Editor's Note: As China’s diplomacy requires a higher quality of diplomats, Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) students could consider adding new blood to the Chinese Foreign Ministry and contribute to our homeland, as others have done recently. We invited some young diplomatic officers, who are SISU alumni, to share views on their careers.

All about Us

Do you know who we are?

We are all SISUers.

We are graduates of SISU this year from different majors. Wherever we come from, we went north to Beijing and knocked on the door of diplomacy.

We are the new blood of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, chosen from among 20,000 candidates. We have more than 200 colleagues from 94 universities all over China.

What We Are Going Through

This special job requires us to live and learn in the ministry, which could bring us obvious growth. We started our initial training after the registration on Aug. 14. We visited the Blue Room, which is for press conferences, and talked to government officials from every department face to face. Old diplomats told us their experiences, and young officials also shared their stories.

An important part of the training was to meet with Wang Yi, the foreign minister of China. The charming gentleman, who once impressed the foreign minister of Thailand, causes some new female students here to faint. No kidding. He is getting used to this kind of situation now. “I saw we have someone fainted again, so I will make it short,” Wang joked.

And for our male colleagues, the most attractive part was the report of Zhang Jing, comparable to the actress Zhao Wei in diplomacy. With her elegance and beauty, Zhang’s experiences of Spartan-like training and working overtime have made her a diplomatic goddess in China.

We were lucky to join the ministry this year, as the 70th anniversary of both the world's anti-fascism war and the victory of China's Resistance War against Japanese Aggression are coming. We helped prepare for these anniversaries and the military parade, in which every detail had to be taken care of. We went to Diaoyutai State Guest Hotel and the Great Hall of the People; we climbed up to the usually closed Tiananmen Gate Tower, and traveled by Hongqi stretch limousine, all for the first time. The Changan Avenue covered by the darkness of the night also was spectacular in our eyes.

We have been working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for two months, and spent more than half of the time on military training in Beijing. During the 34 days, which seem longer than a lifetime, we stood like soldiers, goose-stepped and learned arrest boxing; we stood guard, trained in physical fitness and practiced packing bags; we made beds, cleansed toilets and washed dishes. When we got on the bus to leave, everyone burst into tears. You may think of our behavior as something of a Stockholm Syndrome, but we accepted it, because our military chiefs all possess superior skills, perfect in long-range raiding, parachuting and diving.

We know we are standing on the center of the diplomatic stage. Everything we do is related to national glory and dignity. This is not only a worthwhile personal experience, but a process of realizing diplomats’ core values, which are fidelity, mission and contribution.

Without fidelity, it’s hard to imagine how new staff members from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Yantai city adjusted their attitudes to survive the one-year tedious military training. Those strict regulations push us forward. We were growing up while striving against difficulties.

Without the sense of mission, we definitely would complain about suffering. It’s normal to toil here.. Qin Gang, director of the Protocol Department, has bags under his eyes, growing bigger. Minister Wang Yi is napping on the sofa where you sit just now. Party and state leaders are overseeing work on scene overnight.

Without the awareness of contribution, we could have chosen another job, one asking for less excellence, rarely working overtime and with no need to be stationed abroad over the long term. However, we chose this career of seriousness and strictness. We chose to stand guard for the foreign benefit of our motherland. We chose to integrate the personal dream into a national dream.

When you are truly involved in the issues on CCTV; when your compatriots abroad can fall asleep without any anxiety just because of your efforts; when you have contributed to the world unity, you may feel that everything you have been through is worth it, even with difficulties and challenges.