On March 22, Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China (RDCY) held the 143th lecture with the theme of “Returning from "Top of Africa" to think about China’s development”. Wang wen, executive dean of RDCY, along with Zhao lei, professor of international strategy research institute of Party School of the CPC Central Committee, and former captain of mountaineering team of Tsinghua university Zhao Xingzheng, who is a national first-class mountaineer, shared their experience of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and thoughts on the development of China.

Wang Wen said that there are about 40 thousand people who ascend to the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, of which roughly 200 to 300 are Chinese. That may testify to the fact that Chinese don’t like exploration. If we consider the current situation, we can find that lack of exploration culture imposes blockades on the development of our country. It can be regarded as a reason as reform asks for exploration and innovation, and it is the same with Chongyang institute. Undoubtedly, innovation of all countries can’t generate without exploration. This also accounts for the reason why we invite scholars and experts involved to share their experiences in this mountaineering.

Zhao Lei favored exploration instead of adventure. People who never see the ocean and mountains may lack quality of exploration, reverent consciousness and teamwork spirit. These qualities are closely bound up with market, integrity, qualified standard, internationalization and the spirit of entrepreneur.

According to words by Zhao Xingzheng, mountaineering can reflect the will of people to explore high mountains and mystery, or choose free lifestyle. Despite many risks we may face, we can take a special view of scenes, experience a different living condition and understand what the world should be.

Yang Ming, who is an entrepreneur in Shanghai, highlighted difficulties of mountaineering and the importance of being well-prepared. Not all mountains can be conquered by everyone, but the very step is to make choice by ourselves. The enemy of us represents our own rather than other people.

Yao Peisheng, former Chinese ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, also attended the lecture and shared his experience in mountaineering. He said the life of everyone is like mountaineering. Some people give up in the process while other people are reluctant to climb up. We should work with perseverance as our life is compose of study and exercise.

Wang wen made a response to the view of ambassador Yao that life is just like a journey of mountaineering certainly. We need to overcome many obstacles, however, sometimes the most difficult one actually originates from our internal minds. That means nothing is more important than to prevail over our own.

It is translated by Kuang Chuang based on the lecture report, a trainee of Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University.