Buckeyes are Buckeyes for life! For four Chinese alumni, being a Buckeye has meant maintaining lifelong bonds across continents. Qiuyuan Pan, Yuanfang Zheng, Shanxiao Xie and Lian Wei were part of the first cohorts from mainland China to study at Ohio State in 1979 and 1980. The friends are now in their 70s and 80s and have had successful careers in engineering, robotics, soil mechanics and publishing, all while staying in touch throughout their lives.
Back in 1979, Pan was Ohio State’s first visiting scholar and Zheng was Ohio State’s first doctoral student from the Chinese mainland. Xie was a visiting scholar in the Department of Metallurgical Engineering and Wei was a scholar in the Department of Civil Engineering. After their studies, Pan, Xie and Wei returned to China to begin working, but Zheng stayed in Ohio and went on to teach in Ohio State’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering for nearly 30 years.
In October, the friends reunited again in Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang Province in China. The four of them caught up, got lunch and celebrated the firm friendships they made on campus that have proven to last a lifetime.