Recommendation
It is rare to find an article that speaks well of Principal Xu.
Main Text
This article was transcribed by SimpRead 简悦, original source mp.weixin.qq.com
【Preface】
The year I graduated, my friend Guo Liuyi asked me, “Old Xiao, aren’t you going to write an eight-year graduation summary?”
I smiled and said, “It’s too early.”
Indeed, countless moments over eight years cannot be summed up in a few words. Looking back at myself in the third year of high school, I never imagined that ten years later, I would become an ordinary practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)… Since I enrolled at the end of August 2014, nearly ten years have passed. Perhaps it is time to write a summary…
So, with the theme of 【Ten Years】, I searched through the somewhat blurry memories and began to write something.
【Introduction】
The first thing I should write about is the school. However, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine (BUCM) underwent many changes during my eight years of study, and all these changes point to one person—the principal. Therefore, it is appropriate to write about Principal Xu, our respected Xu Dada.
On April 26th, the Ministry of Education’s Party Leadership Group announced personnel decisions at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. Comrade Tang Zhishu was appointed as Principal and Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of BUCM, while Comrade Xu Anlong no longer held the positions of Principal and Deputy Secretary. Wang Jiayi, member of the Ministry’s Party Leadership Group and Vice Minister, attended the meeting and delivered a speech. Relevant officials from the Beijing Municipal Education Work Committee and the Ministry’s Personnel Department also attended and spoke.
At noon on April 26, 2024, during a break, I glanced at this news and felt moved. Memories related to the principal and my university days came to mind, and I jotted down some notes.
The ceiling of my bedroom on the east side of my home was made of straw and newspaper paste. My mother said replacing the ceiling would cost quite a lot, but since my studies were important, we could save some money. My father had a habit of reading newspapers; every time he returned from work, he would bring a stack of old newspapers. After I finished reading them one by one, I would store them in a cabinet, waiting for the next scheduled replacement.
Because of this special ceiling in the east bedroom, summers were especially cool there. So, in summer, I often lay on the kang (heated brick bed) in the east bedroom, letting my gaze wander over the newspapers pasted above. During summer vacation of my second year in high school, as I gazed over the freshly pasted paper ceiling, I saw a message — [China Education Daily] Public Selection: New Exploration of Principal Selection and Appointment Reform. It introduced how the Ministry of Education selected three university principals through a selection system for the first time, including Principal Xu Anlong of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. At the time, I was focused on my future interest in chemistry and never thought this news had any relation to me. After finishing the college entrance exam and returning to the village, still enjoying the cool air, I occasionally lay inside the room, and upon receiving the admission notice, I saw this news again and was shocked…
Later, upon entering BUCM, I saw the principal in person at the opening ceremony. All I remembered from his formal speech was that he wore glasses. Soon after, the BUCM Academic Month was launched. During Academic Month, this man moved me for the first time. As the first speaker, he spoke about his academic research journey in a very everyday language. He studied at Sun Yat-sen University, and later their entire dormitory group went to study in the United States. After finishing their studies, they were all invited to join research institutions in the US. However, Principal Xu refused all invitations, returned to his alma mater Sun Yat-sen University, and continued research on sea cucumber biology. He gained a great academic reputation, became vice president of Sun Yat-sen University, and later was selected as principal of BUCM… Listening to the principal’s story, I deeply admired him. Yes, I equally admire every outstanding talent who studied abroad and returned home.
After Principal Xu came, he advocated “Hearts Toward Learning,” which has six dimensions of meaning, the first being “heart toward students.” After arriving at BUCM, I quickly experienced that public bathhouses, which southern students could not tolerate, had bath curtains installed the next year. After five laptops were stolen in the male dormitory one day, access control gates were quickly installed. At that time, WeChat public accounts were booming. Platforms like Xinglin Voice, Qihuang Youth Association, Qihuang Research Path, and Beijing University of Chinese Medicine official account sprung up like mushrooms. Meanwhile, the digital campus was built. Students especially enjoyed the “You Ask, I Answer” feature. “You Ask, I Answer” is like a “People’s Message Board,” a campus administrative platform where one can ask questions about study or life and get quick responses. Later, I heard that every week the principal asked his secretary to collect these questions, and at the meetings, those not well resolved were called out for accountability. Many departments therefore tried hard to quickly solve problems and then requested students to delete their questions…
On December 25, 2016, the Traditional Chinese Medicine Law was promulgated, a major event for the TCM community and a core sign of the country’s high attention to TCM development. Suddenly, more candidates applied to TCM universities, and BUCM’s admission scores began to soar. TCM was also included in the country’s “Belt and Road” strategy. The principal often appeared alongside President Xi in photos, jointly signing cooperation memorandums with foreign countries. As the country had the Belt and Road initiative, BUCM also followed suit. As a result, the principal’s prestige among students rose, and people called him “Xu Dada.” That year during the New Year’s Eve event, Principal Xu delivered an impassioned party lecture and loudly proclaimed, “Beijing University of Chinese Medicine is the number one TCM university in the universe,” which led brother schools to soon dub BUCM “Zhou Zhongyi” (Universe of TCM). During his tenure, Principal Xu insisted on dining in the student canteen, although the food was never very good… Because of all this, Xu Dada became an idol to BUCM students. At one time, during training at the Central Party School, he was captured dozing off on camera while President Xi was giving a speech, and the photo quickly spread across social circle platforms…
