How Should We Face It - Speech at the Shanghai Theatre Academy Opening Ceremony 2024
Huang Changyong
10 September 2024
(English Translation for Reference Only)
Dear students, parents, faculty and friends,
Greetings!
While the summer heat still lingers, the footsteps of autumn have already arrived. In this season of harvest, we hold a grand opening ceremony to welcome 970 new students of the Class of 2024. On behalf of the entire faculty and staff, I extend a warm welcome to our new members: the Shanghai Theatre Academy family has expanded with nearly a thousand new members, adding fresh colors and vitality to our garden of talents. Today also marks the 40th Teacher's Day, with the theme “Vigorously Promote the Spirit of Educators and Accelerate the Construction of a Strong Education Nation”. In the journey of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the mission of educators is more glorious, and their responsibilities more significant. Here, on behalf of the university, I extend festive greetings to all faculty members and wish you a Happy Teacher's Day!
Among the 970 new students this year, 610 are undergraduates, 296 are master's students, and 64 are doctoral students, including 13 students from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and various foreign countries.
This year, 34 students requested to speak as freshman representatives at the opening ceremony. As you have just seen, the university selected six new student representatives based on the “six 'most' criteria”: highest score, most determined, most interdisciplinary, most hardcore, most distant and most mature. This is probably the most unique way of selecting freshman representatives to speak at an opening ceremony among universities nationwide. This is Shanghai Theatre Academy, a university with the distinctive personality of an art institute!
Today, interdisciplinary studies have become the norm at Shanghai Theatre Academy. Han Yu from the Broadcasting and Hosting major “abandoned medicine for literature”, decisively dropping out of medical school in his sophomore year to re-prepare for exams, and choosing Shanghai Theatre Academy as his only option. Chang Kuo from the Musical Theatre major had already studied mechanical engineering at the University of Technology Sydney for a year. After watching the graduation production of the Musical Theatre major, the seed of drama quietly sprouted in his heart, and he resolutely dropped out and was admitted to the Musical Theatre major. These are examples of undergraduates, and there are also graduate students who completed four years of engineering before choosing art. Li Zechen, from the School of Computer Science and Technology at Fudan University, majored in Confidential Technology; Dai Xinyi, from the School of Life Science and Technology at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, studied Biotechnology. They were both excellent in their original majors, both received exemption from the graduate entrance exam, and both successfully entered the Theatre and Film Acting major in the Acting Department. All of this stems from their love for the performing arts.
Today, I hope that these interdisciplinary students do not abandon their original fields. Medicine and theater are closely related, and drama therapy is still an emerging field in China with broad research and application prospects. Mechanical engineering is closely tied to stage technology; the Experimental Theatre at our university is awaiting reconstruction, and we are eager for innovative designs in stage equipment. As we know, the proscenium stage has been around for over a century, but the application of stage machinery lags far behind technological advancements, and as a specialized theatre academy, we bear a responsibility. Biotechnology and artificial intelligence are naturally connected. Confidentiality technology is also intriguing, many films and TV dramas involve espionage, but it seems few screenwriters truly understand confidentiality technology.
From the essays submitted for the opening ceremony, I have discerned the characteristics of contemporary university students, who do not quite believe in the current judgments about the generational traits of Generation Z.
Many students are already familiar with the words of our former president, Xiong Foxi, expressing the university motto. At the beginning of the ceremony, we used AI to recreate the voice of the former president. Professor Li Zhenlin just mentioned the well-known words from 'Dream of the Red Chamber' that are familiar to everyone at our university. You know the university motto 'Pursue the Best and the Most Beautiful'; you know that the university held its third Party Congress during the summer and proposed the goal of “being a pioneer among art universities in the journey of Chinese-style modernization”; you know the talent cultivation goals of “upright character, solid foundation, professional excellence, and strong practice”; you know the university song, “Inherit the legacy of our predecessors, learn from international excellence, listen to the call of the land, and immerse in the classroom of society”; you know the university's proposal to build future theatre studies; and some of you mentioned Hu Ge's speech at the 2021 opening ceremony. I believe you are a generation that cares about the country and society, loves your alma mater, and you are confident, diligent in learning, and good at thinking.
This year, the university has created a strong AI atmosphere for the opening ceremony. As you walked into the Experimental Theatre, you discovered an interactive installation called “The Master's Response: You Are STA”. This includes my intellectual property. “You Are STA” was the title of my speech at the 2017 graduation ceremony. The university uses AI technology to generate real-time body responses from seven theatre masters, hoping that new students will interact with theatre traditions and aspire to emulate these masters, striving to become the art masters of the new era through exploration and effort.
