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Camp bridges cultural divide

Author  :  Song Jingyi     Source  :    China Daily     2017-07-27

Hungarian boy Fekete Marcell Zoltan is visiting China for the fifth time thanks to a youth summer camp which focuses on giving young people an authentic taste of Chinese culture.

Held by the Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU), the annual summer camp, named You and Me, in Beijing, provides an interactive platform combining courses and entertainment.

The summer camp started almost a decade ago since launched in 2008 and is sponsored by Hanban, a non-profit organization affiliated with the Ministry of Education, with the cooperation of local universities, organizations and institutes around the world.

Until now, it has attracted thousands of young people from across 22 cities in 17 countries during the past ten years.

"It happens to me every time I come to China, and brings me a totally different experience," Fekete Marcell Zoltan, a 15-year-old boy who studied Chinese for more than eight years before the 10-day trip, said.

He said he'd like to know more about China, how it is changing, and how China is changing the world.

"I don't want to skip any chance to get a deeper inside look at Chinese culture,"he added.

Seeing as Fekete has passed the Level 5 of the HSK Chinese Language Test for foreign learners, he can hold a conversation in Chinese without any language obstacles.

"I'll prepare to complete the highest level now, and if I had the chance, I want to stay in Beijing or Shanghai for further study," Fekete said hopefully.

As a part of the trip, Fekete will stay with a Chinese family in Beijing on this Saturday.

"Compared with studying Chinese in foreign countries, international students can learn a great deal when they spend time with Chinese people immersing in surrounding Chinese culture,"Ogarek Marta Barbara, a teacher accompanying the Polish students on the program, said.

Ogarek now works for the Confucius Institute in Krakow, the second largest city in Poland.

"The institute organizes Polish students to visit China every summer," she said in fluent Chinese.

A total of 17 Polish students participate in the program, with most visiting China for the first time.

"Something happened which makes students excited and surprised during the trip, they ask me a heap of questions every day," Ogarek noted.

"They didn't know much about China except Chinese food and kungfu. Through the well-scheduled trip, they will obtain a more vivid view of life in China than the internet gives them,"she said.

The summer camp program includes visiting places of interest, art appreciation and viewing folk customs, as well as attending the cultural corner and specially-prepared group activities without borders.

About 120 students from seven countries, who are either registered students at Confucius Institutes or students of primary and secondary school courses of Confucius Institutes attend the BFSU summer camp this year.

In a painting class on Monday, Adam Chimielecki drew a picture of a Chinese Panda.

Before coming to Beijing for summer camp, 18-year-old Adam has studied Chinese for two years, and said he had never tried to craft a Chinese painting.

Li He, an art teacher at the summer camp, said he designed lessons in accordance with an easy-to-difficult schedule.

"It's not easy to international students to grasp the essentials of wash painting in the limited period of time, from careful control of ink tone, unrestrained brushwork, and no unessential brush strokes," he said.

However, Li add students learnt the techniques well and their panda works are always beyond his expectations.

"By practicing more, the students learn faster," he said.

Adam said he has been crazy at reading Chinese masterpiece Art of War since he was a little boy.

He added he was also fascinated with Chinese traditional medicine under the influence of his father and fond of Chinese point of view of the world.

"Chinese people like to play tai chi or martial arts. They are pleasant, positive and polite," he said.

The summer camp is also an incredible experience to make more friends similar in age.

During the cultural corner activity, students from different countries share the most characteristic clothes, food and games with their global peers.

"They gather, talk with each other and listen to music," Margot Bremner, a teacher accompanying students from London for the third time, said.

"They get the freedom to meet more new friends without nationalities."

Just four days after this summer camp begins, another summer camp targeted on Confucius institutes from central and eastern European countries will have an opening ceremony at the BFSU campus.

"BFSU is one of the few major universities in the country that have the resources to teach less commonly taught languages, so it can help set up Confucius Institute in countries such as Hungary, Poland, Bulagria, Italy and so on," Zhu Qi, who works at BFSU Confucius Institute and in charge of the summer camp programs, said.

Editor: Bai Le

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