my dream essay in chinese

Dream and emotions in the Tao ’ an Mengyi

• Published: 10 December 2015
• Volume 3 , pages 43–55, ( 2016 )

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• Cheuk Yin Lee 1  

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The Tao ’ an Mengyi 陶庵夢憶 (Dream Reminiscence of Tao’an) is a collection of prose written by late Ming eminent scholar Zhang Dai 張岱 (1597–1684). Zhang’s family was famous for notoriously extravagant and sensual pursuits in late Ming. The Tao ’ an Mengyi is a reflection of his in-depth feelings towards the things of the past after he lost everything at the fall of the Ming Dynasty. The Tao ’ an Mengyi consists of 123 essays that divided into eight chapters. The notion of “Dream” forms a unique focus of the book. Dream is mentioned by Zhang Dai as an escape from reality. He said: “I reflect upon my life—one of extravagance for the past fifty years—and see it pass before me just like a dream.” It was at such a state of mind that Zhang Dai was remorseful of what he had done in the past. The suffering and hardship he had to face, according to Zhang Dai, is retribution of what he had done in his early years.

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Self Reconfigured in Recollected Dreams: Xue Cai’s (1595–1665) Journal During the Manchu Conquest of China

Struve ( 2004 , p. 7).

See Leys ( 2007 , p. 8).

For a discussion on the topic, see Xiao ( 2001 , p. 30).

Xiao ( 2001 , pp. 30–31).

For a detailed discussion of the topic, see the paper on Liu ( 1989 , pp. 298–344).

On Zhang Dai’s year of death, there are different versions that implied at the age of 69, 70, 83, 84, 88 and 92. This paper follows the study by Hu Yimin 胡益民 in his paper “Zhang Dai zuniankao” 張岱卒年考. See Hu ( 1995 ). Refer also to Ho ( 1982 , 1986 ).

For a brief biography of Zhang Dai, see Hummel ( 1943 , pp. 53–54), biography by Fang Chao-ying.

For a detailed discussion on Zhang Dai’s family, see the paper on She 佘德余 ( 2004a ), and Campbell ( 2010 , pp. 25–55).

See Spence ( 2007 , p. 12).

Academic research on Zhang Dai and his Tao ’ an Mengyi appeared about 30 years ago with a book published in Taiwan on Zhang Dai’s life story and his historiography by Huang 黃桂蘭 ( 1977 ). The first systemic study of the scholar provides a general analysis of Zhang’s family background, literary and historical thought, and the style of his essay writings. Another book-length study emerged 12 years later in Shanghai by Xia Xianchun 夏咸淳 in 1989. The book, entitled The Late Ming Genius—A Study of Zhang Dai , was a brief study of Zhang Dai’s literary works in the context of late Ming history. Zhang’s historical status was confirmed despite his extravagant life style which was condemned based on Confucian moral standard. More serious examinations of Zhang Dai and his works emerged only about 10 years ago. In 1995, Brigitte Teboul-Wang published a French translation of the Tao ’ an Mengyi in Paris entitled Souvenirs reves de Tao ’ an. The same year also saw the first academic work on Zhang Dai in western language in the form of a PhD Thesis at Stanford University by Philip Kafalas under the title Nostalgia and the Reading of the Late Ming Essay : Zhang Dai ’ s Tao ’ an Mengyi . The thesis was later revised and published in a book form with the title In Limpid Dream : Nostalgia and Zhang Dai ’ s Reminiscences of the Ming in 2007 . In 2002 , Hu Yimin 胡益民 of Anhui University published two books in the same year with the titles A Critical Biography of Zhang Dai and A Study on Zhang Dai . Though different in titles, the contents of the two books are quite similar. However, the publication that uplifted the historical status of Zhang Dai and attracted much attention in the academic world is the acclaimed popular historical writing by Yale University Jonathan Spence in 2007 , entitled Return to Dragon Mountain—Memories of a Late Ming Man.

For a detailed discussion, see Liu ( 2010 ).

Tao ’ an Mengyi 陶庵夢憶 (hereafter as TAMY). Zhang ( 1982 , p. 123, Appendix II).

TAMY, 1982 , p. 94.

TAMY, 1982 , p. 75.

For details, refer to Van Gulik ( 1974 , p. 28); see also Bret Hinsch ( 1992 ).

TAMY, 1982 , p. 54.

TAMY, 1982 , p. 53.

TAMY, 1982 , p. 102.

For a discussion on Zhuang Zi, see DeBary ( 1960 , pp. 64–87).

TAMY, 1982 , p. 117.

TAMY, Preface, 1982 , p. 117.

TAMY, 1982 , p. 110.

TAMY, 1982 , p. 29.

There are different interpretations regarding Zhang Dai’s primary theme in writing the Tao ’ an Mengyi , and whether Zhang Dai had the sense of guilt and retribution. For a discussion, see Zhou ( 2005 , 45, pp. 263–277).

Brook ( 1993 , p. 50).

For reference, see Liu ( 2010 , pp. 95–96).

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Lee, C.Y. Dream and emotions in the Tao ’ an Mengyi . Int. Commun. Chin. Cult 3 , 43–55 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40636-015-0043-9

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Received : 07 November 2015

Revised : 09 November 2015

Accepted : 10 November 2015

Published : 10 December 2015

Issue Date : March 2016

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s40636-015-0043-9

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The Chinese Dream Is the People's Dream

The Chinese Dream Is the People's Dream*

September 22, 2015

Since the founding of the PRC in 1949, and particularly since the start of reform and opening up in 1978, China has completed an extraordinary journey, in which people of my generation have been personally involved.

In the late 1960s, when I was in my teens, I was sent to a small village named Liangjiahe in Yan'an, Shaanxi Province, in western China. There I worked in the fields as a farmer for seven years. Like the locals, I lived in caves dug out from loess hills and slept on an earthen bed. The locals were very poor, and they could go for months without a bite of meat. I grew to understand what they needed most. Later when I became secretary of the village's Party branch, I set out to develop the local economy, because I knew what they needed. I very much wanted to see them have meat on their dinner tables, and I wanted to see that often. But that was a hard goal to attain.

This Spring Festival I went back to Liangjiahe, which now has asphalt roads, tile-roofed brick houses, and internet access. The elderly enjoy the basic old-age pension, the villagers are covered by medical insurance, and the children receive good education. Having meat for dinner is of course no longer a dream. This made me feel strongly that the Chinese Dream is the people's dream, and that if it is to succeed, it must be based on the Chinese people's aspiration for a better life.

