Chinese Student’s Harvard Commencement Speech Sparks Controversy Over Political Language
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The first Chinese woman selected to speak at a Harvard University graduation ceremony has sparked controversy both in China and the United States amid the Trump administration’s actions to curb Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence
Jiang Yurong, also known as Luanna Jiang, graduated with a master’s degree in public administration in international development.
The 25-year-old described how she and her 77 classmates from 34 countries “danced through each other’s traditions, and carried the weight of each other’s worlds,” and told the audience to “hold onto” people with different faiths, opinions, and backgrounds.
The speech, which was delivered during a months-long standoff between the Trump administration and Harvard over the university’s handling of alleged anti-Semitism on campus and its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, was occasionally interrupted by laughter and rounds of applause from the audience.
It also sparked online criticisms regarding hypocrisy and increased scrutiny of CCP influence in U.S. academia.The six-minute speech first drew the ire of CCP critics, who likened it to a Party mantra often used by Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The mantra, officially translated as “building a community with a shared future for mankind,“ was described by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi as ”the core tenet of ‘Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy.’”
Jiang’s speech was widely interpreted on social media as echoing Xi’s “community with a shared future for mankind;” and criticized by some Chinese dissidents overseas and users on Bilibili, the Chinese equivalent of YouTube.
The phrase “community with a shared future” was used in 2007 by former Chinese leader Hu Jintao to describe China and Taiwan. He expanded the term to include “all mankind” the following year, while his successor, Xi, integrated it into a core part of the CCP’s diplomatic narrative.
In Xi’s multiple speeches delivered at the United Nations, whose titles are variations of “building a community with a shared future for mankind,” the communist leader spoke against U.S. hegemony by touting multipolarity and decrying “imperialism, colonialism, and hegemonism.”
Commenting on Jiang’s speech on social media platform X, Wu Zuolai, a political commentator and independent scholar, said the speech alluded to “political correctness” and contained “key words of the CCP.”
Jiang’s Background
On Chinese social media, Jiang’s speech received some positive feedback, while others speculated that she had entered Harvard because of her father’s connection within a state-backed environmental NGO, the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF).According to a blog post by CBCGDF published in April 2022, the last copy of which had been taken down by June 3 from state media outlet The Paper, Jiang was a long-term volunteer who represented the foundation at international events multiple times, and she had secured a letter of recommendation from Zhou Jinfeng, former general secretary of the foundation, to help with her application for Harvard.
The blog also includes a statement from Jiang’s father, Jiang Zhiming, who was credited for approving the blog.
An annual report by the foundation says Jiang Zhiming donated 1 million yuan (nearly $139,000) to the organization to create a Green Future Technological Development Fund.
Responding to speculation by Chinese internet users that she was admitted to Harvard because of Zhou’s letter of recommendation, Jiang Yurong wrote on Weibo on June 2 that it was standard for the foundation to provide a reference for its volunteers, but that she did not submit Zhou’s letter to Harvard because the university only allowed three references.
Jiang also denied having an elitist background, saying she had paid for her own tuition and had been estranged from her father since her parents divorced when she was young.
CBCGDF is a national academic association and an environmental organization. However, since its inception, it has been closely intertwined with the CCP and the Chinese army’s upper echelon and the United Front Work Department (UFWD).
CBCGDF’s predecessor was co-founded by Lu Zhengcao, one of the CCP’s first generals. The organization was later led by Hu Deping, former deputy director of UFWD, and the eldest son of Hu Yaobang, a progressive former CCP leader known for his attempt to pursue economic and political reforms.
The NGO is supervised by the China Association for Science and Technology, a “people’s organization under the CCP’s leadership,” according to their websites. It has an internal CCP branch, holds sessions to study Chinese communist ideology, and is invited by UFWD to attend socialism research seminars.
Zhou, one of the founding presidents of CBCGDF, is also a director of the Ecological Civilization Research Center at the Institute of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism With Chinese Characteristics for a New Era at Peking University, according to the Shanghai Municipal Party School of the CCP.
According to CBCGDF and Chinese media outlets, Zhou organized studies of Xi’s speeches at CBCGDF’s Party branch, has been a member of the UFWD’s China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification until as recently as 2023, and led CBCGDF’s collaboration with the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, another UFWD organization.
According to blogs published in 2018 by China Poly Group Corporation Ltd. and CBCGDF, Zhou visited Xu Niansha, then CEO and Party secretary of China Poly Group, with Michael Szonyi, then director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University, and others, to discuss exchanges and corporations between China and the United States.
The Epoch Times could not reach the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation.
Jiang Yurong and Harvard did not respond to The Epoch Times’ requests for comment by publication time.
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