President Xu's Letter to CUHK-Shenzhen Students and Parents

President Yangsheng Xu's Letter to 

CUHK-Shenzhen Students and Parents

Dear students and parents,

As we have all felt, this is an unusual Lunar New Year. With the novel coronavirus spreading nationwide, CUHK-Shenzhen has, like schools of all levels across the country, announced the postponement of spring semester, and the exact starting date of the new semester is still yet to be determined. Under such circumstances, dear students, I understand many of you are experiencing anxieties. You feel concerned about your study plans, your chances of spending the summer of 2020 taking courses overseas. You might even feel uneasy about the impact this epidemic might have on your graduation and future academic pursuits. As the virus continues to strike new victims at an unrelenting rate, we are unable to make settled arrangements yet. But this uncertainty, I believe, will substantially lessen within the next couple of weeks. Our senior administration and our faculties are considering all imaginable possibilities and are working on corresponding solutions, of which, giving courses online is one. The university is committed in doing all that we can to accommodate your academic needs.

On your part, dear students, the wisest thing to do for now is to stay at home. Avoid exposing yourselves to public places as much as possible. In the meantime, returning to the university before it is announced safe to do so would be strongly discouraged. Given the highly contagious nature and the long incubation period of the virus, avoiding direct contact with the world outside is currently the best way to protect yourselves and your family. Indeed, staying at home for all the time being can be irritating. But let us not forget those who are unfortunately infected and are struggling to survive; nor let us forget those medical staff who are endangering their own life and health day and night so that others may have a chance to live. There is enough to feel grateful for whenever you think of them.

Much less to say, this might be one of the rare occasions in life when we could afford to spend time doing things that we seldom found time to do before. The book you have always wanted to read, the movie that has long been on your list to watch, the much needed tête-à-tête with your parents that has been put off by all sorts of excuses, what your busy academic life has kept you from actually doing, now is the time. Surely you might find life less animated as it usually is. However, it is often in solitude, when the world outside quiets down, that the light inside us shines through, clearly, brightly. Therefore, dear students, when this unexpectedly extended vacation comes to an end, I hope you will return to our university with health, meaningful experiences, and insights that can only be gained in trying times.

Under current critical situation, I want you to understand and be prepared that the life, work, and study of every one of us will be influenced. It is our duty to comply with the regulations and advocates by our government and health experts. Blaming others would not help us defeat the virus, nor shall proliferating hatred. To all our students and parents, I call for patience and empathy. The more emergency arises, the more need for love and humanity. We must not, I emphasize, discriminate against students and individuals from Hubei province. We have placed those with a travel history to Hubei under quarantine only for the purpose of protecting the larger majority of students and staff. And the quarantine will only last for a limited period of time. I call on us all to do our best to help our students in Hubei, and we will not leave them behind. Physical separation should not stop us from caring for each other. With the same sky above our heads, we are scripting one shared fate of the human race.

With your young age, dear students, this might be the first time you consciously witness a devastating disease sweeping the globe. Be cautious, but do not be afraid. On the one hand, we should take due caution in our daily life for it was lack of caution in the emerging state that has escalated the outbreak. On the other hand, please know that all crises will eventually exhaust themselves. When SARS struck in 2003, CUHK and its affiliated teaching hospitals were right in the midst of it. Almost each day, we heard of infection and death of people including those of our faculty. I remember wearing masks to my office just as usual, working and writing quietly. My monograph Human Behavior Learning and Transfer was completed during that very period of time. Apart from working, I wrote to my students and friends, sometimes with the mere words “the benevolent are not beset with worries; the brave are not disturbed by fears” for each other’s encouragement. Eventually, after roughly four months’ destruction, SARS disappeared. This coronavirus, too, will run its course, I believe, even sooner than SARS did. Dear students, again, this is by no means the end of the world. I will see you by the Fairy Lake under warm southern sunlight very soon.

All best wishes,

Yangsheng Xu

President, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen

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香港中文大学（深圳）校长徐扬生教授

致同学和家长的一封信

各位同学，各位家长：

大家都知道这个农历新年过得与往年很不一样，新型冠状病毒感染的肺炎疫情蔓延全国，我校也与全国各地的所有学校一样，发出了延后开学的通告，具体开学日期待定。我知道许多同学很焦虑，担忧学期的安排，担心会影响暑期国际交流的机会，或是担心毕业延期及影响未来的继续深造。由于疫情尚未解除，因此我们不能给予确切的安排，但我们相信这个不确定性应该可以在往后的一两周内明朗起来，大学的主管和老师们一直在商讨各种可能性及对应的措施，例如网上授课，我们会尽可能帮助同学们解决学业上的问题。

同学们，当下你最应该做的就是好好地“宅”在家里，不要到处乱跑，不要提前返校，因为传染病毒的特性，最好的防范办法就是隔离自己。是的，老待在家里，有时会心烦，但你要想一下，现在有那么多的不幸感染者在医院里努力求生，有那么多的医生护士冒着生命危险没日没夜地拼命抢救生命，比起他们，你应该感到何其幸运！何况，像这样能待在家里的日子何其珍贵，往后更是越来越少，你不如趁机做点你平常想做而不能做的事情。平时学习紧张，没空去读你一直很想读的书，没空去看你一直很想看的电影，你父母喊你坐下来一起聊聊天的时候，你总说你“没空”。现在好了，你不都有时间做了吗？当然，你会寂寞一点，但寂寞不等于无聊，愈是寂寞的时候，我们心灵的灯愈会变得明亮起来。所以，同学们，我希望你们在这个从天而降的假期结束的时候，不仅能带回来一个健康的身体，还能带回来一段有意义的经历，带回来平时无法获得的珍贵的领悟。

同学们，现在是非常时期，我们每一个人的生活、学习与工作都不可能不受影响，你们一定要有思想准备，而且要听从和配合政府及有关专家的指令，要有耐心，要有同理心（empathy），要为别人着想，共度时艰。不要去责怪别人，要多想想自己能帮助什么。要相信爱的力量，不要去传递仇恨，愈是在这种时候，愈能看到人性的光芒，看到道德的力量。尤其，对于来自湖北的同学，我们不能有任何歧视。我们隔离来自疫区的同学和人员，是为了保护极大多数的师生，这个隔离的时间是有限的，我们要尽最大努力来帮助疫区的同学，不能因为受灾而让他们掉队。我们的身体是隔离了，但我们的心没有隔离，我们不能同呼吸，但我们会共命运！

同学们，因为你年轻，这可能是你人生中遇到的第一次大的灾难，千万不要恐惧。我们一方面要重视，以往所有的错误就是因为我们中间有些人太过忽视了这种病毒的危害性，我们要严格按照规定起居生活。但另一方面，不要过于担忧以致恐慌，天是塌不下来的！任何灾难都会过去的。当年SARS的时候，我所在的香港中文大学及其附属教学医院首当其冲，每天都有包括老师员工在内的人员死亡的消息传来，我记得我那时仍每天戴着口罩上班，一面静心写书，我那本《人类行为的学习建模》的英文专著就是在那段时间完成的。另一方面，我不断地给学生和朋友写邮件，有时候电邮里就是几个字“仁者不忧，勇者不惧”，互相壮胆，互相鼓励。最后，也就是四个月的时间，一切都过去了。我相信，这次疫情会更短，因为控制得比较及时，所以，同学们，没什么了不起的！过不了多少天，我就会在阳光明媚的神仙湖畔见到你了！

徐扬生校长

农历庚子正月初五

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Wish you all the best.