egyptian student song yuyan: singing "the most beautiful expectation" in chinese
2024-09-04
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original title: song yuyan, an egyptian student studying for a doctorate in chinese international education at beijing language and culture university:
singing "the most beautiful expectation" in chinese
song yuyan attended the beijing youth league committee's may 4th youth day theme presentation
as the forum on china-africa cooperation summit is held in beijing, egyptian student song yuyan is experiencing china's prosperity and opportunities firsthand through her study and life in beijing.
after completing her undergraduate chinese studies at suez canal university in egypt, song yuyan came to china to pursue a master's degree in chinese international education at beijing language and culture university.
on the road of learning chinese and understanding china, chinese songs are song yuyan's "assistant" and "partner". in the process of singing chinese songs, she loves chinese and the profound chinese culture more and more; singing chinese songs again and again, she said that her heart is getting closer and closer to china.
currently, song yuyan is pursuing a doctorate in chinese international education at beijing language and culture university. she looks forward to making greater progress in the field of chinese studies in the future.
my father suggested that i start learning chinese.
on new year's eve 2023, thousands of chinese families are watching the spring festival gala in a festive atmosphere of reunion.
on tv, several egyptian girls appeared on the screen: in a green manor, under blue sky and white clouds, several beautiful egyptian girls wearing exotic white dresses sang the egyptian folk song "the sun reveals its most beautiful light" with sweet smiles and melodious voices. after the song ended, these egyptian girls sang the song "jasmine flower" in fluent chinese. the egyptian girl who led the singing was named sandra zakaria, and she also had a nice chinese name - song yuyan.
in ismailia, egypt, 3,270 kilometers away from beijing, song yuyan's family watched the chinese spring festival gala broadcast online in front of the tv screen, because they were most familiar with the faces in it. "my parents and my sister are very happy and proud." song yuyan told the beijing youth daily reporter in fluent chinese.
in fact, song yuyan started learning chinese because of her father's guidance. after graduating from high school, 18-year-old song yuyan was a little confused about choosing a major. her father gave her a far-reaching suggestion: learn chinese. "china is the world's second largest economy, with particularly good development and many opportunities." her father told her. song yuyan's father is a person who loves to watch the news. he learned from radio, newspapers and television about many changes that have taken place in china in recent years, as well as changes in egypt against the background of deepening sino-egyptian cooperation: for example, the new administrative capital jointly built by china and egypt is being born, and the 385.8-meter-high central business district landmark tower is rising from the ground; china successfully launched egypt's second satellite into space, helping egypt become the first african country with complete satellite assembly, integration and testing capabilities; egypt is one of the guest countries of honor at the national exhibition of the first china international import expo, and has participated in the ciie for six consecutive years.
song yuyan witnessed the development of her hometown and felt that her father's suggestion was very far-sighted. "all these changes (in egypt) mean one thing: learning chinese is the right choice, and it may be an opportunity in the future."
in this way, 18-year-old song yuyan entered the language institute of suez canal university and started her chinese learning journey. "in the beginning, i didn't know much about chinese, but later i found that chinese is a very profound language and very interesting."
egypt is one of the first countries to show interest in teaching chinese, and is also the first country in the middle east and africa to establish a chinese department in a university. as early as the 1950s, chinese was introduced into egyptian universities.
when song yuyan was a freshman, most of the chinese teachers were from china. at first, song yuyan and her classmates could only communicate with chinese teachers in english, which was like learning another foreign language with one foreign language. when the teachers felt that english was not understandable to the students, they even used gestures to teach. now, only half of the chinese teachers in the school are chinese, and the other half are egyptian.
for many foreign students, including song yuyan, chinese is not an easy language to learn. "chinese characters and pronunciation are difficult!" song yuyan said with a smile. but she was not discouraged. in her challenging learning journey, she found a "good friend" who could help her improve her chinese proficiency, that is chinese songs.
sing chinese songs on the spring festival gala in the year of the rabbit
"i started learning to sing chinese songs when i was a sophomore," song yuyan recalled. "at that time, i didn't have a particularly good method to learn chinese, so i just sang chinese songs every day."
