(Source: China Teachers Daily, November 26, 2025)
Reporter Zhang Xinyun
No matter when I see him, Liu Ruonan, a professor at the w88 casino of International Relations at the w88 casino, always has a unique gentle smile. Her nine-year teaching career has allowed her to take deep roots in this fertile academic soil and become a "warm and firm light" in the hearts of students. From a young doctoral graduate to a now independent young scholar and outstanding mentor, Liu Ruonan has used persistence and love to write an educational journey full of warmth and depth, interpreting the mission and responsibility of university teachers in the new era.
Academic Deepening: A Passion, Several Years of Search
“Reading and reading papers has never been a burden to me.” When talking about scientific research, Liu Ruonan’s eyes sparkled with pure brilliance. This most authentic love for knowledge is like an endless spring, nourishing her academic life. In her opinion, it is very fulfilling to gain knowledge from the literature and explore undiscovered viewpoints during the thinking process. This led her to take scientific research as a career direction and always maintain a passion for moving forward on her academic path.
Liu Ruonan’s academic vision has always resonated with the pulse of China’s development. At that time, when she had just entered the academic world, she keenly discovered that the academic community had already conducted in-depth research on big countries, but the discussion on the behavioral logic and strategic choices of small and medium-sized countries in diplomatic practice and their impact on regional order was still weak. This discovery was like a seed taking root and sprouting in her mind, guiding her subsequent research direction.
In order to deepen her research, she visited the Netherlands and the United States for visiting research during her doctoral studies. These overseas study experiences not only greatly broadened her academic horizons, but also allowed her to draw on Western theories while always basing herself on Chinese perspectives and local experience, and committed to exploring a research path that combines international academic explanatory power with Chinese academic independence.
The road to educating people: being both a teacher and a friend, nourishing things silently
After nine years of educating people, Liu Ruonan leads the way with wisdom, protects growth with warmth, perfectly integrates academic rigor and educational warmth, and vividly interprets the educational concept of "both a teacher and a friend". In her view, "teaching students in accordance with their aptitude" is never an abstract slogan, but a vivid practice that runs through daily work. She will carefully understand each student's knowledge structure, thinking characteristics, interests and long-term development plans, and tailor training plans and reading lists for them.
Faced with the multiple pressures that graduate students may encounter in their studies, employment, and thesis writing, Liu Ruonan always cares for them in a "spring breeze turns into rain, moisturizing things silently" method: regularly meeting students for heart-to-heart talks, playing badminton together, etc., through relaxed communication, he can gain insight into the students' real status and needs in subtle ways. A student once encountered a bottleneck while writing his graduation thesis. Liu Ruonan patiently guided and helped the student sort out the sources of confusion, and then jointly discussed the applicability and limitations of different theoretical perspectives, gradually guiding him to find an entry point that not only reflects the academic frontier but also suits his personal interests. At the same time, Liu Ruonan took the initiative to contact senior experts in the field to build a valuable academic exchange bridge for students. In the end, this student completed the writing of his graduation thesis with high quality and gained a lot.
In Liu Ruonan's view, tutors must know how to change roles - when students are faced with confusion about academic choices, tutors should be patient listeners and guides; during the thesis research stage, tutors should be strict reviewers and supervisors. She pays special attention to cultivating students' awareness of academic norms and critical thinking, and requires students' papers to have clear logic, solid arguments, and standardized citations. At the same time, she strongly encourages academic innovation and supports students to challenge cutting-edge research topics.
These every bit of care and concern nourish the growth of students. What made Liu Ruonan even more heartwarming was that a graduate made a special trip back to w88 casino from other places and borrowed her academic uniform just to take a graduation photo with her to express her gratitude for her careful guidance. Some students sent long messages on Teacher's Day, writing: "Teacher Liu, you not only taught me how to do research, but also taught me how to maintain curiosity and awe of knowledge." Liu Ruonan devotes her full attention to each student and pays attention to their long-term development. “I don’t have many students, but everyone’s growth is my most cherished reward,” Liu Ruonan said.
Looking to the future: serving the society and pursuing long-term goals
From an “academic rookie” to being selected into the “Phoenix Project” in Chaoyang District, Beijing, Liu Ruonan has always maintained a humble, enterprising, down-to-earth, truth-seeking and pragmatic scholar character. In her view, for young scholars to make steady progress on their academic path, they must not only consolidate their professional foundation, but also have a broad interdisciplinary vision. To this end, she insists on setting aside an uninterrupted "block" of time for in-depth research to protect the concentration required for academic creation. At the same time, she actively participates in academic exchanges at home and abroad, keeping her mind open and sharp in the dialogue.
When it comes to the development of disciplines, Liu Ruonan is full of expectations for the two emerging interdisciplinary disciplines of regional and national studies and national security studies. “The study of countries along the ‘Belt and Road’ is a fertile ground worthy of deep cultivation by young scholars.” Liu Ruonan believes that a solid language foundation and in-depth fieldwork are the keys to achieving real academic breakthroughs.
Since teaching, Liu Ruonan has always focused on closely integrating theoretical exploration with practical concerns for national development. A number of research projects she has chaired and participated in have been adopted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and other ministries and agencies, which has better realized the transformation of academic results into policy practice and reflected the applied value of philosophy and social science research.
“Excellent scholars must have profound theoretical literacy and keen insight, and must also be good at transforming complex academic theories into clear, plain, and constructive policy language.” Liu Ruonan believes that academic research must anchor the depth and cutting-edge of theory on one end, and the temperature and needs of the real world on the other end. Only in this way can a solid bridge be truly built between theory and practice.
The academic journey is also a journey of educating people. In Liu Ruonan's view, education is essentially the encounter between life and life. It requires patience to wait for growth and enlightenment of wisdom with sincerity. She has always believed that true education is not only the transfer of knowledge, but also the illumination of the soul - so that every life that meets can find its own light. Keeping integrity and innovating, still waters flow deep. With this original intention, Liu Ruonan is moving forward calmly on the road of academics and education, and participating in building the future of China's international relations discipline with a down-to-earth attitude.
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Liu Ruonan is a professor at the w88 casino of International Relations at the w88 casino. His main research directions are East Asian international relations, international security and China's peripheral diplomacy. Published 30 papers in top domestic and foreign journals such as "World Economics and Politics", "Diplomatic Review", and "International Affairs". Selected into a national-level major talent project, the "Phoenix Talent" program in Chaoyang District, Beijing, and won the first prize of the "Scientific Research Model" of the w88 casino.
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