On the afternoon of August 22, 2024, the opening ceremony to welcome its incoming PhD students of the Class of 2024 of the Institute for International and Area Studies (IIAS), Tsinghua University was successfully held in the Institute’s Lecture Room. Jiang Jingkui, Director of the IIAS; Zhang Xiaojin and Lu Nan, representatives of the doctoral supervisors, all of the new PhD students of 2024, and other PhD students and faculty members in Beijing, etc. attended the opening ceremony, which was presided over by Zhang Jing, Deputy Director.

Initially, Prof. Jiang Jingkui, Director of the IIAS, delivered a speech. He encouraged all students to be committed to regional and country studies with the standards of international vision, the Chinese perspective, and each other's perspective. In the session of mentor's message, Prof. Zhang Xiaojing gave a message to the new students with the theme of “Studies of the Major Country, Universities of the Major Country, Scholares of the Major Country”, and put forward his expectations for the new students' study and research in the IIAS. With the theme of “Breaking Boundaries, Creating History”, Prof. Lu Nan shared his experience cultivating Tsinghua's talents in regional and country studies in the three dimensions of breaking the boundaries of Understanding, Specialization, and Life. Dr. Wang Shujian, a representative of the IIAS faculty, spoke on the topic of “Advancing to the Truth like Sisyphus”. He used the mythological Sisyphus as an analogy for the arduous process of doctoral studies, encouraging the new students to be brave enough to face the loneliness and challenges in academic exploration.

Finally, the opening ceremony ended with lively free exchanges. We hope that all the new students of the class of 2024 of IIAS will harbor the desire for truth, swim in the sea of knowledge to their heart's content, and start together a new journey full of challenges and opportunities with passion and enthusiasm.