in recent years, egypt has held a number of cultural exchange activities, including the "singing egypt" chinese songs competition and the all-egypt chinese contemporary novel youth translation competition, providing many interesting cultural scenes for egyptian youth learning chinese.
when song yuyan was in college, her chinese teacher often organized exchanges between chinese and egyptian students. after discovering that song yuyan's chinese singing skills were not low, her teacher recommended her to the "singing egypt" chinese song competition held by the cairo chinese cultural center. "participate in the competition? can i?" song yuyan was a little unconfident, but her teacher encouraged her to give it a try, and hoped that she would motivate herself to study and gain more confidence through participating in the competition.
for the preliminary round, the teacher helped her choose a song called "a million possibilities". when preparing this song, song yuyan's chinese was not so proficient, so she marked the lyrics with chinese pinyin and practiced repeatedly. "i really like this song." song yuyan did her homework. "the creator of the song is a foreigner who is interested in chinese culture like me. she has studied chinese in china for 6 years. she is really amazing." the preliminary round was held at the chinese cultural center in cairo, the capital of egypt. it was song yuyan's first time to go to the chinese cultural center and the first time to sing in front of so many people, and it was a chinese song. song yuyan smiled and said, "i was so nervous! i was shaking all over when i got on stage."
after successfully entering the semi-finals, the teacher originally helped her choose "red dust". "this song is really difficult." as the competition was getting closer, song yuyan and her teacher both thought that this difficult song should be saved for the finals. they made a bold decision - to temporarily change to "our love" for the semi-finals. "this song is both nice and not that difficult." "however, there were only three days left before the semi-finals, and the task was quite heavy. i still don't know how i did it! i practiced the song every day and every hour for those three days." song yuyan said with a smile.
fortunately, song yuyan withstood the pressure and successfully advanced to the finals. in the finals, she finally performed the "rolling red dust" that she had prepared for a long time perfectly. in the end, she won the championship with this classic old song.
since then, music has helped song yuyan overcome the difficulties in learning chinese, and she has become completely fascinated by singing chinese songs. every time she learns a new chinese song, she will first understand the story behind the song. when she learns to sing, she will put all her emotions into it and deliberately imitate the singing style of chinese people. "because singing chinese songs makes me more confident and can use chinese more proficiently, it means a lot to me." song yuyan said.
song yuyan likes pop music and positive energy songs. she mentioned that compared with the wide variety of chinese songs, egyptian pop songs are more joyful and tell love stories, which make people want to dance.
when asked about the chinese songs that touched her the most, song yuyan said that her favorites were "starry sea" and "the most beautiful expectation". "i think these songs give people expectations and hope, and also give me the energy to stick to my dreams."
song yuyan still thinks it is incredible to be able to perform chinese songs on the spring festival gala in the year of the rabbit. "i have heard of the spring festival gala since i started learning chinese, but i never thought that i would be able to participate in it one day."
the lyrics and tunes of the chinese songs accompanied song yuyan on her journey of learning chinese, and also marked the beginning of her journey to china and her visit to china.
come to beijing to experience chinese culture
when she was studying chinese in egypt, song yuyan could only learn about china from the classroom and the internet, but those were all descriptions of china by others. she could not experience it in person, nor could she fully understand the profound culture behind the chinese language. after studying chinese in egypt for four years, song yuyan decided to study in china.
in 2023, song yuyan went abroad for the first time and boarded a plane to china for the first time. going alone to a foreign country, song yuyan was nervous and happy, afraid and excited.
"when i was in egypt, many teachers told me what china is like and how convenient life is. after arriving in china, i found that china is even better than i imagined," said song yuyan. after arriving in beijing, song yuyan felt that this was a magical city, where she could feel the profound historical and cultural heritage and see the modern urban landscape, which made her feel like she was on a "time travel."
among the many attractions in beijing, song yuyan particularly likes the great wall. she said, "because egypt has the pyramids, i think it would be great if i could go to the great wall!" the egyptian pyramids and the great wall of china are two wonders of the ancient civilizations of the world. the moment song yuyan, who is from egypt, climbed the great wall, she knew very clearly that her footsteps witnessed the dialogue between the two civilizations in the new era. as a witness and participant of cultural exchanges, she has contributed her youthful strength to the "hand in hand and creating a future" of the two ancient civilizations in the new era.
