A Young Ship on a Long Voyage

The FBOA 2.0 era has passed.

"It feels like we met only yesterday" may be a worn-out line, but that National Day holiday in 2020 is still vivid to me. Even now it leaves me feeling that life is a dream and the past drifts off like smoke, the feeling of "Master Zhuang, dreaming at dawn, lost in the butterfly."

It was my first turn from taking part in business competitions to organizing them. When I had finished my work, the founder called me, knowing nothing beforehand, into a meeting, with a mysterious curve at the corner of his mouth; remembering it now, I can still share a knowing smile with the person I was then: "You can't leave. You come with me too." And so I boarded FBOA's great ship on its long voyage, and so began the youth that belonged to the 2.0ers: naive, reckless, and dazzling.

I never thought of myself as that thousand-mile horse worth being discovered. To tell the truth, there is a question about his choice that I have always kept to myself: why me. Beside the brilliant records of the other 1.0ers and 2.0ers, and abilities to match, the very best among our peers, I seemed to have simply played in a few more business competitions and somehow become someone who could stand alongside these outstanding people.

Perhaps that is why, in the first days of the new team, I weighed every word and step, like a relative from the countryside come to the city: everything was a novelty, and everyone was new. Luckily the outstanding ones were all warm in private, we soon became close, and I gradually found my own place on FBOA's great ship.

Under pressure from both the pandemic and the school, from "五人同裤裙" ("Five in One Pair of Culottes", the name of our WeChat group back when there were only five of us) to the arrival of a new partner, we boldly reworked every 2.0 competition: new, fun, and naturally, challenging. The seas were often rough, and this great ship kept moving forward. Meetings still going late at night, work already under way at dawn: too many to count. Whatever the results, I enjoyed the process: a group of people beside you, all working toward the same goal. That feeling was wonderful.

I am so grateful to this team, or rather, this big family: its openness and harmony gave me so much reassurance and help. The nine partners on the same ship, and him, a teacher and a friend, someone I call "teacher" from the bottom of my heart, and each of you, every one of you, will surely shine in your own futures.

1.0ers, 2.0ers, 3.0ers: young and outstanding, you are still on the road.

"Gou Ge" (狗哥),

Academic Chair, FBOA 2.0.

2021.8.23