The 120th anniversary of Peking University has endowed us with both great responsibilities and driving forces. The development and advancement of the School of Economics has influenced millions of people in China. At this moment, we stand together in the starting point of the new era, ready to march on the new journey ahead of us.

Since its foundation, the economic discipline of Peking University has been given a responsibility to build and revive the national rejuvenation. In the curriculum system of Imperial Tung Wen College, western economics was translated into the "Wealthy State Policy", which shows a mental orientation that is quite different from the initial meaning of Economics. Following this tradition, the academic atmosphere in the School of Economics at Peking University has been formed based on a combination of careful analysis of the economic phenomenon and the aim of "governing state and benefiting the people", and this tradition has lasted for more than a hundred years. Since then, the development of Chinese economic discipline has been closely linked with the national destiny of the country.

When Mr. Li Dazhao served as a professor here, he claimed the great prophecy that "the revitalization of Chinese industry must be attributed to the implementation of socialism". The Department of Economics is the earliest bases of Marx economics and western economics education in China. It is also the cradle of China’s reform and opening up theory that guided the country’s great economic transition. In modern history, the wisdom from the School of Economics can be found in nearly every academic and policy discussion, and such wisdom has also guided the important trend of China’s social politics and economy. As it is said, “there has never been a university which has been related so closely to the fate of a nation and its people as Peking University. Similarly, it is true and appropriate to say that there has never been a university’s economics school which has been related so closely to the development of a nation’s economic discipline as the School of Economics at Peking University.”

“The way of great learning lies in the enlightenment of brilliant virtues”. From its establishment, the School of Economics holds on to its mission “to ordain conscience for Heaven and Earth, to secure life and fortune for the people, to continue lost teachings for past sages and to establish peace for all future generations”. Indeed, talent training could not be achieved in one day. However, the School of Economics at Peking University is able to stand the test of time. Students from generation to generation have taken painstaking efforts to inherit the morale of the school.

Since the establishment of Peking University more than a hundred years ago, and especially in the recent forty years of reform and opening up, countless excellent students have come here to study. After graduated from the university, they became the pride of our nation: on the podium of the world's top universities, at the core of national government bodies, in the enterprises that is well known at home and abroad, in the vast countryside of China, the outstanding alumni of the School of Economics continue to be active in all these fields. Thus, I would also like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to all the alumni from all over the world for their support.

“Knowledge at home and abroad is flourishing here”. The greatness of Peking University rests with the academia. “Seek common ground on major questions while reserving differences on minor points, all the views and opinions can live in harmony and complement each other”--this is the academic discipline of the School of Economics. In the school, there are many traditional disciplines, such as Marx's Political Economy, Economic History and the History of Economic Thoughts, as well as the new multidisciplinary categories that adapt to the needs of Chinese economic development. “The purpose of intellectual quest for knowledge is to clarify on the fundamental principles of the world and save the people in suffering”. Although the disciplinary structure need to adapt to the real world and economic reality, the true academic studies need detachment and cool head, and this principle will need to be upheld by generations of scholars. No matter it is a university or a college, it will never realize the world's top learning achievements or become the world's first class university if it lacks the nature of serenity, the character of courage, the capacity of tolerance and the sharpness of the innovation. 

Mankind is facing unprecedented and complicated economic and social challenges today. The civilization of all mankind is accelerating to mingle, and all nations have a shared destiny. All schools and theories of economics have their own merits and demerits, but no one can explain all the real facts. All of these give us a deep understanding of the importance of "keeping the initiative and innovating". Therefore, the School of Economics should not only inherit tradition but also initiate new scholarship through combining the indigenous and overseas, the ancient and modern, the vigor and suppleness. With continued academic rigor, we should respond to the questions raised by the new era; at a new academic level, we should tell the new stories of China. We have the fortune to grow up in such a great age. In the process of building a world-class university, in the journey of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, all of us at the School of Economics at Peking University will continue to stride in the forefront of our era, to take the responsibility of our missions, and never forget our original motivation in forging ahead.

Dong Zhiyong,

Dean of School of Economics Peking University