Hosted by Wuhan Textile University, undertaken by the WTU International Office, International Education School, Research Institute People-to-people Exchange for Textile Industry, the "Belt and Road" Higher Textile Education Alliance, and co-organized by Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Central China Normal University, China University of Geosciences, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Huazhong Agriculture University, South-Central Minzu University, Hubei University, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan University of Light Industry, Wuhan Sports University, "Experiencing China"---WTU Exhibition of Fabric National Flag Research for Chang’e 5 Lunar Mission and “Presenting Our Hometowns to the Outside World"---the 1st Wuhan Intercollegiate Multicultural Exchange Forum came to a successful conclusion. More than a hundred International teachers and students visited the exhibition of scientific research achievements at beautiful Sunshine Campus of WTU and felt the rapid development as well as the progress of Chinese Scientific Research in the new era. We exchanged and discussed our ideas online and offline, shared hometown stories, and appreciated the beauty of multi-culture.
Students from WTU People-to-people Exchange Association (Interpretation Team) participated in these activities. They all said that the process of participating in the activity was like a vivid interpretation practice curriculum, which greatly exercised and improved everyone's cross-cultural communication skills. At the same time, through cultural exchanges with international students from different countries and cultural backgrounds, the friendship between each other has been enhanced, and mutual understanding has been deepened. A concerto of thoughts and emotions between Chinese and foreign teachers and students has been composed. In the forum, students from Wuhan Textile University also participated in voluntary services such as escort and English explanations, showing the elegant demeanor of contemporary Chinese university students to the world. Below, let's take a look at their comments and sharing after participating in these activities!
Guo Cili: The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic left us with the vacancy of sufficient platforms for multi-cultural exchanges and opportunities to practice what we were preached. Fortunately, with the lively atmosphere coming back today in Wuhan since the lockdown had been lifted, WTU held ''Presenting Our Hometowns to the Outside World'' -- the First Session of Wuhan Intercollegiate Multi-cultural Exchange Forum & the ''Experiencing China'' Tour to WTU -- Exhibition of ''Fabric National Flag'' Research for Chang' e 5 Lunar Mission and invited teachers and students from home and abroad of 10 universities in Wuhan to gather at Sunshine Campus. This was quite a valuable practice chance for us to make attempt to interpret and exchange multi-culturally, as well as a vivid interpretation practice course. Throughout the event, I was fully aware of the scientific research capability and achievements of our Alma Mater before a sense of pride came up from the bottom of my heart as a WTUer.
Chen kaijian: I was both excited and nervous to learn that the university will hold the cultural exchange forum and the lunar flag scientific research exhibition. We would accompany foreign friends and teachers from various universities in Wuhan and took part in the activity. After the selection and training, the students were full of confidence and successfully completed the volunteer service in this activity. We also felt the curiosity of international students about Chinese culture and contemporary development. During the activity, most of the overseas students talked with us in Chinese and expressed their appreciation to our school for the successful development of the fabric version of the lunar national flag. We discussed the stories and customs of our respective hometown together, and the atmosphere was very active. The students not only gained the opportunity to communicate with international students, deepened mutual understanding, but also exercised the ability of intercultural communication and activity organization, which benefited us a lot.
Zhang yu: In the activity, I acted as a narrator of Chinese stories and culture, and introduced our university's scientific research achievements and my hometown culture to the international students. Through the communication with them, I experienced the charm of intercultural communication and interaction for the first time. Most of the international students who participated in the event spoke Chinese fluently and shared many stories about the excellent Chinese culture in their eyes and they saw the rapid development of contemporary China. All of these made me feel that a powerful motherland is standing confidently in the east of the world.
Chen Yuanzhuo: This was the first time I had participated in a large-scale foreign-related event of the school in the whole process, and I had a deeper understanding of the difficulty of holding an event. The hard work of countless teachers and volunteers were the foundation of a successful event. Those seemingly simple steps also had numerous details that needed careful attention. In the process of planning the event, we constantly discovered and solved problems that came up during the event, learned to cooperate with others and learned to communicate with teachers at the same time. During the event, we got chances to meet a lot of international students from various countries and through exchanges, we got to acknowledge the culture of different countries thus establishing a deep and steady friendship.
