On 11 September, 2020, the Institute of Cultural Heritage and History of Science & Technology held the opening ceremony and freshmen meeting for the class of 2020 graduate students in room 616 of the Metallurgical Building. Dean Qian Wei, Vice Deans Zhang Meifang and Wang Yiwei, teachers, all 2020 freshmen, and several senior student representatives attended the meeting. The meeting was divided into two parts: the welcoming introduction and orientation, which was presided by Vice President Wang Yiwei.

First, Dean Qian Wei extended a warm welcome to all the new students. He pointed out that despite being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 freshmen are destined to be recorded in the annals of history. After written examinations, online retests, and online graduation, they have finally joined the institute’s family. It can be said that ‘we have long been waiting for you after the trials and tribulations of the pandemic’, and there is a feeling that ‘although we have only just met, it feels as though an old friend has returned’. He hopes that the freshmen will inherit the value of ‘strengthening the country with steel and rejuvenating the nation with science and technology’, along with the national sentiment and pursuit of academic research that defined the founding members of China’s physical metallurgy and metallurgical history disciplines. One such founding member is Mr. Ke Jun, a senior academician of the Chinese Academy of Science. He hopes that the freshmen are determined to become a pillar of society with a strong sense of responsibility, an innovative spirit, an international perspective, and a humanistic outlook.

Afterwards, Vice Dean Zhang Meifang provided a basic overview of the graduate school to the students, including the institution’s history, faculty, academic goals, and graduation procedures. She hopes that the students would adhere to the institute’s spirit of ‘unity, heritage, openness, and advancement’.