As the year wound down, the labor union of the School of Foreign Languages and Cultures organized a New Year gala under the theme “Hearts United, A New Chapter Begins”. The celebration aimed to enrich faculty and staff life, foster a warm campus atmosphere, build a stronger sense of community, and send everyone into the new year with renewed energy and purpose. Running from December 22 to 31, 2025, the festivities saw the School’s 21 union groups—its teaching and research offices and departments—mark the season in their own ways, some on their own and others jointly. The result was a string of warm, lively gatherings that came to a fulfilling close.

As the year wound down, the labor union of the School of Foreign Languages and Cultures organized a New Year gala under the theme “Hearts United, A New Chapter Begins”. The celebration aimed to enrich faculty and staff life, foster a warm campus atmosphere, build a stronger sense of community, and send everyone into the new year with renewed energy and purpose. Running from December 22 to 31, 2025, the festivities saw the School’s 21 union groups—its teaching and research offices and departments—mark the season in their own ways, some on their own and others jointly. The result was a string of warm, lively gatherings that came to a fulfilling close.

A Showcase of Talent and Disciplinary Flair

The celebration activities of each teaching and research office (department) all kicked off with a warm address. Directors and Party secretaries took the stage one after another, giving a comprehensive review of the fruitful achievements made in 2025 in areas such as teaching competitions, project approvals, paper publications, and curriculum development, and affirming the dedicated efforts and unremitting hard work of all faculty and staff. At the same time, in light of their actual teaching and research work, they offered New Year blessings and expectations to everyone. Some urged teachers to pay attention to their physical and mental health and to balance work and rest; some advocated for strengthening teamwork and enhancing teaching quality; and some encouraged everyone to delve deeper into teaching and research with greater enthusiasm. Several departments also made a special point of inviting retired faculty members back “home” for a reunion. In this warm and heartfelt atmosphere of reunion, they expressed sincere respect to the senior colleagues who have devoted many years to education, passing on the passion for teaching, and adding an extra layer of warmth and depth to the New Year’s wishes.

A Showcase of Talent and Disciplinary Flair

The programs each unit put together were as varied as they were rich, showing off not only the faculty’s many talents but also the distinctive flavor of the foreign-language disciplines.

The singing performances were splendid and diverse. From classic pieces such as My Motherland and I and Ode to the Motherland, which resonated with the audience's deep love for home and country, to warm and tender songs like Friends and A Loving Family that conveyed the profound bonds between colleagues, the repertoire covered a wide emotional spectrum. There were heartfelt renditions of Chinese classics as well as tasteful interpretations of foreign-language favorites. Teacher Yang Xue’s English rendition of Edelweiss and Teacher Cui Tingting’s Yesterday Once More fully demonstrated their solid language skills, while the Spanish Department’s Un año más and the German-French Teaching and Research Office’s Spanish blessing song Feliz Navidad showcased the unique charm of a multilingual program.

The artistic performances featured numerous highlights. Fan Hua’s classical dance “Ballad of Longing” fully displayed the charm of traditional Chinese culture. Zhang He’s tea ceremony demonstration skillfully blended the spiritual essence of the tea ceremony — “purity, respect, harmony, and beauty” — with the professional realm of teaching. Liu Xianming’s recitation of Shakespeare’s classic Sonnet 18 and Shen Yunhua’s rendition of “The Road Not Taken” conveyed humanistic sentiments through poetic language, immersing the audience in the beauty of literature. The crosstalk performance by Professor Hu Jianjun, Chair of the Japanese Department, and Liu Xiaodong, as well as the Spanish Department’s talk show titled “When Gen-Z Students Take Charge of the Classroom: A Teacher's Survival Guide” drew laughter from the audience with their humorous and witty style.

Games, Laughter, and Small Touches of Warmth

The games were the heart of the fun. Designed to be both entertaining and collaborative, they got colleagues talking and working together in an easy, relaxed mood. Old favorites rolled by one after another—fortune-cookie draws, guess what’s in the bottle, answer beside the question, Pictionary (relay version included), name-that-tune, tongue-twister challenges, and a ball-juggling contest. Teachers jumped in eagerly, some racing to test their reflexes, others teaming up to tackle group tasks, and between the exaggerated gestures, the wildly off-the-mark guesses, and the rolling laughter, the energy in the room kept building. Some groups tied the games to their own fields: the Korean Department ran a Korean word-chain game and a quiz on Korean folk customs, while the German-French office led a multilingual lesson in New Year greetings, a calligraphy session for Spring Festival couplets in several languages, and a swap of New Year traditions from around the world—turning the fun into a chance to deepen knowledge and broaden cultural horizons.

Teachers pitched in to decorate the venues, where colorful balloons, delicate paper-cuts, and festive tablecloths set a holiday mood. Thoughtful touches—a surprise custom New Year cake, careful video documentation, a hands-on lesson in cutting paper window flowers—added to the warmth. Each unit had someone on hand to capture the performances, the games, and the group shots, and the gatherings closed with everyone gathering for a photo to mark the moment.

