On May 20, the opening ceremony of the Second Spring Rowing League of Shenzhen X9 Alliance of Universities & Institutes around X-Lake Sciensity (X9 Alliance) was held along the Maozhou River in Guangming District.

As the second rotating chair of the X9 Alliance, the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) has cooperated with the Nanshan and Guangming District Governments, Shenzhen Municipal Education Bureau, Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports Bureaus from Shenzhen Municipal level and districts, Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality, and other groups in Shenzhen on how best to organize and formulate various plans of hosting the event.

Many faculty members and students from the X9 Alliance of Universities & Institutes participated in the competition.

Hongbo ZHENG, Member of the Standing Committee of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee, Chengyu QIU, Deputy Director of the Shenzhen Municipal Education Bureau, Lin FANG, Deputy Director of the Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality, Jianhui HE, Deputy Director of the Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports Bureau of Shenzhen Municipality, Chun YE, Deputy District Mayor of Nanshan District, Zhiwei WU, Head of the Publicity Department of Guangming District, as well as the heads of the X9 Alliance, attended the event.

Chengyu QIU delivered a speech at the opening ceremony. He said that the X9 Alliance and its rowing league is an important project for Shenzhen in building it into an international sports city, strengthening the integration of sports and education, and an innovative approach to promote the development of the triad model of education, science and technology, and talents.

He hopes that the members of the X9 Alliance will continue to promote integration through competitions and cooperation, use the competition as a medium, and further strengthen the integration of sports and education, industry and education, and science and education in Shenzhen.

Hongwei FANG, Vice President and Provost of SUSTech, also spoke at the event. He said that under the leadership of the Shenzhen Municipal Government and the Education Bureau, major universities in Shenzhen have come together to cultivate talents, share resources, and collaborative innovation in scientific research.

He added that as a member of the X9 Alliance, SUSTech has extensively cooperated with partner universities and institutes. As the second rotating chair of the X9 Alliance, SUSTech has assisted in coordinating various activities of the alliance, and contributed to the development and mutual benefit of partner universities and institutes.

After the ceremony, the participating teams from all universities and institutes in the X9 Alliance prepared for the competition. Hongbo ZHENG, Chengyu QIU, and other guests fired the starting gun together for the races.

Shenzhen X-Lake Sciensity is home to a number of prestigious educational and research institutions that have banded together to form the X9 Alliance. They chose rowing as the link between universities and scientific research institutes to express the vision of working hard together in the future, discussing development plans, seeking new chapters of cooperation, and drawing a blueprint for science and education to create a bright future for the city and the country through science and education.

The event is guided by the Shenzhen Municipal Government, led by the Shenzhen Municipal Education Bureau, and supported by the Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports Bureau and the Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality.

It is jointly organized by SUSTech and the Nanshan and Guangming District Governments, and co-organized by the Publicity Department of the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee, Public Security Bureau, Finance Bureau, Water Authority, Health Commission, Urban Administration and Law Enforcement Bureau, Fire and Rescue Detachment, Shenzhen Red Cross Society, Shenzhen Media Group, and the Rowing Association of Shenzhen Municipality.

More than 20 teams comprising of over 300 faculty members and students from the X9 Alliance will participate in the competition. There are three races in this spring league: along the Maozhou River on May 20, along the Dasha River in Nanshan District on May 27, and along University Town on June 3.

The races held at the Maozhou and Dasha rivers are sprint races, each accounting for 40% of the total score, while the race at University Town will adopt a pursuit race format, accounting for 20% of the total score of the spring race.

The participating members of the Shenzhen X9 Alliance of Universities and Institutes include SUSTech, Shenzhen University (SZU), Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School (Tsinghua SIGS), Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School (PKU Shenzhen), Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen (HIT Shenzhen), Shenzhen Technology University (SZTU), Peng Cheng Laboratory (PCL), and Georgia Tech Shenzhen Institute, Tianjin University (GTSI).