in addition to scenic spots, song yuyan is also very interested in traditional chinese culture. in her spare time, song yuyan participated in many activities inside and outside the school. she made more friends and felt the profoundness of chinese culture. what surprised her most was the ancient and magical chinese medicine.
at a "ditan tcm health culture festival", she and her classmates from italy, cuba and tunisia experienced traditional tcm treatments such as tongue diagnosis and ear acupuncture. "the tcm doctor looked at my tongue, and before i could say anything, he said, 'you don't sleep well, right?'" song yuyan was surprised that the doctor told her about her lifestyle just by looking at her tongue. after the doctor's introduction, song yuyan learned that "tongue diagnosis" is a method of tcm diagnosis. afterwards, the doctor also pierced song yuyan's ear acupuncture points and told her how to massage her ears after returning home, and she did it one by one. "i pressed three times a day as he said, and i felt that my digestion became better and the acne on my face disappeared a lot." song yuyan couldn't help but exclaimed.
teachers at beijing language and culture university often encourage song yuyan to participate in various activities, because every activity can give her more opportunities to learn chinese. she also participated in the "times questions, youth answers" lecture held by the beijing youth league committee on may 4th youth day, and as an egyptian youth, she told the story of how chinese songs brought her happiness and growth.
in her spare time, song yuyan likes to stroll in the alleys of beijing and visit museums. she also learns to play the guqin out of interest. everything she encounters in beijing makes her chinese learning come alive.
today, chinese is no longer a complex and obscure symbol to her. the culture contained in every word and sentence is full of fun.
recording daily life and building friendship between china and egypt
"the time i've spent in china is so precious, so i want to record everything i've experienced here by shooting videos and making vlogs." this semester, song yuyan has begun her study and life as a doctoral student at beijing language and culture university. usually, song yuyan uploads videos to wechat video account and posts them on overseas social platforms, telling her story about china from her perspective and with her real experience. she can't help but want to share everything she's seen and felt in china with others. song yuyan has received a lot of positive feedback for telling these stories about china, and of course some people have asked her for confirmation with doubts. "what they're most curious about is whether china is really safe?" song yuyan talked easily about her experience of going out at three or four in the morning to catch the high-speed rail, "not only is it safe, but it's also very efficient. the platform from beijing to tianjin showed a half-hour drive, but it actually arrived in less than half an hour."
as an egyptian youth studying in china, song yuyan has a deep understanding of china's development. after the belt and road initiative was proposed, egypt was one of the first countries to participate in it. in the process of jointly building the belt and road, china and egypt have deepened exchanges in many aspects such as economy and culture. in cairo, several high-rise buildings in the central business district of egypt's new administrative capital, built by chinese companies, have sprung up, providing more employment opportunities for local people. song yuyan said that like her, many young people saw such opportunities and began to study chinese hard.
song yuyan tells the story of china to more people through her personal experience in china. similarly, when she came to china, she also used herself as a carrier to show the charm of egypt to china.
in song yuyan's eyes, the friendly exchanges between china and egypt are two-way. she noted that many precious ancient egyptian cultural relics have been exhibited in china recently, and more than 95% of the exhibits in this exhibition are on display in asia for the first time.
today, song yuyan is pursuing a doctorate in chinese international education. at first, song yuyan was a little hesitant about getting a doctorate, as she knew it was not an easy thing to do. "my teacher suggested and encouraged me to continue my doctorate studies." in the end, song yuyan decided to face the challenge and continue to study in china. "if i want to be a chinese teacher in the future, i should further improve my chinese proficiency and my chinese teaching skills."
song yuyan keeps moving forward, because she knows that she will encounter more opportunities in china in the next journey; she believes that she can sing more beautiful notes in the melody of china-egypt friendship.
song yuyan's story reflects some of the achievements of china-africa educational cooperation, as well as the broad stage that the capital beijing provides for international youth.
as an egyptian youth, she knows that as china-africa relations make great strides forward, she will find her own "million possibilities" and realize her "most beautiful expectations" in the "sea of stars".
