Professor Dr Li Xiguang sends heartfelt letter to classmates 50 years after graduation

Dragon Media News Desk

Professor Dr Li Xiguang has written a letter to mark the 50th anniversary of his high school graduation, recalling his classmates, teachers and the difficult years they experienced together. Now in Urumqi, he said he could not return to his former school for the reunion and shared the letter on WeChat early on October 25.

The anniversary marks 50 years since Li graduated from Class 4 of the second year of senior high school at Xuzhou Mining Machinery School. He wrote that memories of studying, taking part in work-study activities and going through difficult political campaigns with his classmates remained vivid.

Li said he missed every classmate and teacher, especially his homeroom and mathematics teacher, Xu Zhenhua. He also recalled sharing his first drink, without his parents’ knowledge, with classmates Li Ke’an and Zhou Beiping. He fondly remembered several female classmates, saying their charming images had remained in his heart.

After high school, Li worked for two years at a coal-mine machinery factory in Jiulishan. He entered Nanjing University after China reinstated its national university entrance examination in 1978.

Li wrote that after retiring from Tsinghua University last year, he moved to Xinjiang to teach and conduct research on China’s border regions. He is a specially appointed professor at Xinjiang University of Finance and Economics, director of Tsinghua University’s Center for Pakistan Culture and Communication Studies, and a member of China’s Foreign Ministry Advisory Committee on Public Diplomacy.

Unable to attend the reunion, Li invited his former classmates and teachers to meet him in Xinjiang or Beijing. He wished them good health, long lives and happiness for their families, and closed with “the warmest embrace.”