Peking University's National School of Development held its 2026 commencement at the Centennial Hall, celebrating graduates across eight programs.

The morning of June 28 saw Peking University's Centennial Hall filled with a palpable sense of occasion as the National School of Development (NSD) convened its 2026 graduation ceremony. As early as 7 a.m., the tree-lined avenue outside the hall was awash with gowns and mortarboards, as graduates from the school's eight programs — ranging from undergraduate economics to MBA, EMBA, and DPS doctoral programs — assembled in orderly procession under the guidance of faculty and volunteer staff.

Sunlight filtered through the plane trees, casting a warm glow over faces alight with anticipation; cameras clicked incessantly to capture embraces between classmates and teachers alike.

'Stay true to why you set out'

Professor Lei Xiaoyan, Party Secretary of the NSD, presided over the ceremony, which opened with the national anthem resonating through the hall.

In his commencement address, Dean Huang Yiping urged graduates to "hold fast to your original aspirations." In an era increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, he said, the challenge is not merely to harness new tools, but to preserve human warmth and dignity, to respect objective laws and fundamental common sense, and to uphold social norms and the rule of law amid the algorithmic tide.

"Whether you go on to pursue deep research, launch your own ventures, or serve communities at the grassroots level, please safeguard that clear spring within — never forget the ideals that brought you here," Huang said. "Carry forward the NSD spirit of patriotic commitment and unity in diversity. In the age of AI, guard your common sense, revere the laws of nature, and warm the hearts of those around you. Always remember why you set out, embrace this great era with passion, and contribute to the progress of our nation, and indeed the world, through your own actions."

The courage to stop comparing

Assistant Professor Long Xianling, a PKU Boya Young Scholar, drew appreciative nods when she acknowledged the anxieties students endure — the relentless race for grades, the uncertain path ahead, the exhausting habit of measuring oneself against peers. Her counsel was disarmingly simple: there is no single track in life; chasing and imitating others yields little. Drawing on evolutionary metaphors — dinosaurs developing feathers, fish bladders evolving into lungs — she reminded graduates that seemingly useless experiences can reshape and enrich a life. "The very search for meaning is, in itself, meaningful," she said.

Six voices, one spirit

Six student representatives took the stage in turn, their divergent paths converging on a shared intellectual inheritance.

Chen Zhuoyu, a doctoral graduate, reframed the anxiety of AI-driven skill obsolescence through the lens of capital depreciation theory. Material capital and codified knowledge may depreciate, she argued, but what the NSD imparts — the capacity to build a problem-solving framework from scratch when facing the unknown — is an asset that compounds over a lifetime.

Undergraduate representative Zhou Zhuoxiang distilled the NSD training into three layers of questioning: interrogating underlying mechanisms, probing the boundaries of theory, and scrutinizing the values behind every choice. "Graduation is not the end of questioning," he said. "It is the beginning of confronting the deeper, more complex questions of our time."

Fu Yi, speaking on behalf of the MBA cohort, brought the perspective of a seasoned investor returning to academia. "In the age of AI, do not merely be a follower of efficiency — be a discerner of meaning. Do not just adapt to change — be a responsible participant in it," she said. "What the NSD has given us is never a standard answer, but the capacity for rigorous thought and clear judgment in the face of a complex world."

EMBA graduate Sun Xiaodan reflected that the most precious things in life are hidden in the small, the concrete, and the warm. Her takeaway from the NSD journey: "It is not about becoming someone — it is about becoming yourself. It is not about reaching a destination — it is about living earnestly and deeply along every stretch of the road."

Wei Chen of the DPS doctoral program spoke of lifelong growth as an inward journey rather than an outward climb, and of passion not as a fleeting emotion but as a deliberate choice and a cultivated capability.

Lessons from the road

Xu Jun, an EMBA cohort 2005 alumnus and now Senior Vice President and COO of Zhejiang Leapmotor, delivered the keynote address. Drawing on three decades across industries, he offered three insights: follow the trend and dig deep rather than charging blindly ahead; learn from alumni across fields while bringing your own light — gathered together, a flame, scattered, a sky full of stars; and commit to lifelong iteration. "Graduation is not a full stop," Xu said. "It is a comma."

Farewell to Yanyuan

Before the degree conferral, a short film titled Shining Days carried the audience through snapshots of campus life — focused faces in lecture halls, late nights in the library, camaraderie on the Gobi Desert trek.

As Professor Lei declared the conferral ceremony open, graduates filed across the stage one by one, receiving their commemorative certificates with handshakes and smiles — the culmination of years of quiet effort.

The ceremony drew to a close with the entire faculty on stage, the hall rising to sing Ode to the Motherland. In a moving final gesture, faculty and administrative staff lined both sides of the red carpet, waving, smiling, embracing the departing graduates — a fitting goodbye to the Class of 2026 as they leave the Yan Garden campus, bound for the myriad posts where the nation needs them, ready to write the next chapter of their lives.