“Chest out, abdomen in. Take a step forward. And hold a fist salute.” It never occurred to Du Runqin, a freshman at Tsinghua University majoring in history, that one day he would demonstrate “Tsinghua Martial Art” on the other side of the world, and specifically, at Luxor University in Egypt.
From January 14 to 24, a group of 14 students and one professor from Tsinghua University set on a journey to Egypt as part of a public interaction team to promote mutual understanding among youngsters and investigate the phenomenon of “Chinese Learning Boom” in Egypt that is widely covered in Chinese media.
Du’s performance was part of a language workshop co-hosted by the Confucius Classroom of Luxor University. The event was kicked off by a cucurbit flute performance of a Chinese folk music by Chen Yixi, and a Chinese folk dance by Xu Xinxin.
Immersed in the implicit beauty, Kong Yang, aka Mohab, a third-year undergraduate student from Luxor University, was thrilled: “I felt as if I had traveled back to Tang Dynasty and witnessed its heyday.”
Meanwhile, the Egyptian students from Luxor also put on a stunning show. Zhou Shuzhi, aka Omar Adel Mostafa, who had won the Excellence Award in the 15th Egyptian College Student Chinese Poetry Recitation Performance Competition, staged a riveting recitation of “When Will the Bright Moon Be There”, a proverbial classical poem by Su Shi. His marvelous Chinese exhibits the affection of Egyptian students for Chinese learning, and also reflects the fruitful achievements of Chinese education in Egypt.
Another female Egyptian student, Zhuang Yunxin, sang a pop song together with the cohort from Tsinghua. Through the exquisite music, the two sides conveyed respect for each other’s cultures, and further deepened the friendship between China and Egypt.
Afterwards, the calligraphy teaching session provided the Egyptian students with hands-on experience for the time-honored art. Wu Xinyue explained and demonstrated the writing of the character “Fu” with Li Xiaobao and Niu Boya guiding the Egyptian students to copy and write.
While copying the character “Fu”, Du Ruo, aka Asem Ibrahim Abdallah, was looking forward to the lunar Chinese New Year, in order to paste up the character on the door, thus bringing good luck to his family in the year of the Snake.
The workshop culminated in the storytelling session, “The Chinese Language and Me”. Kong Yang shared his learning experience: “It was indeed tough to learn Chinese at first, especially the four tones in oral Chinese. But later on, I found it interesting since I can grasp the meaning of popular Chinese TV series without subtitles.” And Zhou Shuzhi was inspired to get a scholarship from the Chinese government in hope of getting admitted to the Communication University of China and becoming a bilingual reporter one day.
The group’s field study included all kinds of subjects. Besides Chinese learners in Luxor, it also held forums with officials, scholars and entrepreneurs from various fields . At the Middle East Branch of Xinhua News Agency, Xin Jianqiang, the vice president of the head office, shared his thrilling experience as a war correspondent in the Middle East, which inspired students from Tsinghua University to participate in the cause of international communication, so as to inject new impetus into the mutual learning.
Heading towards downtown, at the Chinese Students and Scholars Union in Egypt, the group exchanged opinions with peers from Alexandria University and Ain Shams University and felt the urgent need to update Chinese-teaching materials to demonstrate China’s influence as a modernized nation. The union’s chairman, Bai Kecheng said “Egypt and China both boast a long history with countless astonishing heritage. The beauty we cherish, and the legacy we inherit—these are the torches we carry forward into the future.”
The “Chinese Learning Boom” is phenomenal. Nowadays, Chinese education in Egypt covers multiple stages of education, with public middle schools offering Chinese as a second language elective course and universities establishing Chinese departments. Minister Counsellor Lu Chunsheng spoke highly of the vigorous cooperation between China and Egypt in various fields and the growing demand for Chinese learning. He encouraged students from Tsinghua University to combine the field study with their own specializations and put forward innovative ideas for the future development of international Chinese education.
Song Lihong, the professor of the group, commented “It’s terrific to explore Chinese language education in Egypt this way whereby both Chinese and Egyptian students began to learn how to perceive ourselves through the eyes of the other. When I visited Egypt 20 years ago, Egypt struck me as monochrome as the yellow of the pyramids, typical of the stereotype a tourist would get. With this study group, however, Egypt is emerging vibrant, inclusive, and colorful.”
