On October 1st, 2018, a cohort of over 60 young international and Chinese students celebrated China’s National Day at the premises of University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yanqihu Campus. With the blows of pleasant cool air of this autumn’s evening and at the location of SANA ZOAN CAFÉ situated at the center of our beautiful campus, the crowd gathered around together under the one room to celebrate this auspicious festival in China.
A shot of “the flag of China”
Samar (Egypt) raising the Chinese flag (left), He Shaoyang (right)
Laxman Subedi (Nepal)
The charm of the event got vibrant straight after its initiation with a performance by Li Biying who performed Harmonica (Jasmine). Her astonishing talent put forward a great start to the activity.
Li Biying performing Harmonica
Pralhad Gupta singing 月亮代表我的心
The event was hosted by Wu Yifan and Chen Zaohuang. It was UCAS English Corner’s second consecutive successful event within a month after the celebration of the mid-autumn festival. This event included various presentations about China, Chinese culture, famous places in China, Chinese food culture in typical cities, presentation by international students about their home country, exciting games, quizzes, cake cutting ceremony to wish a very happy birthday to the people’s republic of China, gift swapping, and so on. The participants were quite excited to win prizes. In a nutshell, this activity provided a good insight about National Day and its significance and celebration in China to foreign students who traveled thousands of miles away from home and possess a deep curiosity to understand Chinese people and Chinese culture in a better way.
Luo Liwen gave a presentation on cultural and ethnical diversities in different provinces in China, and highlighted Xi'an and Chengdu as one of the most famous travel sites for foreigners due to special attractions, food, and lifestyle.
Luo Liwen’s presentation about China
Liu Ruixuan singing 好心分手
Along with the introduction of Chinese culture, the subsequent representation of foreign cultures into the activity determines the extreme level of diversity in the event. This was evident after the partaking of international students in various talent shows and cross-cultural communications. Prabin Bhandari, an international student from Nepal sang a melodious Nepalese song named as “Resham Firiri” which means ‘fluttering silk’.
China is a massive country, and its unique food culture, landscapes, deep history, and civilization put forward so many curiosities in our mind to travel there at least once. The crowd was addressed an informative session from Wu Menglu. She highlighted food culture in different provinces of China, Chinese dumplings, sweet dumplings, and also introduced some sceneries such as “The Great Wall”, “Tiananmen Square”, etc. Later, in her beautiful voice, Liu Ruixuan sang a beautiful Chinese song named as 好心分手. It’s very surprising to see a foreigner singing a Chinese song. Well, this time, it was Pralhad Gupta (Nepal) who sounded tremendous while singing a very famous Chinese song 月亮代表我的心. He also pointed out the impacts of this song in Chinese society and explained a deep meaning of the song in brief.
For all the book lovers, finding a right place to study is a prime purpose over so many things. Well, that does not happen so easily especially in a country like China with a very different language, and lifestyle. That pushed the organizers to invite Wu Yifan who delivered a short speech on nearby bookstores in Beijing with special features for students and convenient operating hours.
If you have been to Guangdong, you must be familiar with “Yum Cha”. This is something Cantonese put in the top of the list when the dawn starts. The co-host Chen Zaohuang belongs Guangdong province and he introduced the enjoyable Yum Cha (饮茶) to the audience.
Host’s speech by Wu Yifan
Host’s speech by Chen Zaohuang
Another student from Nepal, Mr. Santosh Rana, showed his talent on the stage by singing a popular Nepalese song named “Phool ko aankha ma” which means “in the eyes full of flowers”. The crowd applauded his soulful voice and melodious music.
Santosh Rana (Nepal) singing a Nepalese song
Pralhad Gupta (Nepal) lifting Wang Zhufeng (China)
Apart from many sessions which focused on ‘China’s National Day’, the foreign speakers were invited to give a presentation about their country and specialties they hold to attract tourists. The world is an oval, we never know at which point meet. After the session addressed by Viktoriya Ilina (Kazakhstan), El Sayed Mohamed (Egypt), and Ye Htet Lwin (Myanmar), one thing that is transparent here is that it is always worthy to travel as many countries we can in order to extend our horizon, and create a unity in diversity, which must be the principal concern of everyone on the planet earth.
Viktoriya Ilina’s speech on Kazakhstan
El Sayed Mohamed’s speech on Egypt
Ye Htet Lwin’ s speech on Myanmar
Birthday is incomplete without a beautiful delicious cake. So, the cake cutting ceremony was held to celebrate China’s National day and wish a happy birthday to China. The delicious cake was served among everyone, right after the birthday song which was sounded in a pure blend of different voices. One of the most exciting moments of this event was “Gift Swapping” activity when the participants were provided a random number to choose one of the gifts collected from everyone.
Cake Cutting Ceremony
Sunina (China), Gift Exchange Activity
Li Biying (China), Sultan Mahmood Zangi (Pakistan), Dance Ceremony
It was quite thrilling. The magnificence of the event was uplifted by a series of dance performances from a cluster of Chinese and international students on a different variety of songs from Hollywood, Bollywood, and Arabic origins. It was random, more energetic, color, and most importantly devoted to the creation of China, which is a place for billions of Chinese and a lot of foreigners.
Group Photo
The final session of the event included interviews with some of our participants, and we are grateful for their useful comments, suggestions, and compliments. Below are the response and feedback from some of the attendees of the activity.
Viktoriya Ilina (Kazakhstan)
Pralhad: What do you think is the significance of organizing such a party at our UCAS campus?
Viktoriya: The event is important because it strengthens the ties between Chinese and foreign students and helps to learn more about the culture and traditions of China.
Pralhad: In your opinions, what kind of expectations you had before joining this party?
Victoria: I expected to meet new friends, have a good and interesting time and learn more about China. Thanks. All succeeded.
Santosh Kumar Rana Magar (Nepal)
Pralhad: Do you think such activities can help you understand China and Chinese better? In what ways do you think in such a manner?
Santosh: Yes, of course. Such interaction brings more opportunity to meet with new people, Chinese friend and interact with them.
Pralhad: Do you have anything to say about us or about our event?
Santosh: Keep it up!!!
Ye Htet Lwin (Myanmar)
Pralhad: What kind of events would you like to have at the campus?
Ye Htet: I prefer cultural show, and traditional food sharing ceremony in our campus.
Pralhad: What is the impression of UCAS English Corner in your mind?
Ye Htet: It is one of the good activities at our campus. But, we need one good place for meeting and discussion.
UEC thanks everyone for their presence, and also thanks volunteers who made this event a successful one.
The English corner of UCAS strive to bridge the gap between Chinese and international students at the campus by cross-cultural exchange, language partnerships and creating a homely environment at the campus for all who come from thousands of miles away leaving their home for a better future and explore doors of opportunities. We are UCAS English Corner. “LEARN TOGETHER, GROW TOGETHER”.
Writer: Pralhad Gupta
Photographers: Mukesh Rai, He Shaoyang
