We have the forth Lecture Series with Dr. Liu Sifen today. From the talk of the prestigious scholar and artist Dr. Liu, I have gained a lot of knowledge and inspiration. The theme of the talk is about the development of Chinese painting, and Dr. Liu said that the introduction of Western painting undoubtedly brought a positive influence to Chinese painting, but many Chinese lost their own culture and devaluate the original meaning of Chinese paintings.

I think the story of Chinese painting is a very good lesson to us. As students, we always want to try different things and copy what others do because we are so eager for success. But we may just learn little knowledge in each field without being good at anything.

It is time for us to recall the Chinese proverb “When drinking water, think of its source” -meaning that we should always think of our initial purpose when doing something. We need to think of our purpose in life, what we want to be in the future and strive hard to achieve that goal. It is good for us to learn and be skilled in many areas, but we should not wander too far from our goal and forgot our initial purpose.

I am so happy to hear from Dr. Liu as I nearly forget my purpose in life. I have had too many interests, part-time jobs and non-academic activities, and I can hardly find a time to study and focus on my academic works, as I result, I am too pressurized. I am a student of International Business, and I am so ashamed that I know little about my own field. From today onwards, I should join less activities and part-time jobs, and should put my schoolwork back to the first priority!

Work hard!!!! Study hard!!!!

 Before the class today, our Dean shared with us about the universities in the US and their terms of admission. TOEFL is a must in some of the Universities and the requirements are quite high. I have registered for a TOEFL test on June26, and this stimulates me to work harder and be well prepared for the coming test.

In today's class, Prof. Udani shown us the recording of our presentation in an earlier class, and I found out that my presentation skills need a lot of improvements. I become nervous when I am standing in front of class, my mind goes blank and I keep on speeding up my talk. Next time, I should tell myself to look confident and TALK SLOWLY.

We also watched a video about Kyle Maynard, a disabled wrestler. Wrestling is not easy especially for a person with no arms or legs, but Kyle did it by training himself harshly and devoting a lot more than others. He teaches me to face my difficulties bravely and optimistically.

After the class, we had the Honors Forum with Dr. Wong King Keung.

Dr. Wong is an easy-going person, he was more like chatting with us than giving us a speech, he even told us to ask him question in whatever language that we feel at ease with. Here are some of the things he shared to our class:

1.    Not to be overconfident

2.    Have a moderate amount of optimism

3.    Be a good and upright person

4.    Try to know more about the future

5.    See things at a higher level

I think I still have a long distance with point 4 and 5. I would make no improvement if I just look at the present well-being and not trying to know more about the world and think creatively. There is so much for me to learn and discover in the world, how can I stand still and enjoy my life? I should spare no effort and keep on learning.

In the class before Easter Recess, Prof. Udani has shared with us a very meaningful video:

This is a very impressive video. With just words and pictures, it teaches us a lot about leadership. Leadership can be carried out differently, but one common feature of them is that they make a positive change to people. We should always think creatively, and our motive should be benefiting the others.

"Be the change you want to see in the world." -- Mohandas Gandhi