Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing presents an award to Huang Yanting, one of the most outstanding graduates at Shantou University this year, at the Guangdong-based university's graduation ceremony on Friday. [Photo by CHEN CHENGXIAO/FOR CHINA DAILY] When it comes to speeches during graduation season, few are quite as buzzworthy as the one by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing at Shantou University on Friday. At a commencement ceremony filled with laughs and tears, Li also announced he is stepping down as honorary chairman of the university, which he established 38 years ago, and his son Richard Li Tzar-kai will continue his mission. Li Ka-shing, who will turn 90 in July, recalled at the ceremony where we are now was a swamp 38 years ago. Many mocked me that this was but a fool's dream. I believe then, as I believe now, that only through education can we fulfill the promise we hope for the future. He has attended the university's commencement and delivered a speech for 17 consecutive years. It is also the latest position he has resigned since announcing his retirement from his companies, CK Hutchison and CK Asset, in May. His charity, Li Ka Shing Foundation, has invested almost HK$10 billion ($1.3 billion) in the university in Guangdong, where Li was born before he moved to Hong Kong. At the campus' 60,000-square-meter indoor gym, the billionaire gave a speech entitled Searching for Better to more than 2,600 graduates. The college has 22,000 students and 110,000 alumni. The modern milieu is very different. The world of new challenges calls for the need to find variables with values. The uninitiated like only to bask in the comfort zone, which leads them nowhere. Things won't be disrupted unless you ask how they could be done differently, remarked Li. The entrepreneur, affectionately dubbed superman by Hong Kong residents, advised students to be creative with their talents to make a change in the world, but also stressed a functioning conscience matters as much as having talent. After his speech, students sang the school anthem and many burst into tears. Jiang Hong, president of the university, said Li has been taking care of the school since the very beginning and devoted his deepest love. She also mentioned that a book with Li's remarks will be sent to graduating students as a gift this year. entrance wristbandswrist band com coupon codemotivational bracelets for athletes
China launches two Type 055 guided-missile destroyers, widely considered Asia's biggest such combat vessels, at a shipyard in Dalian, Liaoning province, on Tuesday. [Photo/LIU DEBIN FOR CHINA DAILY] China launched on Tuesday two Type 055 guided-missile destroyers, widely considered Asia's biggest and mightiest such combat ship, according to witnesses outside a shipyard in Dalian, Liaoning province. Weapons enthusiasts published photos taken near Dalian Shipbuilding Industry, which has built two aircraft carriers, on internet military forums. They also described what they saw of the two giant ships' launches. When ships are moved into the water, their construction is basically finished. It is regarded as the most important step before sea trials. Water started to be pumped into dry docks where the vessels were built around 7 am, before the docks' gates were opened, witnesses said. Photos showed that there was a small launch ceremony at the shipyard with hundreds of workers standing in formation in front of the two Type 055s, each decorated with a huge national flag and ceremonial banners. Then the ships were pushed into open waters by several tugboats, the photos showed. The next steps usually are for engineers to test and fine-tune equipment already mounted on the ships and continue installing other devices. Then they will conduct mooring tests and sea trials before the ships are commissioned in the People's Liberation Army Navy. Four Type 055s have now been launched, but none are yet commissioned. The first of the class was launched in late June 2017 at Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai, the second in late April at the same shipyard. Type 055 is China's newest generation of guided-missile destroyers. It has a displacement greater than 10,000 metric tons and will be equipped with new types of air defense, missile defense and anti-ship and anti-submarine weapons, according to the Navy. It has 112 vertical launching cells that can fire various kinds of missiles, including China's long-range land-attack cruise missile. Its firepower is thought to be twice that of the Type 052D, the largest and most powerful surface combatant commissioned in the PLA Navy. While the Type 055 is classifed as a destroyer, outside China it would be considered a cruiser as its large size and heavy displacement are comparable to that of the United States' Ticonderoga class cruiser. Li Jie, a senior researcher for the PLA Navy, said the vessel displaces about 13,000 tons. The latest version of the United States' Arleigh Burke class, the largest family of destroyers in the world, has a full displacement of 9,800 tons. South Korea's Sejong the Great class displaces 11,000 tons while Japan's Atago class displaces 10,000 tons. Cao Weidong, a senior researcher at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute, said that compared with other destroyers in the Navy, the Type 055 features stealth design, stronger strike prowess and higher information capacity and will tremendously boost the PLA Navy's long-range operational capability. He also said such ships will greatly strengthen the country's carrier battle groups.
