Ms. Chou Kei Jan, former President of the Legislative Council of the Macau Special Administrative Region and President of City University of Macau Foundation Trust Committee, on invitation by the University, attended the opening forum for Distinguished Lecture Series of City University of Macau as the keynote speaker. The opening forum was held at 3pm, March 27th in the Convention Hall at Macau Science Center. Tertiary Education Services Office’s Director Sou Chio Fai, the University’s Rector Professor Yan Ze-Xian, University’s Council member and Macau Daily’s editor Lok Po and Macau Monthly’s Chairman Wong Teng Cheong held the opening forum ceremony. City University’s Council Chairman Mr. Chan Meng Kam and two hundred and fifty students were the audience for President Cao’s speech.
 
Chou Kei Jan, the first-term President of the Legislative Council of the Macau Special Administrative Region, was the lady that achieved the highest position a woman has ever held in Macao politics. Her out-spoken style for justice and righteousness and her honesty and fairness made her the steel rose among Macau politicians, well-loved by Macau’s citizens. Her beauty came from truth, her ever-lasting capability supported by wisdom. She talked about being quite smart and proud by nature, always having excellent marks in her youth, and yet was turned away by Tsinghua University and Peking University because of her family’s social class, only accepted by An-Hui University. This became an unforgettable memory from Chou Kei Jan’s young life; but looking back today, she now saw it with the belief that this setback was very meaningful for her life. Although she lost the opportunity to study in China’s best universities, she had learned to take a more down-to-earth approach on her life path. Chou Kei Jan was most straightforward and spoke frankly, sharing with the audience that her family had a driver, maids and servants to accompany her when she was young, but she was a rich girl who longed to take a bus. During the fifteen months and a half of studying and working at the same time in France, she did not use a dime from her family, but would rather worked to support herself and live the hard life. “Sure, when I could not even have a cup of coffee or watch a film, I had regretted refusing the ten thousand francs my father sent as my living expenses. Yet, had I not done so, I could not tell you this story confidently today.” The audience laughed, and their respect for the “princess”’s candor and sincerity. Ms. Cao shared her reflecting that “treasure every single opportunity, hardships and setbacks are my wealth.” Her words let the students truly understood that the core of this extraordinary business woman and the iron lady in politics’ success was the correct view on life and values.
 
Ms. Chou Kei Jan also shared her business experiences and some memorable stories with the students. By telling her own life experiences, she pointed out the significance of outlook on life and values in relationship to young people on the road of becoming capable and successful, and finally teaching the students on how to better choose their own path for life and career. As the saying went, “talking with you for one moment is much better than reading books for ten years”, the life experiences shared by President Cao let the students realized that behind every success, there were always great efforts and sacrifices seldom known by others. Meanwhile, a fully-developed personality and great characteristics were also essential to success. In the Q&A section, City University of Macau Council’s Vice-Chairman Mr. Ung Choi Kun was invited to share the stage with Ms. Chou and interact with students. Many students, still hoping for more stories about personal life experiences from the keynote speaker, grasped this rare opportunity to interact with the two guests on stage face to face. Amid enthusiastic discussions, the opening ceremony and the first forum from the Distinguished Lecture Series of City University of Macau drew to the successful conclusion.
 
“Know what to treasure after experiencing hardship, understand what to be thankful for after tasting life; responsibly shouldering the burden of the people, warmly encouraging youths working hard to success.” Such was the understanding summed up by students from City U on Ms. Cao’s speech about her life. We thank you, Ms. Cao, for providing the knowledge that a successful life stemmed from long-term planning and started with solid work right now. The audience for this speech, City U’s students born in the 80s and 90s, all expressed that we would work hard and show everyone the best of our youth, be worthy of our good years, our City U, our community, and our country.
 
City University of Macau’s Vice-Rector Professor Leong Man Wai, Assistant Rector and Registrar Professor Xing Wen-Xiang, Chief Analyst of Research Centre for Macau Social and Economic Development and Principal of City University’s Institute of Economic Dr. Qiu Xiao-Hua were also among guests attended this forum.