Changes in the small village of Liangjiahe epitomize the development and progress of the Chinese society since 1978. In less than 40 years we have boosted our economy to become the world's second largest, supplying 1.3 billion people with food and clothing and basically achieving moderate prosperity. The people enjoy dignity and rights at an unprecedented level. These changes have not only affected the lives of the Chinese. They also signify remarkable progress in human civilization and China's important contribution to world peace and development.

Nonetheless, we are fully aware that China remains the world's biggest developing country. China's per capita GDP is only two-thirds of the world average and one-seventh that of the United States, ranking about 80th in global terms. According to our standards, there are still 70 million people living in poverty in China; according to World Bank standards, 200 million Chinese are still living below the poverty line. In urban and rural areas 70 million people rely on subsistence allowances, and there are 85 million people with disabilities. Over the past two years I have visited many impoverished areas in China, and paid personal visits to families in need. Even now I can still see their faces and feel their longing for a better life.

All this demonstrates that we in China must continue our hard work. Development remains the top priority for contemporary China, and the primary task of China's leadership is to focus on improving people's living standards and achieving common prosperity. It is to this end that we have put forward the Two Centenary Goals. The first is to double GDP and the per capita incomes of urban and rural residents compared to 2010 levels, and to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020, as the centenary of the CPC approaches. The second is to build China into a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious, and achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation by the middle of the century, which will see the centenary of the PRC. All that we are doing now is designed to accomplish these goals. We must achieve the first goal, and in order to do that we must drive reform to deeper levels, we must thoroughly implement the rule of law, and we must run the Party with strict discipline. This is what we call the Four-pronged Strategy.

* Part of the speech at a reception in Seattle, Washington State, the United States.

(Not to be republished for any commercial or other purposes.)

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The Guide to Writing Your First Mandarin Essay

When you want to be able to make writing your first Mandarin essay nice and easy, it pays to put plenty of thought and effort into the preparation. As the old saying goes ‘fail to prepare, prepare to fail.’ To give you plenty of food for thought we’ve put together everything you need to know to get things moving. All you need to do is work through the following steps, and you’ll be submitting your essay in no time at all.

Check you understand the basics

There are so many things you have to think about when writing an essay, particularly when it’s not in your native language. But as with any cognitively demanding task, the process for getting started is always the same. Check you understand the following basics and you’ll be heading in the right direction:

• Do you know what the question means?
• Have you made a note of the final submission date?
• Make sure you read some past examples to get a feel for what’s expected of you
• Do you understand the question that has been set?
• Do you know who you can talk to if you need advice along the way?
• Are there any restrictions on the dialect you should be aware of?

Once you can write the answers to the above down on a single side of the paper, you are ready to tackle the main part of the problem: putting pen to paper.

Set aside time to write

The chances are that you’re not going to be able to pen the entire essay in a single sitting, and that’s okay. It’s nothing to be ashamed of or to worry about, and it’s natural that you need to work across multiple days when writing your first essay.

If you want to be able to make great progress, the most important thing is sticking to a routine. You need to have consistency in your application, and you need to be able to know when you are at your most productive. It’s no good staying up late one night and then carrying on early the next morning. You’d be far better off writing for the same amount of time but on two successive afternoons. Think about how your studies fit in with the rest of your daily life, and then choose the time that seems most appropriate. If you box it off and decide it’s only for writing, you’ll be in a great routine before you even know it.

Clear space so you can focus

As well as having time to write each day, you need a place to write too. The world is full of distractions (most of them are digital and social) so that means you’re going to want to keep yourself to yourself, and your phone in a different room. It might seem a little boring or uncomfortable at first, but you need to practice the habit of deep work. It’s what will allow you to create the most in the shortest time — ideal if you want to have plenty of time leftover to spend doing the other things that matter to you.

Have a daily word count in mind

Telling yourself that you want to write an essay today is one thing, but if you’re really going to push yourself to stick to your goal then you need to get quantitative. If you have a word count in mind that you need to hit, then it will prevent you from giving up and throwing in the towel the minute you start having to think and concentrate more than feels normal. Just like working out in the gym, it’s the temporary moments of extra effort that really drive the big differences. It’s when you’ll see the biggest improvement in your writing ability, and the lessons you teach yourself will stay with you for years to come. Ideal if you want to become a fluent Mandarin writer, as well as an engaging face-to-face speaker.

Read widely to provide context

When you’re immersed in an essay it can be all too easy to become blinkered and fail to pay attention to everything else that’s going on around you. Of course, you want to be focused on the task at hand, but you don’t want to be single-minded to the point of ignoring other great learning resources that are just a click away.

Reading widely is one of the best ways to improve your essay writing because it exposes you to techniques and approaches used by the best of the best. You’re not expected to be able to instantly write like a native speaker after an hour of reading. But what you will be able to do with consistent application is build up confidence and familiarity with written Mandarin. Over time this will reflect on the quality and depth of your writing as you gradually improve and take onboard lessons you’ve learned.

Take a break before you proofread

Last but not least, you need to remember that essay writing is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s all about taking the time to get things written before you hand them in, not racing through to try and finish on time. If you want to get the most out of your writing you need to take a day off between finishing your draft and proofing it. That way your brain will have had plenty of time to reflect on the work you’ve produced, and you’ll be able to spot many more little mistakes and places for improvement than you would if you proofed right away.

Final Thoughts

Writing Mandarin is a challenging task that will test your language skills and make you think hard about how to apply what you’ve learned so far. It might be slow going to begin with, but that’s great as it means you’re pushing your limits and building on your existing skills. If you want to be able to master Mandarin, you need to persevere and stay the course. Once you do, you’ll start to improve a lot faster than you expect.

By Diana Adjadj | A Super Chineasian

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International Students' Chinese Dreams

Every year, I assign a speech to the newly enrolled international students, entitled "My Chinese Dream". Speaking in either rusty or skilled Chinese, they talk passionately and sincerely about their Chinese dreams: Fidele from Rwanda says the dream that brought him to China was to learn kung fu and become a kung fu superstar like Jet Li, but now he's determined to be a pilot soaring in the blue sky; Marwa from Egypt wants to "work for the freedom and equality of women", and her dream is to be an English teacher; Yonas from Ethiopia used to dream of being an oil painter, but after becoming a master's student in civil engineering, he now aspires to be a bridge expert like Mao Yisheng; Nazif from Turkey would like to be a trade agent of intraocular lens made in China; Nizi from Pakistan hopes to do business in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Hearing their pursuits, I wrote them a song called We International Students' Chinese Dreams .