Artificial intelligence has become the most intensively discussed topic today, possibly the most extensive technological revolution in human history. In 2018, Turing Award winner Professor Hinton believed that artificial intelligence would not replace humans, but this year, his attitude has changed significantly. It is believed that artificial intelligence will inevitably surpass humans in the near future. This means that once artificial intelligence gains self-awareness, it will signify the turning point where silicon-based civilization replaces carbon-based civilization. Stanford University Professor Fei-Fei Li, known as the "Mother of Artificial Intelligence”, holds a different view. She believes that no matter how large models develop, they will never possess human sensations and emotions, which are crucial aspects of human intelligence.
I am not sure which viewpoint the audience holds, but one thing must be recognized: the history of human civilization's development follows the continuous progress of science and technology. This includes the development of art, which is closely tied to new technological discoveries.
The Academic Affairs Office conducted two rounds of surveys in the first half of the year, collecting opinions from teachers and students on curriculum and textbook development. A total of 118 teachers and 850 students provided valid responses.
Teachers fully affirmed the necessity of future reforms in curriculum and textbooks. More than 60% of teachers supported reforms in the directions of science-art integration, industry-education integration, and cross-disciplinary convergence, and expressed expectations for AI empowerment, digitalization, and curriculum-based ideological and political education.
High-frequency terms mentioned by students in the survey included: optimizing course structure; enhancing AI-empowered teaching; offering industry-education integration and science-art integration courses; implementing small-class teaching; introducing external mentors for teaching; timely updating textbook content; and introducing electronic/digital textbooks.
This semester, the university will hold a curriculum and textbook development conference and issue a three-year action plan for curriculum and textbook development. The focus of this plan is the AI empowerment initiative.
"Talent is the core of promoting the development of artificial intelligence, and education is the foundation. Artificial intelligence is a golden key that is profoundly influencing the future direction and development of education in the world and China”, said Wu Yan, Vice Minister of Education, at the 2024 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance held on 4 July.
These are not general strategic issues but strategic and overarching issues that affect or even determine the high-quality development of education. The impact of artificial intelligence on education is widespread. Currently, our education system remains largely in the legacy of the industrial era, and an urgent issue is to improve teachers' digital literacy. Surveys show that the application of artificial intelligence in the curriculum and teaching system is still minimal, and traditional teaching methods and models can no longer meet students' expectations.
We can no longer use methods from the agricultural or industrial eras to teach students who have grown up in the information age. Some teachers have mentioned to me that the more they teach nowadays, the more pressured they feel. Why are there so many "head-downers" in the classroom? That is because the classroom is no longer the sole channel for imparting knowledge. Students either find what the teacher says to be repetitive or want to go online and verify the accuracy of the teacher's statements. In this era of technological democratization, the knowledge structure advantage of teachers is no longer as prominent. Teachers must be more creative in their teaching models and methods. Moreover, the necessity of traditional courses that mainly focus on knowledge points as the core curriculum needs to be re-evaluated.
Just as many technological inventions far surpass human capabilities, we should not overly rely on artificial intelligence. The process of human learning cannot be replaced by AI. The neuronal network system of each person's brain is shaped through the accumulation of learning and acquisition, forming an individual's knowledge reserves, emotional intelligence, growth in innovation and creativity, and the formation of life values. At the same time, individual learning occurs within a larger societal system, which involves connections between people, thus providing social experiences and meaning. AI cannot replace these two aspects. The process of human growth and the infusion of subjectivity cannot be substituted by AI. For instance, when AI writes a script, the basic instructions and the assessment of the script ultimately rely on human aesthetic judgment, which requires solid accumulation and foundational training.
In a sense, some of the most basic and primitive labor and training remain necessary. AI primarily improves efficiency: we should not depend on it, but rather harness it.
Of course, if we believe Hinton's prediction that AI will surpass humans, this becomes a question of technological ethics and philosophy. In my view, it is technically achievable sooner or later, marking the birth of a new species, which may give itself a name different from humans from the day it is born.
Throughout the long history of human civilization, the development of technology has always been accompanied by a tradition of reflection and criticism. This reflection and criticism are often undertaken by philosophy and art. For teachers and students in art schools, it is crucial to examine AI from the perspective of art itself. Enthusiastically embracing AI is one aspect; examining AI from the standpoint of technological ethics, considering the broader historical and futuristic context, may be a more meaningful exploration.
In fact, our teachers and students have already begun exploring this area. During the summer, the AI & MR experimental opera production co-created by faculty and students of the College of Creative Studies was performed at the National School of Drama in India. This production showcased the integration of science and art at our institution, drawing attention and praise from faculty and students of various participating universities at the Asia-Pacific Bond of Theatre Schools Student Theatre Festival. Similarly, in July, our university's English-language AI-themed educational theatre production participated in the Sixth Cambridge-China Education Forum held at the University of Cambridge. The production explored the relationship between artificial intelligence and humanity, as well as future development trends.
