The touching scene of sign language interpretation for graduates from the Technical College for the Deaf at the Tianjin University of Technology went viral on Chinese social media and got many likes.

The interpretation at the graduation ceremony, held on June 24, lasted 90 minutes. Founded in 1991, the technical college is a top one for the deaf and the first of its kind in China.

Wang Xiaoou, deputy Party chief of the college, said that interpretations are held at every large gathering of students and are done by their teachers.

"In fact, our teachers and students didn't feel as surprised as netizens because they have experienced this many times," said Wang, who was an interpreter of the ceremony this year.

For example, on June 23, at a university celebration for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, students performed a gala show, during which a teacher did sign language for students during a poem recitation.

Wang said the university has a group called the Star Salon Association. Composed of 50 to 60 members, it is committed to teaching sign language to students and has even expanded its outreach to nearby universities to help deaf students study better and live better lives.

Zeng Xiying, a sophomore at TUT's School of Management, said: "Our university gives particular support to deaf schoolmates, and we never feel strange on our campus when communicating with them. In fact, we frequently communicate with them via mobile messages to help them handle difficulties.

"Sometimes, we encounter a schoolmate (with hearing difficulties) who shows us a message or a question on the mobile phone and seeks help. In addition, during our freshman year, we are offered a special selective course of sign language. I believe it's rarely taught at other universities, and it's our university's wish to build a welcoming environment for deaf schoolmates."

A desire to help

Echoing Zeng, Wang added that many teachers and staff members, including himself, had not learned sign language before joining the college.

"About 40 teachers and four class counselors at our college studied and researched sign language after they joined the college, largely because of their sincere desire to support," he said.

He said that sometimes, sign language speakers must use their eyes more and make their expressions and gestures more impressive and inspiring when communicating with deaf students.

The teachers are also devoted to technological research to further support students and benefit their counterparts nationwide.

For example, during the Fifth World Intelligence Congress held in Tianjin this year, the Technical College for the Deaf and the School of Computing Science and Engineering jointly exhibited the results of their research on a sign language system focused on comprehensive scenarios, a key project supported by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Yin Jihui, head of the Tianjin Industry and Information Bureau, said the project has enormous social and economic impact, and "we really hope the college's efforts will soon hit the market and serve the hearing-impaired".

Overseas ties

The college was the fourth higher learning institution in the world to be established with an industrial orientation to the deaf. Since its founding, 1,463 students have graduated.

It has 474 students majoring in fields including computer science, cyberengineering, automation, environmental design and financial management.

Since last year, it has enrolled 10 students with hearing disabilities to study for their master's.

The college has teamed up with leading foreign colleges for the deaf, including the National Technical Institute for the Deaf in the United States, Bauman Moscow State Technical University in Russia and the University of Tsukuba in Japan.

In 2018, two graduates joined an international student program in the US, and their grades at TUT and its US counterpart were jointly recognized, expanding China's international influence.

TUT students have expressed their gratitude to the college for its efforts to help them start their careers.

"We take pride in our college's efforts, with many of my schoolmates getting postgraduate recommendations to Yunnan University and Chongqing Normal University and receiving a number of scholarships," said Liang Yifan, a postgraduate student of artistic design at the college. "Also, our schoolmates have found job opportunities in Fortune 500 companies including Volkswagen, Sony and Standard Chartered… we all owe our success to our teachers at the college."