"Living in China, I hear all of my classmates talking about Chinese dream

I ask my teacher what Chinese dream is about, she says

The Chinese dream is about rejuvenation of the nation

The Chinese dream is about protecting the civilization with solidarity

The Chinese dream is about building a democratic, free and harmonious society

The Chinese dream is about giving people a secure, and happy life

And the Chinese dream is about carrying out the ecological conservation

Ah, my teacher mama, I also have a Chinese dream

Here in China I wanna learn how to fly a plane

I wanna learn how to build bridges

I wanna learn how to impart knowledge to others

I wanna learn how to practice Chinese medicine

I wanna learn how to build 5G networks

I wanna learn how to be a businessman"

Fidele—my dream is up in the sky

There are two famous quotes from The Analects—Isn't it a pleasure to learn and apply what one has learned? Isn't it a pleasure to greet friends from afar? After I finished explaining their meanings in a Chinese class during Fidele's first year as a graduate student, he came to me and asked what if he changed the last character of his Chinese given name  勒(le)  to  乐(le) , since the latter one means pleasure and happiness in Chinese. I told him it would be a great new name and taught him another Chinese ancient classic De Le Tian Shu (" Receiving a letter from Letian ") written by Yuan Zhen in Tang dynasty, whose title also contains the character  乐 . This poem depicts the true friendship between the two great scholars, Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi. By chatting with him about this book, I expressed my wish for him to be always happy and make best friends here in China.

Fidele is a master's student of NCHU in aeronautical engineering. As a child, he watched many Chinese kung fu movies such as " Shaolin Temple ", " Fist of Fury ", " New Dragon Inn ", " Once upon a Time in China ", etc. Amazed by the martial skills of Jet Li and Jackie Chan, he dreamed of going to China one day to learn Shaolin kung fu. His family rejoiced when he was admitted to the School of Medicine at the University of Rwanda, the best university in his country, with top results of his university entrance exams. When he was still a freshman, Fidele met a martial arts teacher from China. The teacher told Fidele that if he could master martial arts well, he would get the opportunity to learn more at Shaolin Temple in China. So Fidele studied hard and practiced with the teacher every day. Finally all his hard work paid off, as he was selected to study at Shaolin Temple. He told his family the good news, but his mother had some concerns. She wanted Fidele to pursue a career in medicine after graduation, after all it is a well-paid and decent job. But Fidele felt that it would be a unique opportunity to not only learn martial arts and Chinese at Shaolin Temple, but also to pursue his medical studies or other more interesting professions in China.

Fidele has finally arrived in China. To his surprise, there were many more fresh experiences waiting for him, besides the opportunity of learning Shaolin kung fu.

Coming from the tropical Rwanda straight to the freezingly cold Beijing, and then from Beijing International Airport to Songshan Shaolin Temple, Fidele was completely unaware of and unprepared for the extreme coldness. He still remembers the excitement of seeing the snow-capped mountains for the first time in his life when he was on the airplane and the double-decker bus.

The Shaolin Kung Fu program is no joke. Every apprentice has to wake up at 5 am every day and go through a series of training such as leg press, leg planking, staking and gymnastics. On top of that, they have to run between the Daxiong Grand Hall and the Dharma Cave, go over the mountains, carry water buckets and chop wood to build up their muscles and stamina. Exactly at 8 o'clock, they will have breakfast, and then continue to practice until noon, with no rest in the afternoon.

A year later, as the representative of foreign apprentices in the Shaolin Temple, Fidele participated in the 2014 CCTV4 Spring Festival Gala, and toured all over the country with the monks of the Shaolin Temple to do martial performances. During those tours, what stroke him the most is to know that anyone in China can fulfill their dreams as long as they work hard, and that one will also gain respect if one respects others.

Fidele wins the team champion of the First International Shaolin Wushu Festival in Kaifeng, Henan (the first from left).

Fidele fell in love with Chinese culture. He began to know more about China's developed aviation industry in the two-year nationwide tour, which made him believe that the aircraft manufacturing is one of the fields Rwanda should learn from China. He then decided to choose aviation manufacturing to continue his study. That's why he came to study at NCHU.

Fidele is fluent in English, French and Chinese. He studied professional courses with Chinese students, and his grades were the top among his peers. Therefore, he received the CSC National Full Scholarship, and became the only international student who won the Tellhow Scholarship Nomination Award. What he enjoys most is to do internship at Hainan Airlines where he could learn how to maintain large planes and fly one in a simulated cockpit at the aviation base. Flying in the sky is his biggest dream.

Fidele learns to maintain aircrafts at Guanyi Aviation.

Fidele strives his best at learning Chinese. I often say that Chinese characters are the essence of Chinese culture, however, some of the international students are only willing to learn pinyin (the pronunciation of the characters). Different from others, Fidele would memorize all the texts in both Pinyin and Chinese characters, among which "Sun Tzu's Art of War " and " Thirty-six Strategies " are his favorites. He would often ask me to share more stories in these two classics. Through him and other international students, I also learned what kind of Chinese culture foreigners may be interested. He repeated several times to me that his greatest achievement in China is becoming a person who is self-disciplined and not afraid of difficulties, just like an old Chinese saying goes, "there is no insurmountable mountain in the world, as long as you are willing to climb it".

Marwa and her dream of being a university teacher

The beautiful Arabian girl Marwa in the photo, who comes from Egypt, is a master's student majoring in English. She once told me that in Egypt, there's a saying "Seek knowledge even if it's in places as far as China".

Before coming to China, Marwa was a student majoring in English at Misr International University. One year, Mr. Huang, a visiting scholar at Cairo University from China, moved in next door to her house. She asked Mr. Huang why he had chosen Egypt as his destination. He told her that both Egypt and China boast the same cultural foundation and thousands-year storied history, so he decided to learn everything about Egypt and experience the land where the pharaohs had once lived. Huang introduced China and Chinese culture to her, and the two would often talk and compare the similarities and differences between their own cultures. Since then, Marwa has been deeply attracted by the mysterious Chinese culture.

