On October 16th, the unveiling ceremony of the sculpture “Camel” with the theme of “Promoting the Camel Spirit and Strengthening the Mission” was held at Chongde Plaza on the north side of Boxue Building. CUEB Party Secretary, Feng Pei, President Fu Zhifeng, Vice President Ding Lihong, representatives of alumni donors, teachers, students and heads of related functional departments about 160 people, attended the ceremony. Xu Fang, Deputy Party Secretary of CUEB presided over the ceremony. 

Zhao Xiling, Director of the Office of Cooperation Affairs and Secretary General of the Alumni Association and Education Foundation, introduced the origin of the sculpture “Camel” and touching stories in the process of donation. The sculpture “Camel” was initiated and funded by some alumni enrolled in 1977 and 1978 at the 40th anniversary of enrollment. The famous sculpture artist Yuan Xikun designed and created it. The sculpture showed the gratefulness of these alumni to CUEB and the “Camel Spirit” embodied by school motto “Advocate Morality, Value Competence, Strategize National Development, and Serve the People.”

In the speech, Sun Xiaolin, an alumni representative from class 11 in 1978, said that students who enrolled in 1977 and 1978 were a lucky group. The best years of life coincided with the heyday of Reform and Opening up. Students laid the foundation for life development in CUEB. He sincerely thanked the era and CUEB, and called on alumni to spare no efforts to build CUEB a first-class university in domestic and internationally renowned university featured with finance and economy.

Yuan Xikun introduced his artistic life and origin of the sculpture “Camel”. He encouraged CUEBers to internalize the “Camel Spirit” in the minds and shoulder the responsibility for the realization of the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.

The sculpture “Camel” took the real camels with the nickname “Ships of the Desert” as prototypes. It reflected the spirit of CUEBers who remained true to our original aspiration, keep our mission firmly in mind, rise to challenges and create new progress. The main sculpture was made of bronze with a height of 2.9 meters, a base of 1.2 meters. The total height of 4.1 meters signaled that the sculpture was completed at the 41st anniversary of the alumni enrollment in 1977 and 1978. The shape looked powerful. The base was made of granite with tempered glass and concrete sand. The whole sculpture showed that a camel trekked in the desert with head up and pioneered in the ups and downs.

Fu Zhifeng, Yuan Xikun, Chen Jixian, a representative of alumni donors from Class 1 majored in Business Economy in 1978, Xian Lianping, a representative of the School of Labor Economics in 1978, Wen Hongjian, a representative from Class 11 in 1978, Wang Xiaoqing, a representative of the School of Finance in 1978, jointly unveiled the sculpture.

On behalf of CUEB, Fu Zhifeng accepted the certificate of Yuan Xikun's sculpture collection issued by the Jintai Art Museum.

Ding Lihong presented a donation commemorative card to the representative Chen Jixian.

Chen Xiao, a graduate of International School of Economic Management enrolled in 2018, made a speech. She said that the “Camel Spirit” was deeply rooted in the minds of CUEBers and guided them to work in a down-to-earth way and have aspirations. As the youths of a new era, we must integrate our personal pursuits into the cause of the country with patriotism and inspiration. And we should strive for dreams with full passion.

In his speech, Feng Pei expressed his gratitude to the alumni and the Yuan Xikun team. He pointed out that the glorious achievements since the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China were the result of the generations who had never forgotten their original intentions and forged ahead. The alumni who enrolled in 1977 and 1978 experienced the reform and opening up and practiced the “Camel Spirit” in their work. Their struggle was a vivid epitome of China's history. Feng Pei encouraged CUEBers to stay true to our original aspiration, and shoulder the responsibilities of the national rejuvenation.

We were informed that 316 alumni from 20 classes in 1977 and 1978 made a donation to the sculpture “Camel”, with a total amount of RMB 521,942.51. Alumni hoped that through this donation, CUEBers would continue to promote the “Camel Spirit”, remained true to our original aspiration, and pioneer in the new era.

Appendix: Sculpture “Camel” Donation