The first online cultural exchange party started on the evening of May 30. It was held by the School of International Education of HUST and organized by SICA (Students’ International Communication Association) with the theme of “Traveling through China Online: Explore your memories of cities”.

Nilesh, a Pakistani doctor student from the School of Management and Sabina Sapkota, a Nepalese postgraduate from the School of Electronic and Information Engineering, together with the members of SICA, introduced the beautiful scenery and local cultures of different parts of China to both Chinese and international students using Tencent online meeting room. About 30 students from different departments participated in the activity.

The online event started with documentary clips of Hangzhou, Xi’an and other famous Chinese cities, showing the vitality of these cities and historical changes. Six members from SICA then shared their experiences and feelings of traveling in Wuhan, Hangzhou, Hongcun Village, Kashgar, Yili, and Ejina Banner etc. and explained the history and culture of each location. The international students showed great interest and actively discussed in the comment section of the meeting room. They also exchanged with the Chinese students and expressed their expectations to travel and visit those places after the pandemic.

Tong Tiaozhou, a student from the School of Electronic and Information Engineering, guided everyone to Wuhan, the city of heroes. Tong actively cooperated with the local pandemic prevention and control policy in his hometown Wuhan and stayed quarantined at home. His presentation of this city aroused all the students’ yearning to return to Wuhan and enjoy the beautiful scenery and delicious foods there with all the teachers and students. Leng Diye who was from the School of Humanities made an introduction about her second hometown - Xinjiang. She once served as a volunteer there in 2018, and was familiar with the local customs. The international students were fascinated by Xinjiang, and asked many questions including topics such as transportation, climate, food and daily life there.

Nilesh is a travel and sports expert. He shared his feelings when traveling in Yichang, Tianjin and other places by sharing fantastic video clips. He said he enjoyed exploring and experiencing the beauty of different cities. China, from what he has observed, is a country where you can gain miraculous experiences and great beauty. His passion about his time in China could be felt from every word during his speech. At the end of this sharing, he also talked about his plan to travel the whole country after graduation. Sabina Sapkota from Nepal shared her unforgettable experience of her trip to Sichuan Province. She expressed her love for learning Chinese geography, history and culture, showing Sichuan province from her perspectives. Although she is currently in Nepal, she will continue to explore China with her Chinese friends during holidays after she returns to school.

During the game part of the activity, all the students participated in the Drawing Something and Chinese tongue twister competition with great passion.

This activity aims to provide a platform for international and Chinese students to communicate with each other during online teaching this semester, deepen the understanding of China’s geography, history and culture for international students, and promote friendship between international and Chinese students.

Written by: Shengyuan Ma

Source: School of International Education