Dream for China, love for Chinese

[Indonesia] Akbar Nyong Husain, Nanchang University

“Seek knowledge even if you have to go as far as China” – it is an Arabic proverb I always remember by heart. I was born in Indonesia and often heard it from my parents and teachers in my childhood. It is my earliest impression on China, just like a dream. I feel close to it and was being appealed by it.

How special will it be after all? Why does the learning there fascinate foreigners so much? The dream of studying in China was deeply engraved in my heart.

When I was growing up, many “wonderful” things happened relevant to the dream. Due to my affection towards China, I was attracted to stationery, school bags and shoes made in China. Moreover, I found out with surprise that a video game machine my sister bought for her son was also made in China.

“Wow, China is so amazing and powerful!” “Made in China is really everywhere” – these are my impression about China. My friend bought some souvenirs from a trip to Thailand and they were made in China too! It further proved that my thoughts above are authentic. Therefore, I wish I could grow up sooner so as to see the real China earlier.

At the beginning of 2009, I arrived in the city of Nanchang of China with great excitement. My “China Dream” was no longer a dream and it was right in front of my eyes! At last I was able to study in China, learn more about China and have more experience and understanding on China. My first impression on Nanchang was quite good. I was told that it is also called the Hero City, which I adore very much. Chinese culture and local life were drawing my attention. I learned that Chinese culture enjoys a long history. It was inherited for thousands of years without interruption and abandonment. At Nanchang University, I appreciated the delightful beauty of Chinese calligraphy and the subtle beauty of Tai Chi at the school event. I experienced making dumplings for the Spring Festival, eating mooncakes on the Mid-Autumn Festival, and making zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) for the Dragon Boat Festival... I still remember the square dance of the aged in the Nanchang Park. At that time I thought it was an important festival or celebration party because they were dancing together in a very neat and rhythmic way. I realized later that it was a leisure way for the aged people in China to take exercise and it was also an approach for them to socialize with their friends.

But no matter how I attended events or watched square dance, I always feel like an “outsider” when people talked, because I don’t speak Chinese. I don’t have any basic knowledge of it but I do know that Chinese is very difficult.

Chinese is made up of thousands of Chinese characters, and each character has its own stroke order, which is a very hard part for me. In addition, there are some Chinese characters that look very similar, such as “艮” and “良”, “已” and “己”, “大” and “太”, which can be confused if I am not observant. When I first saw these characters, they looked so similar that it’s hard for me to tell the difference. Moreover, their meanings are completely different and not even slightly related. At the beginning, I had to ask for help from my Malaysian friend out of school (her mother tongue is Chinese). She was fluent in Chinese and could interpret Chinese into English anytime for me, which was my initial learning method.

I remember once when I was taking the subway, I found an old man had no seat and I had to use body language to invite him to take my seat as my Chinese was not good. The old man was very surprised and touched by my act. I gave my friend a phone call and communicated in Indonesian. Suddenly, a boy who had been sitting next to me stood up, touched my shoulder, signed me to his seat and got off. Then I sat shoulder to shoulder with the old man and he started talking to me, but I failed to understand. I could only respond with gestures and English “Sorry, I don’t know.” The old man just smiled and nodded. He stared at me and gave me one more smile when he got off. I knew he tried to express his thanks.

From that day on, I realized that I must learn to speak Chinese. Chinese people seldom talk to a foreigner in English on the street. If I didn’t speak Chinese, it would be impossible for me to learn more about the nation and acquire more knowledge of local life. As a result, my thinking changed and I began to enjoy and work hard at learning Chinese. I also adjusted my study method and started learning pinyin, vocabulary, and grammar from my teacher. I was diligent to practice listening and speaking. In the next year I passed the exam of HSK Level 4. I was enrolled in Clinical Medicine Department of Nanchang University in 2021. I took two courses at the beginning of the semester, one is Overview of China and the other Chinese. I had thought I knew enough about Chinese language and culture, but I didn’t indeed. As I learned more and more, I realized that there was so much I didn’t know about Chinese culture and the Chinese language, which verifies the Chinese saying “Knowledge is infinite, life is short.”

Later, I read an article which said that although learning Chinese characters is difficult, its complexity can improve students’ intelligence and memory. Studies have shown that people who do not learn Chinese have much more difficulty remembering things and details than people who do. That’s what motivates me to learn Chinese. I believe that I’ll become smarter and smarter. I also believe that when I return to China, it will not be a dream for me to pass the exam of HSK Level 6. Because I have a dream for China and love for Chinese!

The story is from "My Beautiful Encounter with China" Essay Competition organized by the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchanges (CSCSE).