給下一屆蘇世民學者的一封公開信

We all knew it from the start- that one year will go by really quickly. As our cohort nears into the final parts of our year in Beijing, the nostalgia has begun as we think back on our time and memories here. Over the past few weeks, I am thankful to have had the chance to meet some of the scholars from the next incoming class and I must say I am impressed by your zeal and excitement and also a sense of connectedness even though our community is only beginning to grow. A couple of you have asked a lot of questions about how to make the most of your time in the coming year and the writer in me has decided to pen down some of the discussions that we had. The following piece details a few of the learnings that came from some of those discussions we had. Disclaimer that this only represents my own synthesis and reflections and that this is not meant to be prescriptive but rather to serve as lens and frames to think about. As with all things in life there is never one single template, for it’s up to each of us to thread the path most suited for us. With that in mind, here comes 5 little nuggets of reflection.
我們其實從一開始就意識到了—— 一年的時間會轉眼即逝。當我們走近這一年的尾聲，難免會對今年所做的一切感到留戀，並更積極地反思希望能回饋我們的書院。在過去幾周，我很幸運有機會認識下一屆不同的幾位學者，從短短的交流中能看到你們各自的興奮，並讓我感到我們蘇世民社羣的歸屬感。你們也提了很多問題，尤其是關於怎麼能夠好好把握短暫的一年最充實地度過這段時間。因此，與你們的討論給予了我很多的啓發與靈感，而這篇文章就總結了我們一起討論到的一些反饋。特別聲明一下，這文章只代表我個人的一些看法，目的不是要教導誰，而是想提出一些值得思考的問題。生活的道路永遠不只一條，最終走的路還是要自己創出來的。基於這出發點，文章想鼓勵我們思考以下的五個小點。

Know what you are coming here for
明確未來一年的目標是什麼

"You get one life, so do it all."

– Bobby Axelrod (Billions)

A few of us have a weekly “Billions” watching club at the college and Bobby Axelrod is no doubt one of our favourite characters from the hit TV series. Yet in our context, his philosophy is hard to put into action by the simple fact that time will always be limited, trade-offs have to be made and for that you need to know where your priorities are. One year will go by quickly and unless we have a clear awareness of what we are hoping to get out from our time here.
在書院中，我們有羣美國電視劇《Billions》的粉絲，而劇裏的男主角一向都很強調生命短暫，因此什麼都要奮鬥的一種理念。可是，我們要記住的是，時間永遠有限，難免要做出取捨，而明確的做出這個決定是基於你是否瞭解自己的核心目標是什麼。一年將會很快過去，而如果你沒有一個清晰的目標，時間將不知不覺地流失。

How then can we think of what those priorities should be? One framework that came from our discussions was to see it as 3 balls to be juggled- career development, personal learning, building friendships. Career development focuses on both long-term career exploration and skills/ experience building such as through attending workshops or working part-time. Personal learning revolves around wider knowledge accumulation and personal reflections- specifically by virtue of being in China, we may want to think about specific aspects of China that we would want to learn more of. The final bubble on friendships is self-explanatory but the art is in thinking of the myriad of activities, interactions and groups that we would form (because choosing how and who we spend our time shows where our priorities are). Note that these are only directional areas to guide thinking, but it’s up to us to set out what our specific objectives in each of those areas. Thinking of those objectives will only be the first step, discovering what means or ways to achieve those (be it external events, travelling, self-initiated projects) will be the next important thing to consider. To this point, remember that the programme will not spoon-feed us with opportunities, it’s up to each of us to actively initiate and pursue the things that we want to see and do. (For starters, quite a few of the most memorable activities have all been student-driven)
那麼到底怎麼才能找到我們的核心目標在哪呢？一個簡單的思路是想着三個方面—— 發展事業，深造學業，建立友情。 事業發展關注與尋找自己長期的事業方向，同時也爲提升職場技巧做準備； 這可通過去不同工作坊或實習來實現。深造學業包括知識累積和個人思考—— 我們項目重點關注中國議題，因此值得探討中國有哪些方面是我們想深入研究的。最後，建立友情不言自明，但關鍵是通過什麼活動與組織來促成這點。這三個方向當然只是一個思考的方向，詳細的目標還是需要我們自己設定。目標定了只是第一步的開始，下一步還要想什麼樣的途徑或機會才能體現出目標。 我們要記住，書院只能提供一個平臺，但我們想追求的機會，還是要自己積極地爭取。

