April 22 marked the 68th anniversary celebration of the founding of USTB. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the originally scheduled celebrations were changed to a series of online events. The online anniversary celebration, jointly designed by the Department of Public Affairs & Communications, Office of the Alumni Association, Office of the USTB Education Foundation, and Department of Student Affairs, was organized across various official media platforms in the form of news report, a live campus broadcast and online interaction. More than 200,000 students, alumni, faculty and staff members participated in the festivities, leaving comments, thumbs-up and reposting links to the celebration, sending congratulatory messages and best wishes to show their love for USTB.

To celebrate the anniversary, the campus was decorated although the reopening of campus had been postponed. Early in the morning, USTB Chancellor WU Guilong and President YANG Renshu’s message, USTB Stays Young in Pursuit of the Dream, was published on the official website. On behalf of the University, President YANG extended his warm greetings and best wishes to all the members of the USTB community at home and abroad. He also cordially expressed his appreciation to all the friends of USTB for their continued support for the development of the university. Accompanying the speech was an attractive poster on the USTB website’s homepage, videos being shared on the campus bulletin system, cheerful songs on the radio, and banners hung along the main road, all of which made an atmosphere of warmth and happiness for the teachers and students at school. It also promised a lovely campus that awaited the return of its community members.

To date, the “Happy birthday to USTB for your 68th anniversary" post on the official USTB WeChat account has garnered more than 200,000 views, 1,000 messages, 2,000 thumbs-up, and has had more than 5,000 participants in the special online game. USTB also highlighted its iconic buildings, admission and graduation certificates, and coat of arms in the picture display, which refreshed old memories and resonated with many alumni, encouraging many of them to express their nostalgia and deep love for their alma mater. The memorial plaques, stone carvings, sculptures and other donations left by alumni in the pictures demonstrated the close connectivity among USTB community. Any alumni who participated in the exclusive mini-games, message sending, repostings and other interactions had an opportunity to win a souvenir. These incentives and activities helped to encourage great participation among alumni to convey their deep love for USTB.

On the major Chinese micro-blogging platform Sina Weibo, the topic USTB celebrates its 68th anniversary has received more than 1.7 million views and was the top trending item in Beijing at 11:00AM. More than 70 universities including Zhejiang University, Tianjin University, Dalian University of Technology, Northeastern University, and China University of Geosciences (Beijing) participated in the topic by sending messages of congratulations and friendship.

USTB’s video "Visiting the Alma Mater Online”, which was hosted on the Chinese short-video platform Douyin, also received 42,000 views and 2,000 comments. In the video, two anchors narrate the campus on the celebration day, introduced USTB's achievements in recent years, and discussed ongoing epidemic prevention measures.

On April 22, a series of videos, USTB Publicity Video 2020, President's Message for the 68th Anniversary and USTB Anticipates Our Reunion, were made available on official media platforms.