Based on this, our university has proposed the concept of "Future Theatre Studies" in response to the profound impact of artificial intelligence on art and art education.
Philosopher Nietzsche constantly envisioned a "future philosophy" in his later years, and Heidegger had long focused on the reconstruction of human life experiences in the modern technological world. Future theatre will undoubtedly be a reconstruction of theatrical art under new technologies and circumstances. During a summer visit to the National School of Drama in India, while discussing the future of theatre with the school's principle, we unanimously agreed that China and India, as two ancient civilizations with long-standing cultural and theatrical traditions, should create a new theatrical vocabulary unique to the Eastern world. I believe that future theatre will certainly be based on inheriting the excellent traditional Chinese culture, absorbing the essence of world cultures, rooting in China, and creatively transforming and innovatively developing in light of new technologies.
In 2025, the Shanghai Theatre Academy will celebrate its 80th anniversary. To promote the university's traditions and refine its educational spirit, the university has started interviewing alumni. Last week, an exclusive interview with alumnus Xu Zheng was released. I noticed that he said, "The tradition of the Shanghai Theatre Academy is always about renewal and creation. The alma mater is aging, but it is becoming younger and more modern. I hope the university can become the most modern and the most capable of keeping up with the world's pace of art institutions." I know this is the common expectation of all alumni for their alma mater. The university is steadfastly moving in this direction in all aspects. We insist on being student-centered, integrating more social and even international resources to build various platforms. We have established industry-education integration bases with national-level art institutions such as the National Centre for the Performing Arts, China National Theatre, Beijing People's Art Theatre, National Peking Opera Company, Oriental Performing Arts Group, and Shanghai Grand Theatre Arts Center. This summer, the university sent multiple teams of teachers and students to participate in festivals, workshops, forums, and other activities worldwide. I suggest that relevant departments study and formulate plans so that starting next summer, each major selects a team to participate in various meaningful activities overseas. This year, the university have enrolled professional doctoral students for the first time, and with early planning, we have enrolled the first doctoral class in screenwriting under the collaboration with the China Theatre Association, inviting a number of renowned domestic screenwriters as mentors. This year, the acting and film programs have also commenced the cultivation of professional doctoral talents in the arts. Yang Haoyu, who spoke on behalf of the new students, is one of the first doctoral students in the acting program. Additionally, Lin Gengxin has returned to his alma mater to pursue a professional doctorate.
I wish them all the best in their journey to reach the pinnacle of the arts in the coming years!
This year, we have also been approved to offer a doctoral program in dance. With this addition, the university now has four accredited doctoral programs, forming a more complete and integrated talent cultivation matrix.
A person without long-term plans will have immediate worries.
While we should say more encouraging words at the opening ceremony, I believe that sometimes reflecting on our shortcomings can also propel us forward more forcefully.
At the recently held New Forces in Chinese Cinema Forum, Mao Yu, the Executive Deputy Director of the National Film Bureau, made a basic assessment of Chinese cinema: the supply of products is still insufficient, high-quality content is scarce, and there are very few large productions. There is a severe shortage of creative talent, with only a very limited number of influential screenwriters, directors and producers. Companies are still very weak, the market system urgently needs improvement, the number of moviegoers is decreasing, and the development environment is becoming increasingly complex. I believe these observations are also entirely applicable to the field of theatre, and the hidden concerns in theatre are far more serious than in film. As the main force in cultivating theatre and film talents, our university should bear this mission and responsibility.
During this summer vacation, I watched the play ‘War and Peace+ by Russian director Tuminas. This play has attracted the attention of the domestic theatre community and has become a hot topic of discussion. We are reflecting on why, despite inheriting the system from Russia since the 1950s, there is still a significant gap overall. We should stand at the height of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation to coordinate the layout of art talent cultivation and introduce innovated talent cultivation model. I also hope that students will plan their life goals from this height, take on the mission and responsibility of the times, set high aspirations, and create a brilliant life!
Students, today as we step into the Shanghai Theatre Academy, we only get a small glimpse of the door to the arts. The road ahead is long and arduous. Only by maintaining lasting passion, enduring long-term hard work, and bravely facing setbacks, disappointments and even failures, can we advance towards the peak of the arts. When you graduate in a few years, you will surely feel that time flies. I wish that on the day of the graduation ceremony, when we look back on the days and nights at the university, the hard work and harvest, the glory and dreams, you can all proudly declare: I have lived up to my youth, I have lived up to STA, and we have lived up to our era!
Thank you!
