Xia Zhujiu is a professor at Southeast University, emeritus of Taiwan University, and an outstanding researcher at the International City Forum. He is also the former president of the Asian Institute of Planning, and Taiwan University Institute of Architecture and Urban Science.

Professor Xia started her speech by setting the background of Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. He went on to say that the vitality of research universities and the urban culture in Shenzhen plays an important role in promoting the technological upgrading and economic restructuring of the country to tackle the challenges of the 21^st century. He then went on to highlight the methods and ways to elaborate an innovative atmosphere in universities and on campuses, underlining the importance of humanities research in that process, and that fostering an innovative environment in the city of Shenzhen and in its universities goes hand in hand.

At the end of his lecture, professors and students had the chance to ask their questions, which he replied to carefully and considerately. He then left a message on the university’s guestbook: “The university is the city and SUSTech will integrate with Shenzhen.”