[Malaysia] Ding Jit Yang, Beijing Normal University
Yesterday, you taught me about the breeze, the moon, and the hazy drizzle;
Today, I will walk all over China for you and watch the clouds.
When my grandpa was a child, he and his family left China, crossed the South China Sea and came to live in a foreign land in order to get rid of poverty. From then on, they have taken root in Malaysia, setting up family and developing career. But I think my grandpa’s yearning for his motherland had never reduced a bit.
He often took me on a motorbike to the seaside to watch the sea, where grandpa would say to me, “Grandpa’s home is on the other side of the sea”, and then he would tell me about his growing up in China. When I was a child, I didn’t understand why grandpa’s eyes were always wet when he was talking. Now I understand that it is because of grandpa’s love for the land of China.
When grandpa was alive, he would return to China to visit relatives and travel several times a year. He would tell me what he had seen and heard in China and tell me how advanced the education was in China. He encouraged me to study hard, so I could study in his motherland when I had the opportunity in the future.
Under the influence of my grandpa, I came up with the idea of studying in China when I was quite young. Grandpa also often shared with me information about advanced science and technology in China. Therefore, I have been familiar with Chinese culture since I was a child. I was deeply impressed by the Fuwa he brought me after he watched the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and the Haibao after he visited the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.
Time passes. Haibao and Fuwa are still lying in my storage locker, but the old man who took me to see the world, shared every worthwhile moment with me and taught me a lot of worldly experience has long been lying in a strange little box.
After graduating from high school in 2019, I resolutely went to China and became an international student at Beijing Normal University. In the beginning, due to the impact of the epidemic, I could only stay in Malaysia for online classes in the first semester. I felt uneasy, but the warmth of my classmates and teachers warded off the cold winter and the panicking epidemic, which made me quickly integrated into the big family of Beijing Normal University.
My classmates were willing to give me advice when I encountered problems in my schoolwork. The teachers would reply to my consultations about questions in schoolwork on weekends when I was already prepared to be unanswered for disturbing them during break time.
I think this was what my grandfather once told me about the “strong Chinese flavor.” I had thought my grandfather meant food. It is only after my own experience that I realized that what my grandfather was talking about was “human feelings.”
I vaguely remember that at the beginning of the epidemic in Wuhan last year, China completed building the Huoshenshan Hospital in only 10 days, which not only subverted my long-standing understanding but also showed me the “strength of China” which my grandfather had always emphasized. China has curbed the domestic epidemic and also has maintained a steady supply of masks. In the meantime, China also satisfies the demand for masks in the world.
What hits me directly in the depths of my soul is what Mr. Zhong Nanshan said, “Wuhan has always been a heroic city, and China has always been a heroic country.” I think people all over the world should realize that the bravest people in China have protected not only their country, but also the whole world. When the flowers bloom in spring, I hope you and I will travel the land of China hand in hand and enjoy hundreds of flowers blooming together.
Grandpa told me that China was so big that many people would not be able to travel around China in their lifetime. His dream was to visit every part of China. But things go against wishes. Grandpa died before he had time to visit the Drum Tower. In my childhood, I looked forward to the souvenirs grandpa brought back to me every time he returned to Malaysia, but what I more expected was to know about what my grandfather had experienced on a trip.
Whether it was walking at the Ten Miles Gallery of Zhangjiajie or the flag-raising ceremony on Tiananmen Square in the first rays of sunlight in the early morning, everything interested me. But I still wanted to see them for myself. I wondered what my grandfather had seen in China – the first snow in the Forbidden City, the smell of the wind blowing in the face on the Great Wall, and the night lit up by the Pearl of the Orient.
Grandpa, next time I set foot in China, although you are not in this human world anymore, my eyes will watch the land of China for you, including what you have seen and what you haven’t seen. China has a vast territory. I will travel all over the mountains and rivers of China, see the world and read up all the poems and distances, before I join you in the other world, relive for you your old dreams and share with you every bit of my journey. But this time we will exchange identities. I will be the storyteller, and you will be the listener.
The story is from "My Beautiful Encounter with China" Essay Competition organized by the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchanges (CSCSE).