In 2017, Marwa got a job as an assistant at Misr Internatioal University. In the summer vacation of her junior year, she applied for a one-month student volunteer exchange program in Hangzhou, out of her interest in China. After a 12-hour flight, she traveled from Cairo to Beijing, then took another 2.5-hour flight to Hangzhou. Getting off the plane, she saw a group of Chinese classmates who looked, dressed, spoke and did things in a different way from hers, but were highly hospitable and treated her nicely. The Chinese classmates took her and 5 other Egyptian students to the hotel, helped them get a quick check-in, carried their luggage to the rooms, and told them how to use the TV, WiFi, air conditioning, shower and other appliances. On top of those, they also invited these newly arrived international students to taste local cuisines and took them to appreciate the views in Hangzhou, which swept away all of Marwa's previous worries and nervousness before landing in China. During their talks, the confidence and pride of Chinese youth in the country's system and culture made her more excited about what she might experience next in China.

As a volunteer Marwa became an English teacher in a middle school in Shaoxing City, Zhejiang province, and has since been in love with the hard-working, brave, and warm-hearted Chinese.

In 2018, Marwa graduated with a bachelor's degree and tried hard to find opportunities to study for a master's degree in China. That's why she submitted her resume to Nanchang Hangkong University. I was touched by her love for Chinese culture in her personal statement and enrolled her as a master's student. Marwa is very smart and arduous. From classic masterpieces such as " Book of Changes ", " Tao Te Ching ", " Analects ", " Zhuangzi ", " Mencius " and " Records of the Grand Historian ", to Tang poetry, Song poetry and Yuan music, as well as other aspects of Chinese culture, I have tried my best to introduce the grand and sophisticated system of Chinese culture bit by bit to her. Watching her progress every day gives me a sense of pride and satisfaction. It's also because of my conversations with her that I completed the book "Key to Chinese Culture".

She once discussed with me the meaning of "the benevolent loves others", and I told her that by observing the Chinese character 仁( pinyin ren , which means benevolence), one can see that it emphasizes the relationship between people. In Chinese culture, “people” refers to the sum of social relations. Everyone has many of their own social roles, like a parent, a child, a partner, a teacher, a student, or a colleague, etc. Then she would still have more questions to ask, "Why do Chinese women have such a high status?" -"Because in China, 'women hold up half the sky'." "Why are most Chinese people born with a relatively good overall thinking?" -"Because in the eyes of Chinese people, humans, Nature and the society, the three form a whole, hence the long-held philosophy in China that 'heaven and humans are a harmonious one'." I would always patiently answer her questions.

Since her postgraduate studies, Marwa has taught the course of English Academic Paper Writing to undergraduate students. Now she's officially one of the foreign teachers working full-time at NCHU. Her classes are enthralling and very popular among the students. She is an excellent English user with an easily-understood accent, a grammatically high-standard writing style and a well-formed logic. During her teaching, she focuses on training her students' critical thinking. Interestingly, because of the lovely, beautiful and patient Marwa, this once-least-welcomed writing course among the boy students, became so popular that the guys would rush to the classroom just to secure a seat and compete to answer questions during her class.

Marwa with her Chinese student.

Nazif—China is where my dream life comes true

Nazif is a tall and handsome Turkish student of Indo-European descent who used to study at NCHU. Proficient in both English and Chinese, he was selected by his Chinese classmates as the best English male host in the International College. They invited him to be the host at various celebration occasions, which he quite enjoyed and would appear on one stage after another with a well-groomed hairstyle and decent formal attire.

Nazif likes Chinese a lot. He says that whenever he listens to people speaking Chinese, it's as if they were singing a beautiful song, which makes him enchanted. At a very young age, he longed to master Chinese so that one day he could go to China to study. In high school, there was an international Chinese teacher who taught him Chinese attentively and constantly encouraged him, which in the end helped him realize his dream.

At the end of August 2015, Nazif, having graduated from high school, flew from Istanbul to Beijing. Before departure, he asked a Turkish friend living there to pick him up at the airport at 5:00 am. However, after landing at the airport, his friend was nowhere to be found. Just when he was anxious and feeling helpless, a decent-looking airport policeman walked up to him and handed his own mobile phone to Nazif, telling him to call the friend. But the line was always busy. The policeman bought Nazif bottled water, bread and instant noodles for breakfast, and comforted him in English: "Don't worry, you can wait at the airport and come to me if you have any difficulties." Before Nazif could thank him, the police officer left and continued to work on duty. Wandering aimlessly at the airport for more than two hours, Nazif saw the police officer running to him, sweating heavily. He told Nazif that his friend had called and the reason he was late was because he thought the arrival time was 5:00 in the afternoon instead of 5:00 in the morning. He then told Nazif to go to Gate 4 and wait for his friend who would arrive soon. As a newcomer in China, Nazif immediately felt the warmth and kindness of the Chinese people.

After coming to China, he first studied Chinese at Tianjin University for a year, and was later admitted to NCHU. As a star of extracurricular activities on campus, he participated in the Jiangxi Provincial Chinese Language Competition for International Students and won the third place. He hosted the campus welcome party and the CPC history knowledge competition for Chinese/foreign faculty and students, and participated in the promo video shooting of the second "Poyang Lake International Bird Watching" organized by Jiangxi Jingshi TV. He also did dubbing work in a large number of the University's promo videos. In his senior year, considering his major was business administration and that he is good at English, Chinese, and Turkey, I put him on an internship at an  intraocular lens trading company to learn how to do foreign trade. There, Nazif took to the job like a duck to water and met many young, promising colleagues. He said that he saw the spirit of the Chinese people in them.

After graduation, he was recommended to continue his studies at NCHU for master's degree in business administration. During this period, Nazif not only studied each course diligently, but also actively communicated with teachers and classmates to better his scientific research thinking and teamwork ability. He said in his graduation speech: "During the past 7 years in China, I have been completely in love with this secure, peaceful and lovely country. The most precious years of my youth are spent in China, and my friends are all Chinese. So I no longer consider myself as a foreigner. If possible, I'm willing to be a bridge of friendship between China and Turkey. I really want to stay in China and use what I have to contribute to China. This land has shaped me, and given me a lot of opportunities. This is the place that allows me to live my dream life.”

