On the afternoon of June 7, the establishment ceremony of the "Tsinghua Alumni - Gong Xiaonan Civil Engineering Qijie Outstanding Undergraduate Award" was held in Conference Room 401 of the New Civil Engineering Building at Tsinghua University. Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, member of the Tsinghua University Department of Civil Engineering Class of 1961, and Professor of Zhejiang University Gong Xiaonan and his party of three, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Director of the Civil, Hydraulic and Architectural Engineering Division of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and Director of the Academic Committee of Tsinghua University Nie Jianguo, Professor Song Erxiang of the Department of Civil Engineering, Dean of the School of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering Wu Jing, Member of the Party Committee Li Wei, Director of the School Office Zheng Wei, and Zhang Chaona, Supervisor of Student and Alumni Affairs of the Department of Civil Engineering, attended the event. The establishment ceremony was presided over by Li Wei.

Ceremony site

At the start of the ceremony, Wu Jing first delivered a speech on behalf of the school, highly praising Academician Gong Xiaonan's heartfelt devotion to his alma mater's educational cause. He emphasized that Academician Gong, as an outstanding representative of Tsinghua civil engineers, embodies achievements and spirit that are precious assets for students. This scholarship is even more a spiritual inheritance that will powerfully inspire civil engineering students' enthusiasm for patriotic dedication and pragmatic innovation.

Subsequently, Academician Gong Xiaonan affectionately reviewed the unforgettable years of study he spent on the Tsinghua campus and expressed deep gratitude for his alma mater's careful cultivation. He introduced in detail the background and original intention of establishing the "Qijie Award," hoping that through this award, more Tsinghua civil engineering students will be inspired to embrace the country and the world, pursue down-to-earth study, strive for excellence, and contribute wisdom and strength to national construction and social development.

Academician Gong Xiaonan

At the establishment ceremony, the attendees had a cordial exchange on topics such as award selection and talent cultivation. Finally, Academician Nie Jianguo delivered a concluding speech. He highly appreciated Academician Gong Xiaonan's act of cherishing his alma mater and establishing the award to cultivate talent, and also took the opportunity to introduce to Academician Gong the new developments of Tsinghua University's broad civil engineering discipline in recent years based on major national needs, expressing sincere gratitude to outstanding alumni represented by Academician Gong for their care and support for the development of their alma mater.

The establishment of the "Tsinghua Alumni - Gong Xiaonan Civil Engineering Qijie Outstanding Undergraduate Award" is a vivid portrayal of Tsinghua alumni's spirit of "patriotic dedication and gratitude to the school." It not only provides new support for the growth of outstanding undergraduates, but also plants seeds of passing on the torch and serving the motherland in the hearts of Tsinghua civil engineering students. This spark ignited by outstanding alumni will surely be passed down from generation to generation on the fertile soil of Tsinghua civil engineering, not only injecting strong momentum into cultivating top-notch innovative talents capable of shouldering the重任 of national rejuvenation, but also continuously enriching and promoting the spiritual lineage of Tsinghua civil engineers—"great virtue carries all things; actions speak louder than words"—contributing an endless stream of Tsinghua wisdom and civil engineering strength to the great cause of building a strong nation and national rejuvenation.

Department of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua University

and Department of Construction Management