"To cultivate oneself as a virtuous person; to contribute to the good of the society and to leave a legacy with ones words and writings" are the three paths leading to immortality, according to Chinese sage. Dr. Mei Yi-chi, the late president of NTHU was one of the few gentleman scholars who had beautifully accomplished all these lofty goals in his lifetime. As an educator, he advocated that a university should be an institution concentrates on cultivating talents, nurturing innovativeness, and never lost sight of the important mission of training her students not only as proficient professionals but also roundly educated persons. Mr. Zhong Xiubin, a famous Chinese author, once characterized President Mei as a stellar representative of his generation and considered him as a towering giant in education amongst Confucius, Wang Yang-ming and Zeng Guofan, the three famous educators in Chinese history.

To commemorate the contributions that President Mei Yi-chi had made, NTHU held a commemoration seminar on October 26^th and 27^th to mark the 50^th anniversary of President Mei's passing. Distinguished guests invited include Academia Sinica Academician, Dr. Lee C. Teng; former President of Beijing Tsing Hua, Dr. Gu Binglin; Party Secretary of Yunnan Normal University, Dr. Liaoyuan Ye; former President of NTHU, Dr. Chung Laung Liu; Vice President of Xiamen University, Dr. Wu Daguang and renowned Chinese author, Mr. Zhong Xiubin as well as NTHU Writer-in-Residence, Mr. Yue Nan. The seminar covered various subjects that President Mei Yi-chi advocated as ideal facets of a sound education program.

President Lih J. Chen stressed that "President Mei is the eternal president of the two Tsing Hua across the Strait." He pointed out that this seminar not only serve to commemorate President Mei, but also echoes his philosophy and core ideas on general education, physical education, globalization, academic freedom and campus democracy, post-secondary education programs as well as humanity education.

President Chen further indicated that "President Mei is a legend, he was elected as the Dean of Academic Affairs at age of 37, and became the President of Tsing Hua at age of 42. He passed away at age of 73 in Hsinchu as the acting President of NTHU." Dr. Gu Binglin stressed that President Mei devoted his entire life to Tsing Hua, and shared a story that President Mei had once expressed a lack of interest in teaching to Prof. Zhang Boling, Dr. Mei's mentor; only to have the latter telling him to be patient. When Mei recalled this episode to his wife, Ms. Han Yonghua, he said "interestingly, my patience lasted decades and eventually my whole life."

A Chinese literature master, Mr. Chen Yinke, once said "A legal code will be an ideal code when it can be as concise as Mr. Mei's speeches." President Chen and Dr. Liaoyuan Ye pointed out that President Mei was a gentleman of few words and he was very conservative when it comes to expressing his opinions. However, his conservative nature should not be mistaken for his indecisiveness; rather, it was out of his respect for campus democracy. He often listens to everyone's opinions before reaching a decision, and when the decision was made it was the final one.

Mr. Yue Nan mentioned that the biggest problem a university president could face must be student strikes. Beijing University and Tsing Hua University were most noted as the two campuses where students striked most often during the civil war period. Incredibly, President Mei Yi-chi was able to settle many of such strikes peacefully and once again displayed his wisdom and charisma.

President Lih J. Chen closed the seminar by quoting Dr. Chien Shih-Lian, "Tsing Hua was ever so fortunate to be led by the educator of the century! Under President Mei's leadership, we solidified our foundation and status in the history. During critical times, we should always strive to excel and do our best so that we will not disgrace President Mei's lifelong devotion to Tsing Hua."