Nazif learns to make ceramics in Jingdezhen.

Yonas—the young man who dreams to be a bridge expert

Yonas is from Shashamane, Ethiopia, a city rich in coffee and roses. This tall, handsome, gentle, and sympathetic man is interested in drawing and table tennis. The figures and scenery he paints are vivid and appealing. His oil paintings are bold and passionate in colors, completed with delicate brushstrokes and has a strong effect in terms of the depth of fields, which fully demonstrate the artistic conception and style represented by the objects in his works.

This year marks Yonas' fourth year in China. He is currently a master's student in civil engineering at NCHU. Due to his excellent expression skills, he was recommended by me to take part in a TV program made by Jiangxi Jingshi TV. Yonas made a feature film introducing Poyang Lake and migratory birds in fluent Chinese and English, which got viewed by people across the globe through social media platforms Facebook and YouTube. Because of Yonas, more people in the world have learned about Poyang Lake and the migratory birds. His parents, teachers and classmates in his hometown also saw the program and praised him, saying he looked so cool on TV, and that he did a good job introducing the beautiful Jiangxi to the world.

On weekends, Yonas likes to carry a drawing board to sketch in the old town of Nanchang, enjoy the lively streets and draw people passing by. He draws old ladies dancing square dances, sweet young couples holding hands, and kids capering about, all wearing a smiling face. The locals in Nanchang are very welcoming. When he's painting, many strangers chat with him, which makes him feel as if he were with his family; in the evening, he stands on the platform of Tengwang Pavilion watching the sunset and catching the gentle river breeze, knowing that Nanchang has become his second hometown.

All the teachers and classmates love to ask Yonas to paint them portraits, to which he always happily accepts the invitations. His works are true to life. One day, he wanted to paint a portrait of me, but I didn't have time to model for him. Therefore, I gave him a photo of me. A few days later, he came to me with a painting. The short-haired woman in the painting looks exactly like me. However, as the painting was completed based on a photo, there were no highlights on my eyes and face. What's more, he carefully put the painting in a black frame with no blank space left at all and gave it to me in a solemn manner. I told him that the lady in the painting was more beautiful than me, while secretly thinking how I should explain to him the different customs of people from different cultures framing their portraits.

A few days later, I replaced the black frame with a wooden colored one and left some blank areas around the painting to be seen. I told him that when Chinese people paint living ones, there are several rituals to follow. There should be light on the face and sparkles in the eyes, the four sides of the painting should be left seen, the painting needs to be framed with light-colored wooden frames, and the black frame is only suitable for people who have passed away. At first he was a little embarrassed, then we looked at each other and laughed. "The differences between Chinese and Western cultures are really huge. Thank you, my teacher, for teaching me so much." He said. He picked up the brush again and added highlights to my eyes and face, and the portrait came to life instantly. I laid this portrait on my desk with alacrity.

Because of his love for painting, Yonas wanted to switch his major for his master's degree from civil engineering to art design. I took a few photos of his works and sent them to my painter friends for professional comments. They said in a sincere and straightforward way that as an amateur, he had quite a good painting skill, but if he wanted to make painting a career, there was still a long way to go. I couldn't tell him face to face the disappointing news that might curb his enthusiasm in painting.

Instead, I came up with an alternative idea. I took him to Bada Shanren Memorial Hall, where he got to understand the principles held by Zhu Da (aka Bada Shanren), one of the most famous ink wash painters in China, that “the artists should not rigidly follow the rules, but seek to innovate. In addition to pursuing the beauty of appearances such as shapes, lines, and colors, it is also necessary to convey the spirit and inner beauty of the characters and things in the paintings.” Zhu's works manifest the idea of “less is more”. Some of his paintings depict just one single bird or rock in a couple of brushstrokes on a large piece of paper, yet they are extremely lifelike and appealing; we then visited Cai Chao's Traditional Chinese Painting Studio, where he saw a variety of Chinese paintings, completed in different styles and skills, portraying the depth, broadness and the vicissitude of our life; next we had an enlightening trip to the lacquer art studio showcasing the works of Mr. Xiong Jianxin, a master of arts and crafts in China, where he witnessed how lacquer art integrates traditional techniques of carving, stacking, engraving, inlaying, painting and grinding with the art of modern oil painting; in the end, I showed him around the Ceramics Studio of Wu Tianlin, a luminary in the Chinese porcelain art, where he appreciated those exquisite ceramic works, on which beautiful patterns of landscape, flowers, birds and figures, together with famous lines from poems and essays complement each other harmoniously.

Clever as he is, Yonas quickly understood what I was trying to tell him through these tours. He told me he would continue to use his painting skills in bridge design, and that one day he would be Ethiopia's Mao Yisheng, a highly prestigious Chinese bridge designer. Once he made up his mind, his grades improved by leaps and bounds, thus winning a scholarship as a freshman in the graduate school. When Jiangxi International Company came to our campus to hire new blood, Yonas was the only student who received a job offer.

Yonas visits Jingdezhen Ceramics Biennale (the first from left).

Yonas participates in the soiree of Porcelain's Journey Along the Silk Road.

Yonas learns to make ceramics in Jingdezhen (the second from left).

Nizi—the dream seeker travelling in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor

Nizi experiences skating at Mingyue Mountain in Yichun.

The fine-looking and eloquent Pakistani student Nizi is one of NCHU's first graduates majoring in aerospace engineering. Whenever he meets people for the first time, he likes to introduce himself in a passionate way: "My name is Zhuang Yili. Zhuang is from Zhuangzi, a respectful ancient Chinese philosopher. Yi comes from the word yili, which means perseverance. And li is in the Chinese word lirang, meaning politeness." He's very satisfied with his self-introduction, thinking it's kind of a special one. When he was studying at NCHU, he would always ask me, "Ms Xie, do you think I'm like a real Chinese now?"

Born in 1990, Nizi is a witty, sincere, funny and very communicative young man. He has a very high level of English listening, speaking, reading, writing, and translation. He is also proficient in Chinese with a HSK level-5 certificate. In addition, he can speak Urdu, Pashto and Hindi.

