Police Rapid Rides” have been deployed on campus to jointly ensure traffic order on campus and effectively improve registration efficiency; dormitory maintenance and cleaning work have been carried out in advance, with each dormitory facility inspected, repaired or replaced one by one, creating a more comfortable and warm living environment for new students.
Just finished completing enrollment procedures and already able to submit an application for Party membership on the spot? At the welcome desk of the School of Business Administration, the “dual registration” booth was crowded with new students. This was the “dual registration” activity launched by the school, allowing new students to register with both the Party organization and the Communist Youth League organization while completing on-site enrollment procedures.
“I come from a family with Party members. Inspired by them, I also want to actively move closer to the Party organization and become a true Party member,” said Tang Xinyue, a new student. It is reported that by the end of the day, among the 651 new students who had registered, 205 submitted applications for Party membership and 44 registered for the League on site. In total, nearly 40% of the new students took the initiative to express their firm determination to move closer to the organizations on their first day of enrollment.
To create a vibrant and warm atmosphere for new students, the university has set up various creative display stands and slogans across the campus, organized a range of engaging offline orientation activities, and built an immersive registration experience to help new students get to know the campus quickly. In front of Zhongnan Building at Shouyi Campus, a display stand with the message “A Warm Welcome to New Students”—composed of the names of the 2025 new undergraduate students—has attracted many students to take photos.
Each college’s orientation desk has planned a variety of diverse welcome activities, such as “lucky draw boxes” that offer pleasant surprises upon opening, custom-made cultural and creative dolls carrying exclusive memories, interesting stamp-collecting check-in activities, and characteristic photo check-in walls that freeze beautiful moments These activities collectively create indelible memories of enrollment for new students. Meanwhile, each college has established a “one-on-one” volunteer team for orientation. Composed of senior students, these volunteers familiarize themselves with the information of new students in advance. From the moment new students arrive at the registration desk, the volunteers accompany them throughout the process of identity verification and document submission, take the initiative to help carry their luggage, guide them to get familiar with dormitories, and explain tips for campus life.
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Reporters: Zhuo Zhangpeng,Hai Yunfei, Yang Rongbin
Photographers:Cui Zhenzhen, Du Peng, Peng Jia, Xu Moxiao