A New Beginning That Is Increasingly Disappointing

Nowadays young people…… why are they all so practical, so mature?

Lately I’ve begun interacting again with the incoming class of 2006 in the Philosophy Department. I have never lost my enthusiasm for wandering around the Weilai Beida Ren community; I like interacting with new students.

One reason I like wandering around the Weilai Beida Ren community is this: my own entrance into Peking University, into the Philosophy Department, was really a matter of pure chance, and for that I especially need to thank one teacher in Peking University’s admissions office. I think the best way to express gratitude is precisely this: in a certain sense I too do work similar to his—introducing Peking University to students who are hesitating about applying there, introducing the Philosophy Department I know well; offering help to those who look up to Peking University and dream of it.

Another reason is that I like interacting with the freshmen in the Philosophy Department. Here there are again two factors: on the one hand, I have always fantasized about finding a few of my “academic partners,” or at least a few like-minded friends. But that is truly too difficult; I am someone out of step with fashion. People who love science, love philosophy, love religion, love nature, and are pluralists—finding even two or three of those qualities in the same person is already extremely hard to do. Still, I cling to a trace of fantasy, because if I do not take the initiative to look, and even to “cultivate” such people, then they are even less likely to appear……

The more practical, and more important, factor is this: I enjoy the happiness that comes from talking with freshmen. My two years of study and life in the Peking University Philosophy Department have been very happy, and I am willing to share my happiness with others; at the same time, students newly admitted to Peking University often have many joys of their own, don’t they? After enduring the ordeal of the college entrance examination, it is not easy to get into Peking University, is it? A magical place like Peking University, a place that countless people yearn for and long for with all their hearts, surely cannot help but inspire everyone’s aspirations and fantasies, can it?

Of course, if I am facing someone who fantasizes about Peking University a bit too beautifully, I will also remind him that Peking University is actually “a mess,” with many unsatisfactory aspects, and not to let hopes get too high and disappointments even higher. But surprisingly, there are very few such people, and in the freshmen especially, there are almost none at all!

Each new crop of freshmen is worse than the last, and when I talk with them I can hardly feel even a trace of their “aspiration.” There is simply no aspiration at all! There are even less dreams! Every single question every single person asks me, this senior, is: What about a double major? What about finding a job? What about changing departments? What about going abroad? Can philosophy make money, and is it easy to gain social recognition……

Peking University’s freedom, philosophy’s variety, the ease and grace of university life—none of these concerns anyone. Money! Going abroad! Work! Diplomas! Status and position! Are these the things circling in the heads of young people who have just received their admission notices from Peking University?

I’m almost disheartened.

Every single one of them is like this!

It’s not that one need not think about the question of making a living, of course you have to think about it! But shouldn’t you at least first know what the Philosophy Department is like, know what Peking University is like, and then consider such things? It is true that by the second semester you need to think about the double-major issue, but that is a matter for the second semester! It is a good thing to plan far ahead, but at least first come and personally experience what Peking University is all about, okay? Come and take a few philosophy classes with an open heart, okay?

I often emphasize this: you have never studied philosophy in high school at all, and the way of studying and living in high school is completely, completely different from that in university. University is a totally, totally new thing for you. My own understanding of university and philosophy, and my introduction to them, are only one person’s view; I merely hope everyone understands that this is a different kind of thing. I hope everyone will minimize preconceptions and prejudices as much as possible, and experience Peking University and philosophy with a blank and open heart—that is the only way to gain the most genuine experience! As for double majors, changing departments, going abroad, work, making money…… can’t you think about those a little, a little, a little later? Even if you can’t wait until the second semester, at least wait until after you’ve stepped onto the Peking University campus, okay? Such a completely burden-free, rare, truly rare summer vacation—surely it is worth relaxing and enjoying to the fullest, isn’t it? After slogging through the college entrance exam, aren’t you happy? After getting into Peking University, aren’t you excited? Don’t you look forward to a brand-new future?

Nowadays young people……

I think maybe I should withdraw from the stage.

July 28, 2006

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Translated from the Chinese original with AI assistance. The original text is authoritative.