But stay open to explore what comes up
保留開放的心態去迎接這一年

While setting objectives are important, it’s also vital to remain open to how the year actually unfolds. This plays out both at a practical level as well as at our mindset. At the practical level, it means maintaining enough flexibility for the unexpected things that show up. Often through it’s through maintaining willingness to explore new things that allows us to discover more about ourselves.
定目標當然重要，但我們也應該持開放思維與靈活度來迎接這一年。這包括兩個層面—— 一個是在日常生活中，另一個是在思維上。在日常生活中，我們應該保留一定的靈活性來迎接我們沒預料的事情，因爲通過探索新的事物才能讓我們更瞭解自己。

More importantly, at a mindset level, the biggest personal learning that I took away was just the importance of staying open-minded in learning. Many of us will come with very well-grounded and thought out views as reinforced by our many years of education and experience. Against that backdrop, it will take continuous effort to challenge ourselves to withhold judgment and instead allow ourselves to reconsider new viewpoints. This is especially given both the unique context and characteristics of China and also the wide diversity of backgrounds that our fellow scholars will bring. There might come a time when it gets easy to become cynical and to stop trying to listen and that’s when it’s good to remind ourselves to step back before re-engaging.
更重要的是在思維上，今年我最大的收穫就是開放思想的重要性。我們很多學者帶着豐富的學歷與工作背景，難免對很多議題已經有着自己的觀點。由於這個原因，在未來這一年，大家更應該挑戰自己凡事不要急於做判決下結論，而應該讓自己接觸更多元的觀點。尤其是因爲中國實有其獨特的一面，更何況我們學者都有非常不一樣的背景，要深入探討新看法需要開放的心態和寬廣的思想。這點需要我們不停地互相提醒，凡事都是有另一方面，所以不要那麼輕易放棄瞭解對方。

Be empowered, not entitled
有擔當而不是理所應當

Many of us come in with already distinguished achievements and a year in Beijing will hopefully help to further build each of us up to create greater impact in our respective areas. Indeed, the programme by virtue is designed to challenge and inspire us to make an even greater impact on the communities and world around us.
我們有很多同學已經取得了無數的成就，而在北京深造的一年也應該能再度激發你們發揮出更大的社會影響力。蘇世民項目的願景也確是希望能提供一個學習平臺來培訓與鼓勵我們爲社會做出更大的貢獻。

Yet amidst the empowerment that the programme brings, it will do us good to remember not to feel entitled to things around us. We must remember that no one owes us anything just because we are a Schwarzman Scholar and that we do not deserve anything by virtue of our fellowship. The global political disarray that we have witnessed in 2016 has partly stemmed from an elite that has become entitled and disconnected from the very communities they are supposed to serve. It’s thus important to come away with the humility to keep learning and growing, to be grateful for the opportunities that we are given and to remain grounded to contributing in whatever little way we can.
可是，我們一定要記住我們所享有的機會都不是理所當然的。只是因爲我們被賦予了“蘇世民學者”的身份，不代表我們具備了最好的個人條件與能力，也不代表機會必屬於我們。2016全球政治體系所經歷的，充分體現出精英制度的問題，尤其是精英認爲自己是在爲民服務，但其實早已脫離羣衆。因此我們要提醒自己要保持一個謙虛、好學的心態，同時也要爲我們所擁有的機會感恩，並更腳踏實地的爲社會做貢獻。

Develop our convictions and values
培養你的信念與價值觀

Every now and then, there will always be that continual “mid-life crisis” struggle of trying to find our life direction and purpose. This is no doubt hard stuff, but perhaps it’s easier to identify direction when we are clear on our convictions and beliefs. At the end of the day, a sense of conviction helps us understand what we value, what motivates us and what kind of change we want to see in the world. Conversely, having ambition without conviction will only end up eating us from the inside.
我相信你們很多人時不時會思考人生意義何在，甚至爲自己的人生方向與目標掙扎和反覆摸索。很多時候，我們要有着清晰的人生目標，並需要有着自己深摯的信念與價值觀。這種信念能夠幫助我們瞭解自我，更深入挖掘我們內心的動力並更清晰形成我們自己的世界觀。當一個人在事業或生活的追求只是基於他的野心而沒有信仰時，他最終只會被自己的野心吞沒。

A fellow scholar on the programme once shared 3 key questions that he thinks about daily in helping to shape his own convictions and vision:
我們有位學者經常會問自己三個關鍵的問題：