After graduation, Nizi was disappointed and frustrated by not being able to find a suitable job. He felt that the future was bleak, thus consulting me on WeChat from time to time. I suggested he use his advantage in mastering multiple languages and broaden the channels and fields when looking for a job. He followed my advice and became an IELTS tutor. Since 2014, he had worked as an ESL teacher at Webi, an English training institution, and concurrently as an overseas project manager of MAP Engineering Co., Ltd. Due to his outstanding performance in the team of the training school, he was then in charge of the Webi online platform team since 2016, responsible for developing course materials. He successfully built an IELTS course system suitable for part-time English learners, and managed a team of 6 teachers. By actively promoting the online learning platform, he had built a large client base of foreign language learning for the institution.

In December 2020, Nizi started an import and export trade company in Xi'an, whose business scope covers food sales, knitted textiles and raw material sales, metal material sales, technical services, technical development, consultation and exchanges, and etc. Thanks to China's national strategy "Belt and Road Initiative" and the ironclad relation between China and Pakistan, countless Pakistani like Nizi have been bringing Made-in-China products back to their home country.

Although his work is getting busier, he still misses his alma mater. Those wonderful tours he had when he was living in Jiangxi are still mentioned by him every now and then: going to Fuzhou to follow the footsteps of the playwright Tang Xianzu, known as the Oriental Shakespeare; visiting Jingdezhen, the thousand-year-old porcelain capital, to appreciate ceramics; traveling to Ganzhou to learn about China's revolutionary history; climbing up Mount Lu, described by numerous ancient poets, where Li Bai wrote down “its torrent dashes down three thousand feet from high” and Su Shi said one will never tell the true face of Mount Lu; and spending time on Sanqing Mountain, a famous Taoist mountain covered by clouds and fog. Of all the trips, the one that excites him the most is going to the Ski Resort on Mingyue Mountain in winter because it hardly snows in his home country. To him, snow is like a carpet of cotton batting, a bright moon in the sky and a crispy meringue tipped with yellow and pink. The buckwheat flowers scent the cold air, as if the snowflakes are fragrant as well. What a gorgeous view!

Nizi says Nanchang is his second hometown. The locals in Nanchang start a fresh new day with a bowl of Nanchang stir-fried rice noodles and some soup stewed in a pottery pot. When he first came to Nanchang, Nizi followed the local customs and quickly fell in love with the noodles and soup here. With a cost of only 5 yuan, one could get to taste a mouthful of smooth and fragrant rice noodles and the soup made with a secret recipe that has been passed down for thousands of years, one will enjoy the feeling of delicacies dancing on the tip of the taste buds. Besides the gourmet foods, Nizi still remembers the shock that Wugong Mountain brought him: when he reached the top of the mountain, he saw an endless lush prairie. White fluffy clouds and a seemingly endless grassland can make all troubles and worries disappear. At night, he and his friends lie in the tent, watching the starry sky, as if they were taken right back to their carefree childhood. His friends took him to eat Lianhua (lotus) braised duck cutlets in blood sauce. He thought it was too spicy yet tasty. He asked, "Doesn't the name of this dish contain lotus? Why are there only duck cutlets but no lotus?" Everyone at the table laughed.

International students have a more objective understanding of the richness and diversity of different civilizations. An unimpeded two-way exchange between countries enables the students to have an international perspective and philosophies, thus helping them form an ever-growing endogenous strength for the development of their own countries, the common well-being of mankind and the sustainable development of the world. Studying overseas is not only a good choice for young people from different countries to travel and communicate, but also a good opportunity to share global talents and resources for all countries. In the new era, China will cultivate more international talents in a further open and inclusive manner. (written by Yiqing)

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Chinese People’s Dreams

Chinese Life – Bitter-Sweet Portraits

Executive Editor: Wen Fang

Price: RMB 128

Paperback, 225 pages

Published by Foreign Languages Press

AS humans hold cherished dreams, so do nations. In an era when everyone is discussing the Chinese dream, it is a necessity to understand that the Chinese Dream is in fact its people’s dream. This book tells the tales of 24 Chinese pursuing their dreams, following their trials and tribulations, it takes the reader on a captivating journey across their joys and sorrows, tears and laughter, and in doing so, also reflects the story of China’s development and transformation.

The book is divided into five different sections, which are Recreation & Sports, Science & Technology, Business Elite, Great Love, and Ordinary People’s lives, each representing stories of Chinese people in those areas. Among them are Mo Yan, a writer who won the 2012 Nobel Prize for Literature; Liu Yang, the first female astronaut who successfully completed an outer space task from the spacecraft “Shenzhou-9;” Ang Lee, renowned director who won the 85th Oscar Award for Best Director and is the first Asian director to receive the award twice; Jack Ma, an entrepreneur who is the first from China’s mainland to appear on the cover of the U.S. financial magazine Forbes; Ye Shiwen, an athlete known as “Flying Fish Girl” who broke world records and won two Olympic gold medals at the 2012 Olympics in London; Zhang Lili, a teacher praised as “The Most Beautiful Female Teacher” who lost both legs in a car accident in order to rescue her students; Peng Yan, a military nurse who is known as the “Alpine Snow Lotus”; and Cheng Junrong, a migrant worker who was also a delegate to the 18th CPC National Congress.

Their stories are pieced together to illustrate the common experience of the Chinese people and great transformation of the nation: its booming economy, strength in science and technology, people’s colorful lives, frequent business and trade between nations, surging happiness index, and people’s sense of gain and joy.

The book is authored by reporters who traversed across the country to do interviews inside farmer’s houses, at factories , and on farmlands. Their love for the motherland, industrious work, and vision urged them to record these stories on their journeys. As witnesses and narrators, their writings also make these characters come alive.

Chen Xiaoqing, general director of a food documentary A Bite of China which attracted great attention from home and abroad, is a major character of this book.

When Chen was asked about his purpose for shooting this documentary, he replied, “We hope to present to the audience the Chinese people’s living conditions, the relationships between food, people, and society, as well as multiple cultural traits of Chinese cuisines.”

Chen is a true gourmand, and is equally high spirited when at work. After graduating from the Beijing Broadcasting Institute in 1989 (now the Communication University of China) with a major in photography, Chen found a job in CCTV shooting documentaries. At that time, it was a very rewarding job. However, after 2000, documentaries had deteriorated and their broadcasting time was readjusted to midnight, which led him to depression. Even so, Chen never abandoned documentary filmmaking. He wrote on his blog then, “We are willing to be lonely since a documentary itself is lonely.” Things changed in 2003 when China faced an unprecedented fight with the SARS virus epidemic. Chen and his colleagues filmed Sixty Days in Ditan Hospital, a detailed record of the story of Chinese people who fought against SARS together. This experience enabled the world to realize the value of their documentaries. The old high-spirited Chen was back again.

