efore my speech, I would like to invite you to take a trip down memory lane. I was born in Ningbo. The very first time I went to the harbor of Beilun, my father cuddled me and pointed to a tiny spot in the distance, saying, “ My girl, our future lies there.” And such a naive girl I was, I asked in wonder, “Am I going to be mermaid?” My father burst into laughter.

Back to the 1980s, my maternal grandpa was one of the people earliest practically supporting the reform and opening up. Responding to the call of that era, grandpa devoted himself to running a business with Russians despite his incapability of speaking Russian. With the policy carried out on a larger scale and at greater depth, ships of containers went from Chinese seaports to every part of the world. Now he has been running a foreign trade corporation, feeling immensely grateful for the door opened and the opportunities offered.

Back to the time when I was trying to skip kindergarten, my parents believed that we were about to live in a tough way. Changes took place when my father accidentally bumped into a kind-hearted Russian businessman while moonlighting as a translator. With my father’s determination and hard work, gradually, we had our first car, first apartment, first trip by plane and first voyage abroad. All of these little first-times have congregated to make our life much better than we have ever imagined. Surely, (We are not the only one.) Not only can newly built roads, but also numerous private automobiles, a maze of skyscrapers and a vast expanse of shopping malls can tell the great changes the country witnessed.

My grandpa led the trend of international goods trade when reform and opening up was in the ascendant. My father got involved in the global communication of products and technology during the time when reform and opening up was catching on fire. Now, reform and opening up has stepped into a new stage, when we live in deepened communions of cultures. And here I am, as the third generation of my family, as a Russian major and a fluent speaker of English, I am to continue the story of reform and opening up in my family, to carry on the cause our predecessors have fought for, pushing it to a higher level; to produce, innovate and create, advocating ‘Made by China’ and ‘Design in China’ abroad; to embrace various civilizations while promoting Chinese cultures.

My grandpa once told me, “Opening up to the world calls for generations of efforts and innovations, and most importantly, the faith in a bright new future.” A great future awaits us millennials. Let’s seize our opportunities and make a difference.

This is one of the award-winning speech scripts in the 2018 China Daily“21st Century · Coca-Cola Cup” National English Speaking Competition SISU Final. The author, Wang Yuxin, is an undergraduate student of SISU.