Giving to next generation: lifelong friends’ generosity

Jun 1, 2025, International Office，5-minute read

AXHU community marked an important GIVE ceremony on the Wednesday afternoon, May 28, 2025.

With the AXHU executive vice president WANG Li, vice president WANG Qijing, the chiefs of AXHU Library Office, staff members at the School of Marxism and others witnessing the historical moment of getting us involved into co-building a close-knit humanistic environment on the ground of educational-from-afar significance, WU Zhaoxue, an emeritus professor of Ideological & Political Research with a joint appointment erstwhile at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) School of Humanities and Social Science and the AXHU School of Marxism, gives his private academic collection of roughly 1,000 hardcover books of classical ideas and big values on donation to the AXHU young people, and encourages them to become the lifelong learner and someday to make history as one of the ‘beautiful life and harmonious society’ builders once they could have changed the world.

After graduating, Wu was committed himself to teaching and research in the area of Marxist theory and its localized enforcement as an active novice that year starting his academic journey from the USTC cradle—enjoying now an excellent reputation worldwide—in engagement with “educating top talents in cutting-edging.”  

“How time flies!” Several decades later, Prof. Wu has become a senior scholar of excellence having plenty of achievements in the philosophical area, who has already completed the stated duties and responsibilities and honorably realized the real meaning of life, however, while fully looking back those memorable footprints on the pathway to Chinese educational success a generation of great educators contributed generously to, who are aging now but thinking more and more over the potential of whether they can do something as much as possible for the future cause.

Finishing his USTC tenure, he immediately joined the developing AXHU Education, taking office as the director of the Faculty Group of Ideological & Political Theory for teaching and research from 2008-2016, during which he educated and supported a batch of younger academic staff who have already worked as the pillar members for the AXHU general education and administrative jobs.

In 2017, he bid farewell to beloved college campus and yearslong fellows and magnanimous students, and headed home, where he really enjoys his own retirement time with his greathearted families, who are always caring and standing with him, and whom he needs to return himself to making up for the household romance—cooking for his families, cultivating flowers...travelling immensely through the rest of life—which he promised to do but failed to walk the walk many, many times before.

And even so, Wu couldn’t help controlling the campus-bound sentiments sometimes, unreasonably surging up from the bottom of his heart at late night: how to enhance the disciplinary levels, high-efficient staffing, academic gateways to more research outcomes, and much more.

So, he—nostalgically, came this time with many select masterpieces from his bookshelves as ‘Greeting Gift’ for AXHU scholars of great intellectual endowment, which and whom he treasures very much both all the time, including the Marxist theories, primary philosophical schools and thoughts, new ideological and political education outreaches, deep learning on the frontiers, and critical research of pushing the boundaries, and more.  

WANG Qijing extended his heartfelt thank: “the generations previous pass their torches to us” at the acceptance meeting, who always keep their earnest expectations to forward AXHU-centered educational extensions.

Referencing the invaluable volumes resting in the stacks as a “spiritual niche” in the newly-built Marxism-themed reading room at the library, the young learners should come close to and learn from those excellent educators’ benevolences—like Prof. Wu—to shine a light on increasing the good-will presence of helping others akin to make dream come true altogether.   

“Today, the troves of books for more than 50-year ‘very decent conversation’ with me now find its real home to [perhaps] assist more young friends of the community to ascend a longer distance, which will give the aged learners much of relief, warmth and hope,” Wu said sincerely.

Then the deputy curator of AXHU library TANG Ganjun took over the ‘historically gifting’ bonanza for the next generations.

And WANG Li presented the Medal of Lifetime Educational Honorary and ‘AXHU Impression’ Souvenir to Prof. Wu, and invited him to have a campus tour again... many years later.

This public good event activated widely responses among faculty, students and staff on campus, with maxim calling for “Educators To Be Learned and Upright.” 

“As a successor, we will be very benefiting from our Prof. Wu’s dedication, devotion and lifelong pursuits in the educational area, and strive for improving ourselves in comprehensive capacities in teaching practices, academic research and moral cultivation qualified for ensuing the next-best success of AXHU educational community,” the representative faculty with AXHU School of Marxism pledged.