The gala gave faculty and staff a chance to unwind, show their talents, and get to know one another better, and in doing so it brought the School closer together. From the careful planning in each department to the eager turnout, from the warm opening remarks to the polished performances, and from the playful games to the small gestures of care, every part of the event reflected the collegiality and upbeat spirit of the School’s faculty and staff—and gave everyone, in the middle of a busy stretch of work, a taste of the warmth of community and the joy of the season.

The old year leaves a garden in full bloom, and the new one promises flowers yet to open. The warmth and energy of this gathering will carry the School’s faculty and staff forward. In the year ahead, they will take up the work of teaching, research, and student development with even greater unity and enthusiasm—moving ahead together, step by steady step, to write a new chapter in the life of the School and the University.

A Showcase of Talent and Disciplinary Flair

The celebration activities of each teaching and research office (department) all kicked off with a warm address. Directors and Party secretaries took the stage one after another, giving a comprehensive review of the fruitful achievements made in 2025 in areas such as teaching competitions, project approvals, paper publications, and curriculum development, and affirming the dedicated efforts and unremitting hard work of all faculty and staff. At the same time, in light of their actual teaching and research work, they offered New Year blessings and expectations to everyone. Some urged teachers to pay attention to their physical and mental health and to balance work and rest; some advocated for strengthening teamwork and enhancing teaching quality; and some encouraged everyone to delve deeper into teaching and research with greater enthusiasm. Several departments also made a special point of inviting retired faculty members back “home” for a reunion. In this warm and heartfelt atmosphere of reunion, they expressed sincere respect to the senior colleagues who have devoted many years to education, passing on the passion for teaching, and adding an extra layer of warmth and depth to the New Year’s wishes.

A Showcase of Talent and Disciplinary Flair

The programs each unit put together were as varied as they were rich, showing off not only the faculty’s many talents but also the distinctive flavor of the foreign-language disciplines.

The singing performances were splendid and diverse. From classic pieces such as My Motherland and I and Ode to the Motherland, which resonated with the audience's deep love for home and country, to warm and tender songs like Friends and A Loving Family that conveyed the profound bonds between colleagues, the repertoire covered a wide emotional spectrum. There were heartfelt renditions of Chinese classics as well as tasteful interpretations of foreign-language favorites. Teacher Yang Xue’s English rendition of Edelweiss and Teacher Cui Tingting’s Yesterday Once More fully demonstrated their solid language skills, while the Spanish Department’s Un año más and the German-French Teaching and Research Office’s Spanish blessing song Feliz Navidad showcased the unique charm of a multilingual program.

The artistic performances featured numerous highlights. Fan Hua’s classical dance “Ballad of Longing” fully displayed the charm of traditional Chinese culture. Zhang He’s tea ceremony demonstration skillfully blended the spiritual essence of the tea ceremony — “purity, respect, harmony, and beauty” — with the professional realm of teaching. Liu Xianming’s recitation of Shakespeare’s classic Sonnet 18 and Shen Yunhua’s rendition of “The Road Not Taken” conveyed humanistic sentiments through poetic language, immersing the audience in the beauty of literature. The crosstalk performance by Professor Hu Jianjun, Chair of the Japanese Department, and Liu Xiaodong, as well as the Spanish Department’s talk show titled “When Gen-Z Students Take Charge of the Classroom: A Teacher's Survival Guide” drew laughter from the audience with their humorous and witty style.

Games, Laughter, and Small Touches of Warmth

The games were the heart of the fun. Designed to be both entertaining and collaborative, they got colleagues talking and working together in an easy, relaxed mood. Old favorites rolled by one after another—fortune-cookie draws, guess what’s in the bottle, answer beside the question, Pictionary (relay version included), name-that-tune, tongue-twister challenges, and a ball-juggling contest. Teachers jumped in eagerly, some racing to test their reflexes, others teaming up to tackle group tasks, and between the exaggerated gestures, the wildly off-the-mark guesses, and the rolling laughter, the energy in the room kept building. Some groups tied the games to their own fields: the Korean Department ran a Korean word-chain game and a quiz on Korean folk customs, while the German-French office led a multilingual lesson in New Year greetings, a calligraphy session for Spring Festival couplets in several languages, and a swap of New Year traditions from around the world—turning the fun into a chance to deepen knowledge and broaden cultural horizons.

Teachers pitched in to decorate the venues, where colorful balloons, delicate paper-cuts, and festive tablecloths set a holiday mood. Thoughtful touches—a surprise custom New Year cake, careful video documentation, a hands-on lesson in cutting paper window flowers—added to the warmth. Each unit had someone on hand to capture the performances, the games, and the group shots, and the gatherings closed with everyone gathering for a photo to mark the moment.

The gala gave faculty and staff a chance to unwind, show their talents, and get to know one another better, and in doing so it brought the School closer together. From the careful planning in each department to the eager turnout, from the warm opening remarks to the polished performances, and from the playful games to the small gestures of care, every part of the event reflected the collegiality and upbeat spirit of the School’s faculty and staff—and gave everyone, in the middle of a busy stretch of work, a taste of the warmth of community and the joy of the season.

The old year leaves a garden in full bloom, and the new one promises flowers yet to open. The warmth and energy of this gathering will carry the School’s faculty and staff forward. In the year ahead, they will take up the work of teaching, research, and student development with even greater unity and enthusiasm—moving ahead together, step by steady step, to write a new chapter in the life of the School and the University.