To welcome the Class of 2026, deepen patriotic sentiment, and celebrate the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day, the 'Building Dreams Across Mountains and Seas, Sailing Toward the Light' — Dalian Maple Leaf College of Technology's 2026 Freshman Welcome Gala and 'Double-Festival Celebration' Variety Show — officially opened at 18:00 on September 23. As the stage lights came up one by one, the Class of 2026 freshmen gathered from across mountains and seas, greeting their first grand event of university life in the early-autumn evening breeze.
Executive Vice President Gao Chenglin, Director of the Student Affairs Department Duan Zhengnan, leaders of various colleges, and secretaries of the Youth League Committee attended the event and celebrated together with the freshmen. The gala was structured around four chapters: 'First Encounter · Meeting Across Mountains and Seas,' 'Tempering · Youths Aspiring,' 'Time · Love Filling the Maple Campus,' and 'Voyage · Dreams Setting Sail.'
Act I | First Encounter · Meeting Across Mountains and Seas
The gala opened with a short film. The freshman welcome film 'Building Dreams Across Mountains and Seas, Sailing Toward the Light' captured, frame by frame, the scenes of registration at the start of term, the standing-at-attention and slogans on the military-training ground, and the shyness and longing of new classmates arriving for the first time. Some were far from home for the first time here; some were called 'classmate' by a group of strangers for the first time here — these moments of first meeting at Maple Leaf were the quietest yet most touching opening of the night.
As the film ended, the instructors of the National Flag Guard presented a showcase, 'Forging Heroism Through Iron Blood.' Their uniform movements and unyielding, high-spirited energy were the first weighty surge of youthful strength the freshmen received upon entering campus. Afterwards, students from the Digital Economy Industry College sang 'My Future Style,' weaving their sparkling imagination of university life into every line of the lyrics.
Forging Heroism Through Iron Blood
My Future Style
The classical dance 'A Fleeting Glimpse' unfolded the gentle Eastern charm on stage with a flowing water-sleeve; the song-and-dance 'Vast Territory' by the Future College of Smart Manufacturing then pulled the lens toward the vast mountains and rivers — 'A loyal heart devoted to China, the years bestow the land and rivers' — the young people's love for this land can be sung so plainly and fervently.
A Fleeting Glimpse
Vast Territory
Act II | Tempering · Youths Aspiring
The second chapter burst onto the stage with passion. The martial-arts performance 'I Am Huang Feihong' by the iSoftStone Digital-Intelligent Industry College punched and kicked with the wind, the backbone of 'the youth should strive to be strong' standing firm in every move; the Future College of Smart Manufacturing took over with 'The Young China,' whose cry of 'a strong youth makes a strong nation' transcends the era and still rings in our ears.
I Am Huang Feihong
The Young China
With a shift in rhythm, the dance 'Love for the Taro Flower' by the Digital Economy Industry College was light and lively, revealing the fresh and romantic side of youth. And when singing, calligraphy, and lion dance met in the same drumbeat, the Future College of Smart Manufacturing's 'Dragon Scales of Heaven and Earth' kneaded traditional culture into a beam of light — with lion dance and ink fragrance, the cultural lineage was quietly passed on stage.
Love for the Taro Flower
Dragon Scales of Heaven and Earth
Act III | Time · Love Filling the Maple Campus
The mid-autumn moon is full, and love fills the Maple Campus. The skit 'A Meeting Across Time and Space' let the youths on stage converse with the predecessors, reminding us to stay true to our original aspiration so we can go further. 'You Never Left' presented by the Safety Emergency Management and Cryptography Industry College, and 'As You Wish' by the Future College of Smart Manufacturing, were like two tender letters, gently placing the wish that 'all beauty arrives as scheduled' into everyone's heart.
A Meeting Across Time and Space
You Never Left
As You Wish
Joy was not absent either. The interactive program 'Love Is All Around' by the Digital Economy Industry College ignited laughter throughout the venue; we from all corners of the country thus became 'one family' here on the Maple Campus.
Love Is All Around
Act IV | Voyage · Dreams Setting Sail
Approaching the finale, the fourth chapter pushed the atmosphere toward the vast. 'Braving It Together' by the Safety Emergency Management and Cryptography Industry College sang out the courage of 'fearless of the wind and rain ahead, the youths set out shoulder to shoulder'; the faculty-student medley 'When Teachers and Students Resonate' by the Future College of Smart Manufacturing turned the picture of teachers like lamps and classmates as companions into the warmest scenery of the Maple Campus.
Braving It Together
When Teachers and Students Resonate
Finally, all performers took the stage, and the whole audience sang the finale 'Flying Over on the Wind.' In the singing, the first night of the Class of 2026 freshmen was officially written into the title page of their university life.
Flying Over on the Wind
Joyful songs must end, but the pursuit of dreams never stops. Tonight we sang and danced, with laughter and emotion intertwined; building dreams across mountains and seas and sailing toward the light, gathering on the Maple Campus is a brand-new starting point in life and a place where countless youthful dreams set sail.
May all the Class of 2026 freshmen forever keep the sincere enthusiasm of youth, steadfastly press forward with down-to-earth action, and strive to write their own unique chapter of youth on this campus of mountains and seas.