As a life sciences scientist himself, Principal Xu valued life sciences research. Despite opposition from veteran teachers, he disbanded the Basic Medical School that had run for decades, rebuilt the Chinese Medicine School and the Life Sciences School, and moved some majors from the Chinese Medicine School into the Life Sciences School. Later, the Humanities School was renamed the “Marxism School.” In life sciences, he recruited many scholars and himself worked hard, repeatedly nominated for membership in the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In TCM, Principal Xu and my mentor Professor Qiu Hao traveled across the country seeking genuine famous doctors and established the “BUCM Distinguished Professor System.” Afterwards, fellow universities created similar systems to allow BUCM students to see more folk medical experts and provide a platform for the inheritance of folk TCM. Of course, there were pros and cons: some “distinguished professors” exploited this to run courses for money, and some with criminal records due to pyramid schemes wielded excessive influence at the school’s San Jin Lecture Hall. Meanwhile, they actively collaborated with brother institutions to build a “Five Schools Alliance,” enabling TCM to extend beyond campus and overseas… Under this environment, various traditional skill clubs flourished in BUCM. For example, the martial arts association had dozens of traditional martial arts clubs, including six major styles of Tai Chi. In TCM explorations, Principal Xu also benefited — I heard his nearsightedness was cured by Daoist medicine treatment. Indeed, I do not recall when he stopped wearing glasses, but after years of wearing them, he looked a bit dull and world-weary without them. One day, my medical history teacher Professor Zhou Liqun called me to say BUCM was to establish a “Daoist Medicine Research Institute” with Principal Xu as honorary director, and she hoped I could participate in the early work… During the preliminary work, I met my mentor and close friend Lingzhi Jie…
In 2017, BUCM held its first Student Congress. A classmate elected me as a student representative. There, I met a close friend—Senior Lao Kang. The student congress procedure resembles that of the People’s Congress. After reports, elections, and proposal discussions, the meeting moved to suggestions and advice, chaired by the Youth League Secretary. After a pause, I was the first representative to raise issues. The meeting, originally planned to end at 12:00, went on until 4:00 pm. Representatives passionately offered advice on unreasonable aspects and areas for improvement. At the end, the Youth League Secretary promised every item would be implemented. The meeting ended with thunderous applause. One week later, lights were installed along the dark road to the baths, and the small grove in the library lit up…
Besides study and life, Principal Xu’s graduation speeches each year were distinctive: 2020’s “Water from Hu Tian and Yan Di amid the clouds,” 2021’s “Feet on Earth, Heart Returning to Fertile Land,” 2022’s “Cultivating Character Like Wood, Growing Toward the Sun,” and 2023’s “Passing the Torch to Youth” expressed declarations and interpretations of the four elements water, earth, wood, and fire. Unfortunately, we never heard a graduation speech based on “Metal.” Looking back on these details, although the principal may not have understood TCM fully, he truly wanted to do something practical for it…
In June 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic eased, we returned to campus in early summer. One day, after lifting quarantine in the East Campus and returning to West Campus, I looked at the small garden where hydrangeas swayed in the wind. I took out my phone to record that moment of freedom and happiness, only to find someone watching me. Upon looking closely, it was the principal. He smiled and said, “Seriously record the beauty of the campus.” We exchanged a smile…
During the pandemic, the school bore huge pressure in epidemic prevention. Sometimes excessive control policies surfaced, exposing infrastructure issues such as quarantine dormitories without air conditioning. Students vented complaints, rumors circulated about power struggles, and the principal was effectively sidelined. In some meetings, we saw him tilting his head with an indifferent and listless expression… Thus, “Hearts Toward Learning” was ridiculed, and the brightly lit administration building in the new campus at night was mocked as the “Xuanlong Palace” or “Dragon Palace.” (Interestingly, after the nickname spread, the night landscape lighting was turned off a few days later…) In this loneliness, people seemed to gradually forget Principal Xu… We graduated and went separate ways… yet still cared about changes at our alma mater…
Therefore, when I saw the news, I felt a slight shock inside. I then looked up interviews from back when he was principal. Although some criticisms may remain in the minds of teachers and students, reflecting on eight years under Principal Xu’s leadership, I still feel very fortunate. Let me end with my last memory of Principal Xu before graduation.
It was a Friday near graduation, and we were preparing various graduation materials. A girl called me, complaining that she had job application paperwork needing a stamp. A certain department told her to come to the office at 2 pm, but she waited until 5 pm with no one opening the door. The phone said, “No one is here today, come on Monday.” But she must go to an interview in Xiamen on Monday, and without this paperwork, she would lose eligibility. Just as I sighed, she hung up. Later, she happily told me she met the principal. The principal patiently listened to her story, took her to his office, and shortly after, someone from that department brought the stamp to her…