Editorial notes: To display how modern day graduate students lived a healthy and spirited life, beginning September of 2007, PKU’s student service department joined forces with the PKU news network in creating the column “Elite Youth: PKU’s Outstanding Graduate Students”.  This column reported close-ups of the elite of PKU’s graduate students with the single goal of encouraging the entire graduate student body to reaching new levels of maturity.

This school year, in order to maintain the high level of determination, ambition and sprit that this column had once brought, the student service department and PKU news network has decided to continue the column “Elite Youth: PKU’s Outstanding Graduate Students”.  Our only hope, is that through sharing these real life stories, we will be able to help people face life’s difficult decisions with an extra share of wisdom, and one less of confusion.  May each and every PKU graduate student find their own direction in life, to work hard moving forward on the road which leads to success.

Synopsis: Liu Chun, Chinese Department Masters Class of 2007, currently studying with Professor Li Yang.  In 2005 Liu Chun led the Chinese Department team in taking silver in the First Annual PKU Splendor of the Stars competition, also taking the Best Stage Demeanor award.  In 2006, he received Best Choreography, Best Male Actor, Best Screen Play, Best Director Award for the Play “Death of the Author”, also winning First place for the Chinese Department Team.  In that same year, he also received second place in the 14th Annual “Challenge Cup”, and second place in the 2nd Annual Chinese Department Academic Originality Competition.  He is the head of the Editorial Department of the “We Club”, the ‘MVP’ in crosstalk performances of the PKU Acrobatics Association, and can be found on stage in many of the School’s performances.

Splendor of our Shining Stars
Liu Chun, Chinese Department Masters Class of ‘07

During the interview, we quickly learned that Professor Shen Yang from the Chinese Department is known for his strictness with his students, few receive high grades from Professor Shen.  Liu Chun however was one of those few; from that we could already tell that Liu was not only as great by his classmates but also his teachers.

The huge tree can grow from a tiny mustard seed
Liu Chun carries a certain spirit which cannot be mimicked.  He can perform a crosstalk after hearing it only a few times, on the stage his every movement and look holds a distinct kill.  This spirit however didn’t just appear, it was developed little by little since his childhood.
Liu Chun is a slightly introverted person, however it is exactly this quality that led him to expressing his inner feelings through acting, so that his sprit was intertwined into his plays, he acted with his emotion and passion.

“The huge tree can grow from a tiny mustard seed” this is one of Liu Chun’s favorite sayings.  Spirit is accumulated, as well as technique; the success that Liu has achieved today is mostly the result of the hard work and time he has invested.

In the beginning of 2005, Liu wrote and directed a small skit with the theme of class meetings, this however did not receive the ranking Liu had expected.  He recalls, “that failure helped me realize that I had yet a long way to go.  I decided not to write scripts for a while, to re-gather myself, focus on my studies while I gained more experience.”  After setting a clear goal, Liu started to discipline himself.  This stubbornness finally landed Liu with the Play “Death of the Author” which became a great success, helping him grow into another of our shining stars.

“Learning and activities are not two distinct rivals”
Liu’s father loved literature, and he often bough books for Liu Chun.  In Liu’s memory, most of his birthday presents from his parents were a large range of diverse volumes.  Even now he maintains a reading level of about three to four million characters per month.  This habit gave Liu a good handle of words and set a solid foundation for excellent precise expression in writing.
Liu joined the “Challenge Cup” his junior year, from the hot competition which was made up mostly by graduate students, Liu took second place that year.  Liu doesn’t brag when speaking of the “Challenge Cup”, he says that the paper he used to join the competition was originally just a midterm paper.  When reading “The Story of Ancient Mirror” Liu discovered a problem with the way scholars explained the literature.  He told his teacher about his observation and was shocked to have received immediate support and applause.

While being known as ‘academic man’, Liu is also extremely involved with many social activities.  Some people joke and call him ‘the man who defied the traditional image of an academic person’; Liu just responded cheerfully that he always believed that learning and activities are not two distinct rivals, learning is what a student should do, and activities are a great way to let off some steam outside of studying.  As long as you find a good balance point between the two, you will find that learning and activities are complimentary to each other.
‘Outstanding abilities’, ‘preservation’ and ‘insisting’; these are just a few comments from his fellow classmates.

Hard working, hard working, and still harder working
Liu is a hard working person, that is his attitude towards life.

When it comes to production and performance, he has very high standard for himself.  Liu’s creations come mostly from his thoughts and reflections on his personal experiences in life.  He refuses to change his style according to what is popular.  He takes in the criticism towards his plays and acting and makes it his motivation to improve and achieve perfection on stage.
Liu is a highly responsible person when doing thing, he does as much and as good he can down to the very last detail.  “Behind the stars there is the vast sky, and I am just one average star amongst many, learning and reflecting on how to be a decent person, and doing without any sense of utilitarian.”  That has always been his motto in life, and it is precisely this attitude that allows him to walk a full and exciting road in his studies and performances.

Translated by: Connie Chang

Edited by: Wang Yi