Tori Sanderson
Tori Sanderson, a student at the University of Sydney, is currently undertaking a scholarship to study Chinese in Beijing. Tori, whose parents live in Hong Kong, considers herself a veteran of travelling in China having lived in southern China in her childhood and having visited her favourite city, Beijing, four times.
It is nearly a month since I arrived in Beijing, and I am now beginning my third week of classes at Beijing Language and Culture University. Having been here a few times before, I was not expecting too many big surprises when I arrived. With parents living in Hong Kong, and I myself having lived in southern China in primary school, this would be my fourth trip to Beijing, the last trip having involved a month of intensive study here in early 2007. And now, I'm lucky enough to be back in my favourite city once again, looking forward to continuing my study of Chinese - and especially being able to go out into the streets and use freshly-learned vocabulary - but secretly considering myself a veteran of travelling in China.
What I have forgotten, however, was that part of the reason I love China so much was because of her constant surprises and change. Beijing is a brilliant, diverse city going through a very exciting period, and while part of that can be attributed to the 2008 Olympic Games, I believe it is more a reflection on the very character of China. It is the contrast of old and new, economy and culture that makes this city so wonderfully unique.
When I decided to major in Chinese Studies at Sydney University, doing a language exchange was high on my list of priorities. The scholarship offered by Sydney University through the China Scholarship Council allowed this to happen, and better yet, offered me a place at BLCU, one of the more prestigious language-based universities in China. I knew very little about BLCU before arriving - I had heard rumours of a whole suburb overrun by foreigners - waiguoren - where you could go a day without even hearing Chinese being spoken outside of the classroom. How very different the reality turned out to be! I live in a mammoth dormitory filled with other scholarship students from around the world - and, to my delight, our common language is Chinese. My roommate is from St. Petersburg, and while the extent of her Chinese vocabulary is positively daunting, my command of the grammar has meant that our conversations are as much about helping each other as they are about what we're trying to communicate. Often we will both sit with dictionaries in our laps, using this fascinating language so completely foreign to us both to talk about our vastly different cultures and experiences.
Every morning for four hours, twenty students from Japan, Korea, Kazakhstan, America, Russia, Mexico and of course, Australia, gather in our classroom - one of hundreds - to be immersed in Chinese, including lessons on grammar, speaking, listening, and writing. Our teacher chatters away to us in fluent Chinese and we grasp what we can, which is more and more every day, and speak Chinese to each other during our xiuxi breaks with varying degrees of fluency and accents. And while Wudaokou, the suburb that holds more foreign university students than any other, can often seem like some bizarre crucible of different cultures, it is still thoroughly Chinese. My friends and I often hit the tiny, hole-in-the-wall Hui Noodle restaurants for their 7RMB noodle or rice dishes, and have begun to believe that a clean, orderly restaurant does not necessarily guarantee great tasting food in China, and certainly not great prices! The best of Chinese restaurants are often crowded, noisy, and at first glance closely resemble anarchy, but I promise you will find no better food in all of this great country. My classmates and I have all become quite determined to become completely local in our tastes and habits, complete with dirty second-hand bicycles and t-shirts with Chinglish phrases boldly printed on them, and the Chinese people we have met have eagerly taken us on board as their honorary compatriots. And of course, being China, there is much more we all plan to see this year than just Beijing. Already we have caught the train to up-and-coming economic hotspot Tianjin for a weekend; and a trip to Qingdao, famous for it's beer (and scenery), is scheduled in the next few weeks.
While I officially have only another five months left to study here at BLCU, I am currently doing all I can to extend that to a full year. And I know that even that long could never be enough to learn all I yearn to about this fascinating, ever-changing country. The opening of the Confucius Institute at the University of Sydney is an exciting development, and I hope that when this chapter of my life is over, I will have the opportunity to help other young students to open similar chapters in theirs. It has been, and will continue to be, a most singular and memorable time, but I am also sure that it is just the beginning of my relationship with China and its people. We are all fortunate to have these opportunities to learn about such an important culture and nation, and it is my dearest wish that the ties that link China and Australia will only grow stronger. It is a worthwhile endeavour, but perhaps more importantly, it is a step towards serving both countries and the international community, for tolerance and acceptance is bred from understanding, and understanding can only be achieved through communication.