A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that “individuality” is the key to success. quote of Robert Orben
Mandarin Chinese – How to say – When you graduate from high school, I definitely will attend your graduation ceremony.
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当你从高中毕业的时候，我一定会参加你的毕业典礼。
dàng nǐ cóng gāozhōng bìyè de shíhou , Wǒ yīdìng huì cānjiā nǐ de bìyèdiǎnlǐ .
dàng (当 conjunction, when or at the time) nǐ (你 pronoun, you) cóng (从 preposition, from) gāozhōng (高中 noun, high school) bìyè (毕业 verb, to graduate) de (的 particle to connect the attributive and the noun it modifies) shíhou (时候 noun phrase, time) , Wǒ (我 pronoun, I) yīdìng (一定 adverb, definitely) huì (会 auxiliary verb, will) cānjiā (参加 verb to attend) nǐ de (你的 possessive pronoun, your) bìyèdiǎnlǐ (毕业典礼noun, graduation ceremony; bìyè means gradation, diǎnlǐ means ceremony.)
Most dictionaries define the word “graduation” as:
A Conferral or receipt of an academic degree or diploma marking completion of studies.
B ceremony at which degrees or diplomas are conferred; a commencement.
[audio:http://www.chinesetolearn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/recording1.mp3|titles=recording]
Graduation day （毕业日 [ìyè rì] ） is often called degree day （学 位 日 [xuéwèi]）. The graduation itself is also called commencement （学 位 授 予 典 礼 [xuéwèi shòuyŭ diănlĭ] ）. The graduation ceremony is considered the highlight （最 精 彩 的 部 分 [zuì jīngcăi de bùfèn] ） of every school year. It is a glorious time to formally recognize the achievements of students who have work diligently to earn academic （ 学 术 的 [xuéshù de] ）excellence. The commencement is when the graduates are awarded their diplomas （毕 业 文 凭 [bìyè wénpíng], 毕业证书 [bìyèzhèngshū ] ） and walk across the stage and flip the tassels (流 苏 [liúsū] or 穗 饰 [ suìshì ]) on their graduation hats upon receiving their degrees and handshake.
Graduation ceremonies are an ancient tradition (传 统 [chuántŏng] ) that has originated (发 源 于 [fāyuán yú] )in the universities of Paris and other Europe cities since the 11th century.
At those medieval ( 中 世 纪 的 [zhōngshìjì de] ) universities (大 学 [dàxué] ), students ( at that time were called apprentices ( 学 徒 [xuétú] )) learned skills from masters (师 傅 [shīfu] ) of crafts. At the end of their study, the apprentice earned a so called “testimonial (证 明 [zhèngmíng] ) of skill”, now it is known as the degree. Those apprentice who received the testimonial was expected to start their career (事 业 [shìyè] ) of teaching. Thus, the graduation ceremony of those time, not only celebrated (庆 祝 [qìngzhù] ) the achievement ( 成 就 [chéngjiù] ) the students earned, also highlighted the apprentice’s beginning march into the profession (职 业 [zhíyè] ) of the craft.
Let’s learn how to say in Mandarin Chinese some essentials in graduation.
Original diplomas were made from paper-thin sheepskin, written by hands, rolled and tied with a ribbon. The reason for many documents were written on animal skins is because during those time paper-making had not yet invented. Later, it got changed to parchment; when the paper making techniques improved, now most of gradates have paper diploma.
[audio:http://www.chinesetolearn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/recording3.mp3|titles=recording]
驪歌，lí gē originally refers to the songs which were sung during parting or goodbyes. However, today it generally refers to the graduation song. Singing graduation song is one required routine in graduation ceremonies in certain Mandarin speaking world. 驪 lí means black horse and 歌 gē means songs. In the Classic of Poetry 诗经 Shījīng (also translated as the Book of Songs, the Book of Odes, or the Odes), there is a poem called 骊驹 lí jū ( lí means black horse, jū means colt) which is a farewell song.
驪歌 is 骊驹之歌 (lí jū zhī gē, the song of black horse ) for short. The term 驪歌 is very common in classic literature. For example, 李白 Lǐ Bái has two lines in his 灞陵行送别 ( bà líng xíng sòngbié Sending off at bà líng) poem:
“正当今夕断肠处，骊歌愁绝不忍听”
“zhèngdāng jīn xī duàn cháng chǔ , lí gē chóu jué bù rěn tīng ”
Exactly at tonight’s heartbroken place,
the farewell song is extremely sorrowful and I can’t bear to listen to it.
For those who are going to graduate, here is a quote for you from Confucius:
孔子
Kǒngzǐ
勿论方向，且全心赴之。
wù lún fāngxiàng , qiě quán xīn fù zhī .
Wherever you go, go with all your heart.
The next are two traditional Chinese graduation songs.
青青校樹 qīngqīng xiào shù Graduation Song
驪歌 lí gē