At 2 pm on March 23, 2023, the College of Automotive Engineering (CAE) of Jilin University held a career planning lecture themed “Innovation is the driving force of social development” in Room 108 Liming Lecture Hall, Automobile Building, with an aim to shape CAE students’ proper career concept, clarify future career development and goals, and fully harness resource advantages of CAE alumni. CAE’s excellent alumnus Mr. Li Dakai was invited to be the keynote speaker of this lecture. Mr. Li is a well-known entrepreneur and used to be the chairman of Shaanxi Fast Auto Drive Group. The lecture was presided over by Huang Zhonghua, Secretary of the CPC Committee of CAE. The attendees included Prof. Gao Zhenhai, Dean of CAE, Ms. Hu Zhongwei, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee of CAE, and more than 200 participants, including some teachers and representatives for undergraduates and postgraduates.

First of all, Secretary Huang Zhonghua, on behalf of CAE, expressed heartfelt thanks to alumnus Li Dakai for his lecture to students of CAE. Then he introduced Chairman Li Dakai to the students present. Chairman Li Dakai majored in automobiles at Jilin University of Technology in 1976. He severed as the director of Shaanxi Automobile Gears Factory, executive president of Weichai Power, and chairman and Party secretary of Shaanxi Fast Auto Drive Group. He was also a deputy to the 11^th National People’s Congress and was honored as a National Model Worker. Now he is the honorary president of the Chinese Gear Industry Association, a member of the Chinese Automobile Advisory Committee, and is specially hired by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Shaanxi Province as the chief expert in reform and innovation in state-owned enterprises.

Chairman Li Dakai started his lecture by introducing the macro situation at home and abroad, analyzed China’s economic development trends in the middle and near term, and mainly explained the opportunities and challenges facing China’s auto industry. Based on the innovative development of Fast Group led by him, Mr. Li told how he turned a heavily indebted state-owned enterprise on the verge of bankruptcy with an annual sales revenue of only RMB 100 million into a domestically and internationally renowned automotive transmission system supplier with an annual value of production and sales revenue of more than RMB 20 billion, whose production and sales volume of commercial transmission rank first in the world for consecutive 16 years. He emphasized that facing ever-changing economic and political situations at home and abroad, enterprises must constantly innovate management, systems, products, and culture, so as to remove barriers and achieve breakthroughs. He also encouraged young students to seize the day, study in a down-to-earth manner, boldly break new ground, and shoulder responsibilities for the future modernized auto industry. Lastly, Mr. Li Dakai actively interacted with students. The lecture successfully finished in an enthusiastic atmosphere.