Graduation ceremonies are often associated with tradition and formality. Students line up in identical gowns, receive their diplomas, pose for photographs and bid farewell to the campus. However, at many Chinese universities, commencement has become something more - celebrations that leave room for creativity and human connection.
This graduation season, students at universities across China have marked their commencement ceremonies with distinctive, personalized touches.
Some graduates crossed the stage in distinctive outfits. Some brought family members or pet cats to join them for the tassel-turning ceremony or photos. Others raised a toast with university presidents after receiving their degrees, while others posed for playful selfies or presented humorous awards such as "Most Handsome President."
At universities in Dalian, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, graduation ceremonies have gone viral for their playful creativity. Many students walked onto the stage in distinctive costumes for the tassel-turning ritual, including one graduate dressed as Patrick Star from SpongeBob SquarePants. Students also appeared in hanfu, anime-inspired outfits and retro styles, turning stages into a lively showcase of personal expression.
University leaders have not interrupted these moments; instead, they continued ceremonies with care, adjusting the graduates' tassels and joining students in humorous photo poses.
What makes these moments resonate is not simply that they are entertaining enough to go viral online. They reflect a growing recognition that graduation is more than a formal ceremony. It is also one of the last opportunities for students to celebrate years of friendships, personal growth and shared experiences before entering a new stage of life.
For today's graduates, personal expression has become an important part of that farewell. A cosplay costume, or a lighthearted interaction with a university president, may seem like a small gesture, but together they create memories that belong uniquely to each individual. Rather than blending into a sea of identical gowns, students are finding ways to make one of life's biggest milestones reflect who they are.
The popularity of these moments also speaks to changing expectations among younger generations. Students who have grown up sharing their lives through social media naturally hope their graduation will feel authentic rather than entirely ceremonial. Instead, the ceremonies that attract the most attention are the ones where personality shines through and genuine emotions are allowed to unfold.
Zhang Peng, an associate professor at Nanjing Normal University, told the Global Times that graduation is an important milestone in students' four years of university life. Students want to say goodbye to their university in their own unique ways, and schools respond with equal enthusiasm and warmth. "This reflects the human warmth of education."
The same philosophy can be seen in other graduation activities, from tech showcases to music festivals and banquets that let classmates celebrate together one last time. Qingdao University turned its commencement into a giant sing-along, with thousands of graduates filling the venue with familiar songs. At Yantai University, faculty and graduates made dumplings together before a farewell feast of more than 100 dishes and an 8-meter-long cake.
The creative expressions of graduates are not only entertaining campus moments, but also deeply personal ways for students to mark an important transition in their lives. Behind the costumes, performances and playful interactions lies a shared desire to turn a standardized ritual into something that feels uniquely their own.
Of course, creativity should never come at the expense of the ceremony itself. However, this year's commencement season shows that solemnity and joy are not mutually exclusive. A graduation ceremony can be meaningful without being rigid, and memorable without losing its sense of occasion.