Groundbreaking ceremony for the library and gymnasium of South China Business College
On the morning of March 30, the groundbreaking ceremony for the library and gymnasium of South China Business College of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies was held at the new site for the gymnasium. Chair of the Board Ding Xiaojun, Executive President Wang Hua, Supervisor Gu Yeli, Vice Presidents He Aibing, Zhao Fuchun and Lai Zhili, Chairman Huang Houjun of Guangzhou Machinery Construction Group, and representatives of units of survey, pit support, design, supervision and construction attended the ceremony.
At the ceremony, Huang Houjun, on behalf of the construction unit, solemnly pledged to work hand in hand with SCBC, designer, supervisor and all parties involved to ensure the quality of the project in all aspects, one that can be called exemplar in terms of innovation and sophistication with the best quality, the fastest speed and the best service.
On behalf of SCBC, Ding Xiaojun expressed his congratulations on the good start of the library and gymnasium project. He said that the library and gymnasium project is an important part of the second phase of SCBC’s campus construction, the completion of which will be an upgrade of the hardware of SCBC’s education and thus draw a lot of attention from all the students and teachers. He hoped that all relevant units strictly follow the protocols regarding the safety, quality and progress in the construction to ensure the completion of the project with high standard and quality.
The groundbreaking ceremony was climaxed by a gun salute. In the presence of all the guests, Ding Xiaojun and Huang Houjun unveiled the foundation stone, and then the leaders attending the ceremony held the golden shovel and laid the ground.
SCBC holds the 12th Model United Nations
On March 30, the 12th Model United Nations was held in the International Conference Hall. Supervisor Gu Yeli, Party Secretary Xu Zhichao, Vice President Zhao Fuchun and Vice President Guo Guihang were present at the activity.
The theme of the simulation was to address the challenges of multiple global crises with change and development. Students from various majors made up delegations representing 14 countries, including China, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Saudi Arabia, UK and USA. The languages involved included Chinese, English, German, French, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish Portuguese, Italian, and Arabic.
Mr. Gu Yeli delivered an opening speech. He pointed out that the theme was especially profound in an era of major powers politics where Chinese wisdom was crucial. The Model United Nations was not only an occasion of language training for students, but also an opportunity to cultivate international vision, become aware of the responsibility of a major country and broaden their mind. He wished the event a complete success, and then presented the gavel to the President who declared the start of activity.
The Model United Nations has been one of the traditional events of South China Business College since it was first held 12 years ago. In the simulation, young students team up as diplomats from different countries and debated on international hot issues based on the operation and principles of the United Nations. The activity is multilingual and divided into four parts: formal debate, informal debate, draft resolution and consensus. After the representatives of each country express their views in the official language of their country, a teammate will translate the views into Chinese and convey them to the audience. According to the global trend of development, each delegation discussed in depth the current issues of global warming, food crisis,etc., and elaborated on their ideas while abiding by the time limit and making full use of the “concession rule”. They tried to argue their views with facts in a race against time, and made a motion to the Presidium to invite other delegations to seek the most optimal global solution together.
After a fierce competition, more than 40 students from the School of European Languages and Cultures, the School of Asian Languages and Cultures, the School of English Language and Culture, the School of Chinese Language and Culture, and the Faculty of College English Teaching stood out and claimed the eight team and individual prizes. The “Spanish Delegation” won the first prize and the second prize went to the “Chinese Delegation”, the “Russian Delegation” and the“South Korean Delegation”. The “Chinese Delegation”, “Spanish Delegation” and the “Australian Delegation” were awarded the prize for the best position paper. Zhou Yiying from the “Russian Delegation” and Yan Yuxin from the “Spanish Delegation” won the Best Individual Delegate Award.
Thais, a foreign teacher, gave her comments on the excellent performance of the contestants. She spoke highly of them and at the same time pointed out the problems in their speeches, encouraging them to continue to sharpen themselves and move forward to a higher goal.
Zhao Fuchun made a concluding remark. He said that the activity of Model United Nations has been applauded by teachers and students since its start, and this says something of SCBC's characteristic of “core competitiveness around foreign language education”. The activity proves to be helpful to broaden students' international vision, improve their foreign language competence and the ability to communicate, coordinate and cooperate. “The vastness of life is determined by vision.” He believed that the students will strive hard to learn from others' strengths and enable themselves to tell the Chinese story, spread the Chinese culture and push forward the communication and mutual understanding between China and the world in the new era.