vietnamese "generation z" girl pei thi xuan: chasing the dream of becoming a cultural exchange ambassador in china
2024-09-19
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kunming, september 19, china news service, title: vietnamese "generation z" pei thi xuan: chasing the dream of becoming a cultural exchange ambassador in china
author: luo jie
"the journey from my hometown in vietnam to yunnan university only costs more than 100 yuan and more than 4 hours for most people, but it took me 6 years." today, pei thi xuan, a vietnamese "generation z" girl, is a graduate student at the school of journalism of yunnan university, continuing her dream-chasing journey in china.
the picture shows pei shixuan on the campus of yunnan university in february 2024. photo provided by pei shixuan
pei thi xuan was born in bao sheng county, lao cai province, vietnam, a village only about 20 kilometers away from the chinese border. here, she not only witnessed the friendly exchanges between the chinese and vietnamese people, but also went deep into them and became an envoy of cultural exchanges between the two countries.
"i grew up in a rural area in vietnam. when i was a child, i only had a small radio to keep me informed of the outside world. later, i got a tv and could occasionally receive chinese channels. although i didn't understand chinese, i learned about chinese culture for the first time from film and television dramas, and i also imagined that i would become a cool female knight." recalling her childhood, pei shixuan planted the seeds of her dream of pursuing her dream in china in the future through chinese film and television dramas such as "journey to the west", "demi-gods and semi-devils", and "butterfly lovers".
after going to school, pei shixuan began to read chinese books. after graduating from high school, she applied for the national university of hanoi, vietnam, but was not admitted to the chinese major she wanted. she wanted to learn chinese, but she had no choice but to return to a school in lao cai province to learn chinese. in 2015, she accidentally learned about yunnan hekou vocational high school on the internet, and an idea ignited in pei shixuan's mind, "i want to study in china."
when she came to hekou county, pei shixuan met chinese classmates and teachers for the first time and truly felt chinese culture. she cherished the hard-won learning opportunity very much. one year later, she passed the chinese proficiency test (hsk) level 5 certificate and went to honghe university to study for an undergraduate degree.
"my chinese study journey was not as smooth as i had imagined. i had to do many things twice before i could succeed." but pei shixuan was not discouraged. she believed that as long as she persisted and did not give up, there would be hope. in the fall of 2022, after submitting her second application, she was admitted to yunnan university as a graduate student.
in a special family letter written by pei shixuan, she told her younger self, "now i have helped you realize your dream by coming to china and fulfilling your dream of attending a chinese university. i will continue to look for the poetry and distant places that belong to us here." over the past few years, she has felt the spring-like four seasons in kunming, admired the red walls and white snow in the forbidden city in beijing, experienced the charm of the ancient capital in xi'an, and studied red culture in yan'an.
the picture shows pei shixuan admiring jacaranda in kunming, yunnan. photo provided by pei shixuan
as she gets to know china better, pei thi xuan hopes to use her experience to inspire more vietnamese rural children who want to study in china, and she also wants to further spread the cultures of the two countries.
since 2020, pei thi xuan has posted chinese and vietnamese videos on short video platforms at home and abroad, and has gained 230,000 followers so far. through her lens, chinese netizens have learned about vietnam's living customs, social development, and traditional culture. vietnamese netizens have witnessed this girl's growth in learning chinese and seen opportunities for development in china.
at present, china and vietnam have increasingly close cooperation and exchanges, and their economic and trade exchanges are booming. at the hekou port, there is an endless stream of tourists and business people traveling between china and vietnam, and the number of vietnamese tourists visiting yunnan has hit new highs; yunnan's flowers and coffee beans and vietnam's durian, dragon fruit and other specialties are hot-selling in both countries; the china-vietnam cross-border spring festival gala, the "flowers and full moon" mid-autumn festival cultural exchange, and the china-vietnam folk sports events exchange have brought the people of the two countries closer and closer.
"chinese culture has a great influence in vietnam. now many people ask me to be a bilingual translator, and i have become the chinese teacher for more than 20 people." pei thi xuan, who is preparing her thesis at home, is about to return to school. "in the future, i will continue my fate with china, take cultural exchanges between vietnam and china as my career, and do more within my capacity." (end)
