Chinese Harvard Graduate Calls for Unity
(MENAFN) A recent speech by Jiang Yurong, a Chinese Harvard graduate, advocating for solidarity in a fragmented world, has ignited diverse responses in both the United States and China.
The speech came just days after the US government pledged to "aggressively" revoke visas of Chinese students, highlighting the tense atmosphere surrounding international education.
On Thursday, Jiang stated, "We don't rise by proving each other wrong.
We rise by refusing to let one another go," coinciding with a US federal judge’s decision to block the Trump administration’s ban on foreign students attending Harvard.
Her remarks quickly gained traction on Chinese social media, where some viewers were emotionally moved, while others questioned whether her privileged background truly reflected the experiences of most Chinese students.
In the US, Jiang faced scrutiny due to alleged connections with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). US officials, in their attempts to limit Harvard's intake of foreign students, accused the university of "co-ordinating with the Chinese Communist Party."
Jiang, who majored in international development, made history as the first Chinese woman to deliver a speech at Harvard’s commencement ceremony.
During her address, Jiang highlighted the importance of Harvard’s multicultural environment, explaining how it enabled her and her peers to "dance through each other's traditions" and "carry the weight of each other's worlds."
She urged listeners, "If we still believe in a shared future, let us not forget: those we label as enemies - they, too, are human. In seeing their humanity, we find our own."
Before Harvard, Jiang spent her last two years of schooling at Cardiff Sixth Form College in Wales and earned her undergraduate degree from Duke University in the US.
However, not everyone welcomed her message.
A conservative account on X, using the handle @amuse, criticized Harvard for selecting a commencement speaker purportedly linked to a "CCP-funded and monitored non-government organisation."
The account also claimed that Jiang’s father is affiliated with an NGO acting as a quasi-diplomatic representative for the party, casting further suspicion on her speech and background.
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