I never in a million years thought I would not be allowed to walk across the stage for my graduation ceremony.

I had pictured everything in my mind for the ceremony. The whole class of 2020 would gather in the university grounds on a sunny day. The university president and a well-known alumnus would give inspiring speeches. I would wear the academic cap and gown and my family and friends would cheer me on as a professor presented me with the diploma and moved the tassel from the right side to the left.

Besides the ceremony, I would also take lots of pictures with friends, classmates and teachers, and have gatherings with the whole class to celebrate graduation.

However, all of this is now wishful thinking due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The school had planned to hold small-scale graduation ceremonies for students in different departments, but after (locally transmitted) infections returned to Beijing it decided to only hold an online ceremony.

I decided not go back to school as many areas in Beijing have become places with a moderate to high risk of coronavirus infection, which means I would need to be quarantined for 14 days after I returned home following graduation.

It means that my last day as an undergraduate student at the university will be spent staring at my computer. I find it very disappointing.

Although I will come back to the school as a graduate student in the fall, and I can attend the graduation ceremony when I get my master's degree in three years, it will be different as it will not be the same friends and classmates around me.

However, the pandemic is far from the first obstacle in our lifetime. I was born in 1997 and experienced the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) epidemic when I was in first grade and have dealt with other challenges along the way.

Graduation is a time to celebrate making it through all those late nights and tough exams. Just because we cannot have a traditional ceremony does not mean that the degree is less valuable.

We can still celebrate what we have achieved over the past four years and we can still laugh without fear of the future.

Tang Chenggang spoke with Zou Shuo