The rise of "Chinese fever" in this Malaysian university is related to Hunanese
2024-08-21
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(Confucius Institute at University of Malaysia Sabah.)
Hunan Daily Omnimedia Reporter Li Yi
Huang Yuehua has been in Sabah, Malaysia's second largest state, for less than two months and has already started to like it. She told reporters: "The climate and food here are not much different from those in Hunan, and the people are very simple."
On August 19, a Hunan Daily interview team visited the Confucius Institute at the University of Sabah, Malaysia (Universiti Sabah CI for short), and met the institute’s “Chinese Dean”, Huang Yuehua, a girl from Yongzhou, Hunan.
The Confucius Institute at the University of Shabaab is located in the university’s Language Promotion Center, a small pink building in the center of the campus that houses classrooms, offices, and a small exhibition hall.
Huang Yuehua and her partner Zou Dongmei led the reporters to visit the exhibition hall. Zou Dongmei, a Chinese, is the "Malaysian Dean" of the college. She has just taken up the post for three days. She previously worked at the Language Knowledge Promotion Center of the University of Shabab and speaks fluent Chinese.
The two deans introduced that the University of Sabah Malaysia Institute is the fourth Confucius Institute in Malaysia. It was jointly built by Changsha University of Science and Technology, University of Malaysia Sabah and China Communications Construction Dredging Company, and was officially opened on December 12, 2019.
"Chinese teaching is our main business." Huang Yuehua told reporters that the Confucius Institute at the University of Shabaab mostly adopts the teaching model of "delivering classes to students' homes." "Not only for schools, we also deliver classes to some government departments and enterprises."
"Last year, the Confucius Institute provided a 20-lesson Chinese course for the Malay employees of Zhuzhou Kibing Group's Sabah base." Huang Yuehua introduced that the course at that time was also optimized for the company's production safety and industry type, "hoping to help the company speed up the localization process."
"Through cultural forums, promotion meetings, Chinese music concerts and other activities, we can exchange Chinese culture and introduce China's national conditions and policies." Zou Dongmei took the reporter to browse the college's publicity column. Many special activities were widely reported by local media and Chinese media in Malaysia.
A report about the opening of the "Fengxia Forum" attracted the attention of reporters. Huang Yuehua introduced that the name "Fengxia" comes from Sabah's beautiful name "the land below the wind". The forum is held regularly and has become a shining name card of the Confucius Institute in the local area, "bringing together people from all walks of life in government, enterprises and academia to jointly discuss topics to promote local development and China-Malaysia friendly exchanges and cooperation, and to contribute to China-Malaysia friendship."
Being the director of the Confucius Institute also brings Zou Dongmei some "little worries" - her email box is often filled with consultation emails from Shah University students.
"The Confucius Institute has opened 10 Chinese language classes, which are often full." Zou Dongmei explained that those who cannot get a place in a Chinese class will come to the Confucius Institute to ask if there are any language classes available. "I think this is also a manifestation of the growing influence of Chinese culture."
As we were talking, a student came to consult. Her name is Nor Asikin, a local from Sabah, 23 years old, and a graduate student at the University of Sabah Business School. She said: "I want to learn about and study Chinese courses, and I hope to have the opportunity to develop in China in the future."
(Hunan Daily, Sabah, Malaysia, August 20)