① What do you believe
① 你相信什麼

② What do you love
② 你愛什麼

③ Who do you love
③ 你愛誰

What do you believe spells out what our values are and what our vision is for how we hope to shape the world. What do you love then relates to specific areas of interest as well as processes that we enjoy undertaking. Finally, who do you love prompts us to think about the people around us and demands us to learn to love and give more unconditionally than we would ever have. If we can come away from the year with greater clarity on these 3 questions, it will go a long way in helping to shape our convictions overtime.
“你相信什麼”幫我們瞭解自己的信仰與價值觀，幫我們建立自己世界觀的基礎。“你愛什麼“ 是指我們對哪些具體的事物感興趣及熱衷的處事方法，這會幫我們找到現實信仰的渠道。最後，“你愛誰”鼓勵我們多關心與關懷我們身邊的人，並希望我們能學會無條件地愛護我們最親最愛的人。如果你能在未來的一年，好好思考這三個問題，長遠來看一定能幫你培養對生活更踏實的信念。

Live in the present
活在當下

“I just try to live every day as if I've deliberately come back to this one day to enjoy it as if it was the full final day of my extraordinary, ordinary life.”

– About Time

Throughout our years of going through a structured education system and work experiences, it’s always easy to think of the “what next” in life. Yet, be reminded that this one year is only a short temporary phase in the wider scheme of our careers and life. It would be a pity if our only focus is in continually thinking of the next thing that this year leads to.
對於我們來講，經歷學習或工作上的激烈競爭環境，經常自然只看到生活的“下一步”該是什麼。但是我們要記住這只是短暫的一年，如果你在這一年所有時間都是在想你的下一步，可會錯失好好享受現在這一刻的機會，而這是很遺憾的。

My own advice would be to take a step back and learn to appreciate each day for the gift that it is. And so treasure every single moment there is, that way we would ensure we do not look back with regrets on what could have been. Because if we can learn to live more in the present moment, then every ordinary day becomes extraordinary.
我的建議是，從對未來的擔憂中抽離出來，好好珍惜當下的每一天，爲眼下所經歷的人生感恩。因爲如果我們能真心過好每天平凡的生活，那纔是最不平凡的美麗人生。

結語

The journey is yours to make, go do great things
旅程是你走的，好好走，一步一步給世界帶來你期待的改變

Final words- this is an open letter precisely because it’s not about one person’s view but rather an invitation for discourse and reflection. The beauty of our programme by design is in encouraging discourse and debate from which learning and new insights can emerge. To that point, one final reminder is that for many of us, that the greatest gift from this year is the community that we have. And it's our collective responsibility to continue to build and contribute to this community, especially to embody the values that we want to represent. The upcoming journey is yours to make and we will all be looking forward to the great things that you do.
最後，這封信說明是封公開的信，因爲它不只是想表態一個人的觀點，而是想邀請你們一起討論。我們項目的美妙之處就在於能和那麼多位優秀的學者交流與對話，並從討論中衍生出更深層的觀點。基於這點，我們這年最珍貴的收穫一定是我們蘇世民社羣的大家庭。而確保這社羣能繼續地成長可說是我們的共同責任，尤其是建立一個能代表我們共同價值觀的團體。未來一年的旅程是由你們來走，我們會好好期待着聽你們的故事。

“At the end of the day, we are all part of a long-running story, and we just try to get our paragraph right.”
“最終，我們其實都是活在一個連綿的故事中而我們要做的就是把我們的段落寫好。”

To that end, we are thankful to have been a part of this story
我們非常感恩有機會參與這個故事

And we look forward to seeing you begin your chapter.
也期待觀看你們的故事開始

關於作者
About Author

陳浩揚擁有牛津大學公共政策碩士學位和香港大學工程學學士學位。他曾工作於貝恩管理諮詢公司和英國內閣辦公室。他熱心於社區項目，曾多次組織有關教育、社會流動、經濟發展等方面的公益項目。他還是牛津戰略協會的常務董事和牛津學生中心的副主席，發起了多項有關經濟發展、社會企業和社區服務的項目。浩揚今年25歲，來自香港。
Alexander Ho Young Chan holds a Master of Public Policy from Oxford University and a Bachelor degree in Engineering from Hong Kong University. He has worked for both Bain & Company and the United Kingdom Cabinet Office. Alexander has led multiple community projects related to his interest in education, social mobility and inclusive economic development. He also served as the Oxford Strategy Group’s Managing Director and the Oxford Student Hub’s Vice-president, initiating projects on economic development, social enterprises and community service. Alexander is 25 years old and from Hong Kong.