Hong Kong business tycoon Li Ka-shing (center) and former NBA star Yao Ming(R) attend a commencement ceremony at Shantou University.
Business tycoon Li Ka-shing, who also happens to be Hong Kong's richest man, attended commencement ceremonies at Shantou University last week and the speech he delivered has gone viral on social media.
Sound bites from commencement speeches are usually a hot topic online during the graduation season at Chinese universities every summer. Li's speech, titled "The Future is Right Ahead", is the latest click magnet online.
The 88-year-old told 2,161 graduates that to stand out in an era when technology empowers machines with the ability to make observations and think logically, humans need to keep on learning with a humble attitude, to be open to new ideas and to be compassionate.
"We have to be on high alert to the tendency of closing up" one's eyes and ears to new, unfamiliar ideas, said the honorary president of Shantou University Council.
"False judgments made through inertia in thinking will hold us back," he said. "Technology is the foundation for high economic growth, and talent and innovation is the engine. But a tolerant society is the important fuel."
"It is an age of sharp transformations, but at the same time an age of force of character," Li said. "Never forget that it is a blessing to be capable of helping someone."
The Li Ka Shing Foundation has been sponsoring Shantou University since the school's founding in 1981. Financial support from the foundation will add up to HK$8 billion ($1.03 billion) by 2018.
Li has been attending commencements at Shantou University and delivering speeches for the past 15 consecutive years.
This year the foundation also invited Yao Ming, former NBA star and creator of the Yao Foundation, to give a speech at the commencement ceremony.
Shantou University which is also known as STU is located in Shantou, a city in Southeast China's Guangdong Province.
You can view the full story at the China Daily online edition: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2016-07/01/content_25928210.htm
