Respectable teachers, dear friends:

My name is 穆罕 (Garabekov Muhammet) and I am graduating as a Bachelor of Arts from the School of International Education. My major is Business Chinese. I feel extremely honored and overwhelmed to be representing my fellow students on the stage of the graduation ceremony.

I come from Turkmenistan, a beautiful country located in Central Asia with a rich history. Two thousand years ago, the Silk Road connected my homeland with China and opened a chapter of cultural exchanges and lasting friendship. Now, two thousand years later, I came to China along the "Belt and Road Initiative" to pursue knowledge and personal growth and thus establish ties with Tianjin University - for me, it’s like a destined fate to be here.

Looking back at the past four years of college, the first word that came to my mind is "gratitude": I want to thank the university and my school for the education they gave me. In class, we learn from our teachers the spirit of science, the pursuit of excellence and the inquiry into the unknown. The care and friendship we received from our counselors show us the humanistic side of the campus. Thanks to our school’s field trip arrangement, I got to know Tanchang in Gansu Province and visited the Zhang Tailei Memorial in Changzhou city of Jiangsu Province. The cultural classes and history courses broadened our horizons and allowed us to experience the vitality and pulse of China's modernization.

The second keyword I want to mention is "responsibility." In the past four years, I have participated in many competitions and won some awards, such as Outstanding Foreign Student of Tianjin University, winner of the "Stories of China Retold in English" speech contest and the "My Beautiful Encounter with China" video contest. But for me, the most precious honor is the Tianjin University Volunteer Service Certificate for my service on campus during the past three years. As a national combat champion of Turkmenistan, I often teach my fellow students boxing on campus and exercise together with them. This experience has become my valuable spiritual assets.

The third keyword is "outlook." I used to seek intern in companies doing business with Central Asian countries during the winter and summer vacations. I have been preparing myself to ride the tide of Sino-Turkmenistan and Sino-Central Asian exchanges and development. I like a Chinese modern poem very much, "Saying Goodbye to Cambridge Again," by our alumnus Mr. Xu Zhimo. Reciting the poem is my rep·er·toire to show off my Chinese language skills and for any performance invitation on and off campus. For me, at this special moment, Tianjin University is my "Cambridge". In future, I hope I can serve as a culture bridge that promotes cultural exchanges under the "Belt and Road Initiative," and contribute to the construction of a community with a shared future for human beings.

Thank you all, best wishes.

Translated by Eva Yin