Graduation ceremonies go digital amid epidemic in China: survey

BEIJING -- A recent survey found that 88.6 percent of new Chinese college graduates celebrated their graduation in digital form amid the COVID-19 epidemic.

The graduates surveyed mainly celebrated their graduation by making graduation videos, watching graduation ceremonies and buying academicals online, according to a report carried by the China Youth Daily.

"This year's graduation was a special and unforgettable experience for me," Zhang Hanqi (a pseudonym), a graduate in Beijing, was quoted by the newspaper as saying. "Although I couldn't bid farewell to my teachers and classmates in person, and was unable to take a final tour of the campus as a student, this feeling of regret gave me a greater appreciation for campus life and engraved these youthful memories deep in my heart."

Around 64.5 percent of the respondents think this year's graduation is of special significance, and 68 percent of them say they know how to better cherish the people around them as a result.

In order to reduce the risk of infection, colleges across the country have adopted an unprecedented form of graduation to ensure students can graduate as scheduled, Shu Man, a researcher with East China Jiaotong University, told China Youth Daily.

Both students and colleges have displayed great ingenuity and come up with personalized graduation activities, which is a new experience for the graduates and an opportunity to use their creativity, Shu added.

Among the 2,505 respondents covered by the survey, 52.3 percent were male and 47.7 percent were female.