Chen was also given a nickname “Street sweeping mouth” by his colleagues because he would like to conduct a blanket search along the streets of Beijing. Whenever he found good restaurants, he would find an opportunity to try them, and carefully record their names and addresses. His cell phone eventually became a treasure trove of names and addresses of the best cuisine available in Beijing. This in-depth knowledge led Chen’s documentary to become an instant success.

In the first week of the documentary’s launch, its rating on douban.com was as high as 9.6, higher than many Hollywood blockbusters. Chen, with his distinct taste for food, extensive knowledge of Chinese cuisine, and professional photography skills, presented the world with profound food culture and made those warm stories with a Chinese taste.

Besides well-known public figures, ordinary people’s lives are also examined in the book. “The Community’s Old Lady” is what Chen Fenglian is called by the residents of the community where she works. Like many women who were laid off by state-owned enterprises, Chen began to look for a new job when she was let go in 2002. Eight years passed, she has grown to be an outstanding community worker and the dean of the Neighborhood Committee of the community.

“Community work is like passing a thread through the eye of a needle which requires both patience and dedication.” Creating a harmonious community is the core of Chen’s work. As for her, a community is like a big family and a community worker who manages big and small issues should act as the head of a family. Everything she says and does aptly represents an ordinary community worker’s duty and dedication.

Many foreign readers cannot understand why the term Chinese Dream in government reports is the common aspiration of every Chinese person. Upon reading this book does one realize that the mosaic of diverse lives and hopes all comes together to form the tapestry bound together by the common Chinese Dream of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and its people.  

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#1 My Dream Job - 我的梦想 | Chinese Reading

Today, I will talk about my dream. When I was small, my dream is to become a translator. Currently, I work in the marketing department in a company. My main job is to translate company document. What about your dream?

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Chasing The Chinese Dream — If You Can Define It

A woman in downtown Beijing walks past a building adorned with a patriotic mural by Chinese graffiti artists on April 22. Stephen Shaver/UPI/Landov hide caption

A woman in downtown Beijing walks past a building adorned with a patriotic mural by Chinese graffiti artists on April 22.

Forget about the American dream. Nowadays, the next big thing is the Chinese dream. In Beijing, it's the latest official slogan, mentioned on the front page of the official People's Daily 24 times in a single week recently.

With this level of publicity from the official propaganda machine, the Chinese dream even looks set to be enshrined as the new official ideology.

But what exactly is it?

According to Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Chinese dream is "realizing a prosperous and strong country, the rejuvenation of the nation and the well-being of the people." He first invoked the concept within two weeks of being elevated to party chief in November.

Since then, the Chinese dream has been on everyone's lips, even visiting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

"I heard today a very specific discussion from the president of China about the China dream," he said after his weekend visit to Beijing earlier this month. "I think that it's fair to say that the United States wants to do its part, if we build the capacity for the people of China to share in that."

Chinese Preisdent Xi Jinping (center) talks with members of the Chinese People's Armed Police Force in Beijing on Jan. 29. Li Gang/Xinhua/Landov hide caption

Chinese Preisdent Xi Jinping (center) talks with members of the Chinese People's Armed Police Force in Beijing on Jan. 29.

The Chinese dream is a handy feel-good slogan, which encompasses national pride, an improvement of the standard of living and military modernization.

Return To A Former Glory

But it's notable that Xi first brought it up at a National Museum of China exhibition devoted to China's recovery from more than a century of humiliation at the hands of Western powers.

The man who first made the phrase famous, Senior Col. Liu Mingfu of the People's Liberation Army, is uncompromising about what he sees as the main planks of the Chinese dream.

"One, it means to be No. 1 in the world. Secondly, it's the rejuvenation of the nation," he says.

Liu wrote a book called The China Dream three years ago, which is now taught in Chinese military schools alongside the work of Carl von Clausewitz. To Liu's great delight, it's also mentioned in former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's book On China .

In the book, Liu argues that China needs to return to its former glory — as the world's top superpower. He is sure that President Xi's version of the China dream is the same as his.

"I'm [just] a scholar at [China's] National Defense University, but when I talked about China wanting to be No. 1 in the world, Americans were very unhappy. If China's president talked about being No. 1 in the world, Americans would be unable to bear it," he says. "We can't use the same language. But my Chinese dream and the president's Chinese dream are in essence the same."

That's what he believes, but the official interpretation doesn't seem to bear that up. A commentary published in the state-run Global Times newspaper says foreign media defame the Chinese dream as "new nationalism."

A crowd strolls on a pedestrian street during a recent holiday in Shanghai. Eugene Hoshiko/AP hide caption

A crowd strolls on a pedestrian street during a recent holiday in Shanghai.

The piece goes on to spell out all the things the Chinese dream is not — it's not just about China's rise; it's a misconception to believe it's just a dream of human rights and democracy — without explicitly spelling out what the Chinese dream actually is.

But the ambiguity is proving useful. For instance, in his version of the Chinese dream, Xi refers to the restoration of China's golden age. But exactly which golden age is left unclear.

Writing in the South China Morning Post , Lanxin Xiang, a professor at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, says he believes this is in line with Xi's reputation as a "super-balancer."

"This is a very smart political move, for a Chinese golden age could be interpreted as a civilizational legacy as well as modern revolutionary heritage," Xiang wrote. "Thus, we have a one-size-fits-all dream that can attract a maximum number of people."

Whose Dream Is It Anyway?

Despite any convenient ambiguity, the Chinese dream will soon be on all school curricula: It must go "into students' brains," according to propaganda boss Liu Yunshan.

At one of the country's top universities, Peking University, students are enthusiastic about the concept of a Chinese dream, which they see as a unifying force, offering a better common future.

When asked about their own Chinese dreams, however, they respond with answers that are far more specific, more personal and — by insinuation — more critical of China's developmental path.

Related NPR Stories

China: Change Or Crisis

China's assertive behavior makes neighbors wary.

China's Great Science Gamble

China aims to renew status as scientific superpower.

China: Beyond Borders

China's growing military muscle: a looming threat.

"The air can be more clean and the environment can be better," says Zhang Yiying.