Luo Suying: During the activity, I felt the warmth and friendliness of foreign friends, and knew Ashlan, a cheerful, warm and generous international student. In our communication, I was deeply surprised by his fluent Chinese. At the same time, I was attracted by his humorous personality. In the forum, we communicated with each other in different languages, because we knew that in the post epidemic era, only through dialogue and cooperation and concerted efforts can people from all over the world tide over difficulties and make progress together“ Beyond national boundaries and race "love is our common language!
Zhang Yan: As a volunteer in this activity, I had friendly exchanges with five foreign students from Zhongnan University of Economics and Law. During the visit to the "Lunar Flag" scientific research exhibition, foreign friends showed great interest in it and expressed their appreciation and admiration for the lunar flag developed by the scientific research team of WTU. After visiting the school's national key textile laboratory, the international students had a more in-depth understanding of our school's special majors. During the conversation with Russian students, I deepened my understanding of Russia, a beautiful country. In the event, I was not only acting as translator, but also acted as the ambassador spreading Chinese culture and showing the world the splendor of spinning as well as the image of China.
Zeng Yuxuan: I participated in the entire process of the WTU Exhibition of Fabric National Flag Research for Chang ’e 5 Vehicle activity and the 1st Wuhan Intercollegiate Multi-cultural Exchange Forum. While I was communicating with teachers and international students from South-Central Minzu University, I introduced our wonderful campus lives and my feeling toward study and campus life to them. Later, I found that every international students has a deep Chinese foundation. They were from Siberia, Turkmenistan, Bulgaria, Pakistan and some other countries. We shared different cultures and languages with each other and had a rich and meaningful time together. Chinese youth of the new era shoulder the responsibilities of telling Chinese stories well and spread Chinese culture. I will work harder to strengthen my English expressing ability and enrich my culture attainment to show China’s sound image.
Peng Jiayuan: What impressed me most was everyone had a strong thirst for knowledge. After we entered the exhibition room, stood in front of the display cabinet listening carefully. We thought it would be over soon, but they were curious about everything in the exhibition so we spent a long time there. Everyone was warm, talkative and funny. We talked about everything, even though we come from all over the world, we have the same energetic heart.
Tao Yana: It was the first time that I had communicated with foreign students in English, which gave me a golden opportunity to demonstrate and practice my ability. In my perspective, I made a brief introduction about myself, my university and learned a lot in the process of chatting with others. Showing them around our laboratories let me have a further comprehensive understanding about the achievements in scientific research made by our school in the recent years. After that, on our way to the library we talked about our hobbies and feelings during the activity. I found communicating with foreigners was not that difficult as I imagined, and I could deeply feel their great passion towards our country and my hometown Wuhan. Finally, I hope that there will be more chances like this for me to practice my intercultural communication competence. Looking forward to meeting them for the next time!
Cen Siyi: This time I participated in the international exchange forum of our school as a volunteer, which made me gain a lot. I not only met many interesting foreign friends, but also had a lot of opportunities to practice my oral English. At the same time, I also gained a lot of pride from the school's great achievements in the field of textile. The forum invited international students from many universities in Wuhan to visit the key laboratory of our university and the national flag of Chang 'e 5 lunar moon. The four overseas students from CUG all left a deep impression on me. Each of them has a Chinese name. Anside is a lively boy who loves dancing and taking photos. Yang Kang has visited Wuhan Textile University for the third time and can speak fluent Chinese. Fang Zhi is a very polite boy, his behavior between the feet are revealing elegant temperament. Malone is more reticent, but also polite. This activity made me find it difficult to be a qualified commentator and hope to have more opportunities to exercise myself in the future.
Fang Zhiyong: We take the international students to visit our university, which showed the world the scientific research strength of contemporary China. Meanwhile, we made acquaintance with many foreign friends and knew more about diversity of various culture. It not only practiced our communication skills but also encouraged us to improve ourselves during our university career.
Work hard & Be Excellent
Looking forward to seeing you and everyone next time!
