In the evening of 9 July, the magnificent Canterbury Church was immersed in solemn melody of organs. In a grand yet joyful atmosphere, Ambassador Fu Ying accepted the conferment of honorary doctorate degree at the University of Kent. The moment was witnessed by 1,000 people including Minister-counselor Tian Xiaogang, University of Kent Chancellor Sir Robert Worcester, Vice Chancellor Julia Goodfellow and more than 300 graduates of the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Professor Simon Thompson, Dean of Department of Logics and Computer Science, in his warm address, praised Ambassador Fu for her achievement in her diplomatic career and her efforts to strengthen cooperation between the University of Kent and its Chinese counterparts. Professor Thompson, recalling the confidence in the future of China-UK relations and the forecast and analysis of the expansion of bilateral trade contained in her master degree paper more than twenty years ago, highly praised Ambassador Fu of her outstanding contribution to Sino-UK relations and recommended conferring Honorary Ph. D degree on Ambassador Fu.

Sir Robert Worcester declared, on behalf of the Council of the University, the conferment of Honorary PhD degree and presented the degree certificate to Ambassador Fu.

Ambassador Fu, in her acceptance speech, thanked the University of Kent for conferring her Honorary PhD Degree, saying this was not only a recognition and honor for her personally but also an encouragement to efforts for greater mutual understanding and cooperation between China and UK.

Close to 1,000 audience expressed, with sincere applause, their hearty congratulations to Ambassador Fu.