The arrival of spring heralds the celebration of Tsing Hua's founding and the birthday of NTHU. The festivities stretched a total of seven days, from April 20^th to the 27^th, with a number of special events that painted the campus red. The highlight of the week's celebration was without doubt the anniversary ceremony held at the university auditorium on the 26^th where faculty, students joined with the returned alumni and invited guests to honor students, staff and alumni whose accomplishments have greatly improve the reputation of National Tsing Hua University.

In his speech, President Wen-Tsuen Chen extended his appreciation to all the participants for their strong support of the university over the years. He went on to recount the many academic achievements NTHU has had over the past three years since he assumed the office: the remarkable advancement in world university ranking, exceptional high number of faculty publication citations and the acclaimed university operation system as well as the widely recognized academic competitiveness among all the universities in the world. In terms of infrastructure, many construction projects have either recently broke ground or been completed as the university continue to upgrade her facilities. These projects include the Delta Hall for instruction and the Macronix Hall as the state of the art learning resource center. Furthermore, NTHU is constantly striving to make her motto a reality through the implementation of innovative programs such as the "Thousand Points of Light Project" and the establishment of Tsing Hua College. Our students not only excelled in the classroom and laboratory, they have also spent a great deal of time and energy to serve as volunteers, bring their skills and enthusiasm to the villages in areas as far as Nepal, Indonesia as well as African countries.

Mr. Ming-Teh Hsu, Chairman of the NTHU Alumni Association followed with his speech and noted that despite the gloomy weather a large number of alumni have returned to show their love and support for their alma mater. He also noted that we have regained the trophy of the Meichu Games and urged his fellow alumni to contribute to the project of building a new gymnasium.

Dr. Larry Lin and Dr. Gray Lin, both representing the Alumni Association took the podium to announce and congratulate the winners of this year’s Distinguished Alumni Awards. They are Mr. T.J. Tseng, President of the Unimcron and Ms. Yong-fen Hsieh, General Manager of the Material Analysis Technology Inc. A Special Contribution Award was also presented to the late Mr. Zhang Chang-hua for exemplary devotion to Tsing Hua and a life-long support to his beloved alma mater. Mr. Zhang enjoyed a long and successful life and passed away earlier this year. His daughter, Ms. Zhang Yi and her husband returned from the States specifically for this occasion and were very proud of their father who had always been very proud of being a member of the Tsing Hua family.

Outstanding students, student clubs and sport teams were also recognized at the ceremony for their distinguished accomplishments. These include: recipients of the National Service and Learning Award, Outstanding College Youth of the China Youth Corps, members on the President's List for the second semester of 2007 and the first semester of 2008. And, of course, the winning teams who brought back the trophy of the Meichu Games this year.