President Schachtner welcomes guests to the Chinese Spring Festival

Dear colleagues from our Chinese partner universities, dear alumni and dear students, all Chinese friends,

da jia hao! 大家好!

China is already celebrating in the coming days! On behalf of Clausthal University of Technology, I would like to wish you all the best for the Chinese Spring Festival and the Year of the Tiger, good luck, success and, above all, good health. The tiger is considered to be dominant, adventurous and full of zest for action, but at the same time it has a tendency to take on challenges. Over the past two years, we have been confronted with a new situation for all of us - and we are still unable to return to our previous normality in all areas. Nevertheless, I would like to take up the positive characteristics of the Tiger in 2022 and look to a positive future full of drive and optimism. A future in which we continue to strengthen and expand the friendship and cooperation we have built up over many years. After all, the pandemic has clearly shown that we can rely on each other even in difficult times.

Despite all the restrictions, we were able to successfully implement a number of projects together with our Chinese partners and thus expand and deepen our cooperation. For example, the developments in the Chinese-German International University College (CDIHK) with Sichuan University are particularly pleasing. The first 61 students began their Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering here in September 2021. Some of them actively participated in the last China Week in almost perfect German - thank you very much for that. A similar, English-language project, the Master's degree program in Intelligent Manufacturing together with Zhengzhou University, illustrates the mutual efforts of colleagues in China and Clausthal. Furthermore, despite the pandemic, more than 60 program students from the partner universities "Kunming University of Science and Technology, Chengdu University, Southwest Petroleum University in Chengdu and Northeast Petroleum University in Daqing" have come to us and are experiencing the pandemic together with us here in Clausthal.

I would also like to thank our alumni, especially Prof. WAN Gang, who not only joined us live from Beijing with a greeting on the occasion of the digital China Week 2021, but also wrote the foreword to a conference volume "China-Kompetenz in Deutschland - Beiträge der China Woche 2020 an der TU Clausthal", which will be published in spring.

Despite all the restrictions, I very much hope that we will soon be able to meet again in person - whether in China or here in Clausthal. Until then, I wish you all the best again and, above all, stay healthy!

Xin chun kuai le! 新春快乐！