Nov, 28th, 2014
At about 5 p.m., Oct. 17th, a cross-cultural buddy program of “Experiencing China” successfully started in ZiJingang campus, Zhejiang University. Designed to develop the communication on languages and cultures between Chinese and overseas students, the Chinese students from SIS were paired off with overseas students who major in “China Studies”. As one part of the fourth phase of established “985” project for improving intercultural communication competence, this activity was hosted by Communist Youth League Committee of SIS and Institute of China Studies , organized by the newly-founded German-major Student Union, co-organized by Foreign Languages Association. Based on first-phase publicity, more than 120 students applied, from which only 30 Chinese students and 30 overseas students were respectively selected to come in on this activity.
On the afternoon of 17th, the launching ceremony of “Experiencing China” and meet-and-greet session were held at Fab’s Food & Drink, which is at the gate of ZiJingang Campus. Besides the 60 participants, a number of leaders and teachers also attended the ceremony, including Prof. Fan Jieping, the founder of Institute of China Studies and the academic leader of German studies; Prof. Li Yuan, the vice dean of SIS and the originator of “Experiencing China”; Ms. Shen Liao, the deputy secretary of the Party committee of SIS; Ms. Shen Xiaohua, the secretary of Communist Youth League Committee of SIS, and Mr. Qu Haidong, the vice director of Institute of China Studies.
At about 4:30 p.m., the participants arrived gradually. In order to make more fun, the students did not know who would be their partners before they came and had to find them through games, which made the result eagerly expected. When they entered, everyone was asked to pick a piece of card. Chinese students had an English word on it and overseas students had a Chinese word on it, so the two who got corresponding words were partners. After a brief opening speech, they started to look for their partners and soon they got to know each other, and the atmosphere became warmer.
After everybody sat down, the host gave a brief introduction about this program, as well as the tasks needed to be completed. The member of FLA also recommended several other activities, including Chinese Corner and Festival Parties, to the newly come overseas students so that they could have a try in the next year.
At the end, came the dinner time at Fab’s Food & Drink, which fueled the activity onto a new peak. The provided food included both perfectly arranged Chinese and Western cuisines, such as Chinese Boiled Fish with Pickled Cabbage and Chili, and Bouilli, as well as western classical spaghetti and pizza. Students sat around tables in Chinese traditional way so that the conversation expanded from one-to-one chat between the original partners to cheerful talks among all the students at the table. During the dinner, the overseas students all tried Chinese cuisines, which they had never seen before, and time and again asked strange questions about food materials. A pleasant Brazilian girl joked that it was the first time for her to eat pizza with chopsticks, and recorded the historic moment with her cell phone.
As evening came, the meeting successfully ended in a relaxing atmosphere. The students went back in company with each other, continued the topics in the dinner or discussed about the time to meet next time. The buddy program of “Experiencing China” lasts for one year, during which partners are supposed to make further exchanges after class, hoping to mutually help each other’s foreign language study. In the middle of the program, they will be asked to show their achievements on cross-cultural exchange together. It could be a group of pictures, a piece of writing, or an album of memento. No matter which form of exhibition they choose, this experience must be their precious and ever lasting memory.
(Translated by Gao Lin)
