For all TJUers, April is a month that belongs to crabapple blossoms. The university has held the Crabapple Blossom Festival for a decade and for each year’s festival, one of the most important activity is to design the annual themed Crabapple Blossom Festival postcards. This year’s postcard was designed by Sheng Xinlei, an undergraduate of Urban & Rural Planning from the School of Architecture. How did Sheng’s work win out of 21 excellent works? Let’s listen to the story behind this postcard.
The main body of the postcard is a suitcase. When the new semester arrived quietly hand in hand with spring, students like Sheng packed their luggage, and got ready to meet new challenges with brand new expectations.
And what fills the suitcase is the building complex in the center of the new campus. The number "10" turns into a path, passing the buildings, plants and crabapple petals on the campus, representing the 10th Crabapple Blossom Festival.
“I love every corner of our beautiful campus and that love inspires me a lot while designing the postcard,” Sheng Xinlei said, “I entered the university in 2019 and since then the university has become an important part of my life. The bits and pieces of the past two years are played in my mind like movie scenes, changing into gurgling inspirations in the tip of my pen.”.
Sheng also put herself into the postcard. “Do you notice the girl in the lower left corner of the suitcase in the postcard? That’s me.” Sheng laughed and explained that the girl was rambling along the path on the campus and appreciating blooming crabapple flowers, just like what she always does in daily life.
“I enjoy riding a bicycle across the campus, with the quaint and beautiful buildings, clumps of lush plants, and groups of talking-and-laughing students passing by. The buildings stand there quietly epitomizing this university’s long and glorious history, and the trees along the road cast pieces of silver-like light on the ground. I like the peddling of vendors in the market adjacent to the campus and the tempting aroma of delicious food in the canteens. I enjoy being wrapped in the afterglow of the setting sun on the bridge beside the Youth Lake. When drawing pictures in the study hall at night, I love the sparkling Aiwan Lake under the street lights, which provides me a moment of relaxation. These warm fragments constitute great power, supporting me to move forward to chase what I love.”
When talking about why she chose to design this postcard, Sheng Xinlei said: “As the footsteps of the spring of 2021 approached, we were delighted to find that the haze of the epidemic is fading away and our lives is going back on track, displaying a prosperous and energetic scene. Last year, we could only enjoy the beauty of crabapple blossom online due to the COVID-19, while this year I had access to the first offline Crabapple Blossom Festival since I entered school. This is of extraordinary significance to me. Therefore, I designed this postcard with great honor and excitement to mark the 10th Festival. I wish the Crabapple Blossom Festival better and better, wish TJU forever young and wish the motherland prosperous and strong!”
The Crabapple Blossom Festival is not only an annual festival to appreciate flowers, but also a record of the growth of Tianjin University and every student.
In full bloom is your beauty, and flourishing is my youth.
By Ren Xiangyun
Editor: Eva Yin