Fellow student Cun Rui's dream is "to find a good job and to realize my value."

"Previously Chinese don't have dreams, I think. For example, for students, they just follow their parents," Cun says.

Online, some have blasted the very idea of a Chinese dream as paternalistic.

"The power of defining this dream is in the hands of the government, the rulers," says independent commentator Zhao Chu. "So this dream itself is a very extreme form of nationalism and statism."

Dreams, Deleted

In his sharply worded essay online, Zhao compares the Chinese dream to the American dream, which focuses on the power of the individual. Zhao believes the top-down nature of the Chinese dream deprives ordinary people of the right to dream their own dreams.

His proof? The fate of his critique of the Chinese dream.

"It was deleted," Zhao says. "This is good evidence to show that the dream that unites the people is such a hypocritical concept. When this dream cannot be discussed, how can it be a real dream?"

It's not the only Chinese dream censors have deleted. So, too, have they deleted a song posted online by former factory worker Li Lei.

"The Chinese dream is not a dream of dictatorship," he sings. "The Chinese dream is not a dream of authoritarianism."

Nor, he sings, is it a dream of censorship or corrupt officials. His Chinese dream is one of the people, of democracy and freedom and the constitution.

Apparently, the authorities don't agree with his view. His Chinese dream is yet another one that's deemed unsuitable for the public.

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My life journey in China

From MD HANIF AL SABBIR, a Bangladeshi student of Wuxi Institute of Technology.

Life is a journey. To see the world and discover ourselves through experience and travel.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Chinese Proverb. Everyone’s life has its own story. I have also. I begin my story today when I start my journey to China. A journey that changed my life for the better.

My name is Sabbir, I am from Bangladesh. I came to China in 2018 to pursue my study at Wuxi Institute of Technology, Wuxi City, Jiangsu province. Even though I was been told so many negative aspects towards this country which I didn’t care. I wanted to see through by myself. I believed China is much better and I wasn’t wrong. I’m enjoying my life and can dream up the best possible future in China.

It’s been almost 3 years since the first day I arrived in China. I was thought that I will face immense pressure and difficulties here. I was ready for that, however, it’s not like that. The hospitality of Chinese people is outstanding. I feel more comfortable doing anything in here. My Teachers are the best. No matter what circumstances I face here they always help me out. It goes for everyone which really touches my heart. Never less, every single time I can see the latest phase of development in this country. It’s hard to digest how incredible the Chinese people are. No matter what hardship they face still they work together. When a nation’s people are united for its ultimate goal, no one can stop them. We are seeing this first hand during this pandemic.

China keeps me surprise with its culture and development. It has 5000 years of rich culture, unlike anything we have ever seen. Chinese people respect their old ways and still following that despite so much modernization that took place. Its balanced society has been achieved under the Chinese Government. Their strong and clear regulations and right development schemes help the country to rise above in the world and soon going to take place the number one strong economic empire.

Back to myself, The Chinese education system is excellent and it really gives me new perspectives and ideas to reshape myself. Not only that but also I learned many things which give me a lot of confidence to do more. I can attend many prestigious competitions so far and achieved many honors. I never thought that I am capable of that kind of works but China changed me. All thanks go to My God, my teachers, and everyone else.

I can still remember when I first came this country. I was nervous, not sure what will happened but I was curious and confidence. Chinese people welcomed me with warm heart and open mind. I able to travel many cities so far in last 3 years. Suzhou, Changzhou, Nanjing, Suqian, Shanghai, Yixing, Hangzhou and so on. Everywhere the culture and the color of life is different and amazing.

Smart Manufacturing Technology Craftsmanship Spirit | Special TV broadcast of CETV4 in the "Double High 100" column of China Education Television Station "Into Wuxi Vocational and Technical College". My Interview.

During these 3 years, I have done so many activities which I can’t even count. In my Institute, I able to participate in many competitions. Also participated in many educational and travel videos and short films. Such as Videos about educational WeChat related English video 2019, The Chinese culture of pottery and my journey to china documentary 2020, The cultural journey in Jiangsu video 2019, Covid19 awareness competition video 2020, and many more.

If I really want to share and talk about my academic awards it won't be done in few words. Thanks to everyone I am having the highest number of awards and certifications among international students in my Institute. Among them, in the 2019 Fifth China Internet and University Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship competition won the 3rd prize. Among more than 1000+ projects from all the Universities in China being in the top 3 is really something. Again in 2020 won the Silver award in the Online International Invitational Competition of Internet of Things. Represented my own country and winning is really makes me happy. The same year 2020 won 2nd place in the Third Foreign Education Club cup in Jiangsu Province. Won the most prestigious 2020 Jiangsu Youth Friendship Envoy, as the only foreigner Youth Ambassador in the group is a really remarkable achievement I got so far. Also, the latest Certification got from Alibaba group which is Alibaba’s Global Youth Training program of Cross-border E-Commerce Talent. Besides all of this, there are many other achievements I have earned with the help of the Wuxi Institute of Technology. The teachers are helpful. No matter what hardship I face they always helped me out from it. The friendly Chinese environment and facilities can give you easy access to catch your dream.

Jiangsu is really a remarkable place. When it comes to education I can say it’s one of the top choices by international students. The highest number of best Educational Institutes, vast opportunities in research and explorations, enough facilities, number of scholarships. All this makes it an easy choice. Apart from that Jiangsu is also full of natural beauty, ancient cities, and full of Industries. It’s still a growing economic zone which is why the number of foreign ex-pats coming each year and their numbers are increasing. The Taihu Lake is the beautiful creation of Mother Nature. Not only just beauty but it is an important key place in Jiangsu. Economic, habitat, nature everything is connected with this lake. It also makes me happy always.

There is a lot of propaganda we see about China on social media every day but we know the real truth. We live here and experience the best lifestyle we can possibly get from a country like China. We have our freedom of speech and freedom of religion and every civil right as a foreigner. We never feel under pressure by any means. The Government indeed took some extreme regulations which are for everyone’s safety. We have been seen that after the pandemic starts. But in reality, if we maintain these systems it will benefit everyone. Unlike many other countries, citizens don’t take it seriously which ends up in massive calamities. The Chinese citizens are very good to understand their well-being. As for that, they follow the rules. As a result, China has the lowest infection rates of Covid-19 today. Without a doubt, I feel safe and sound in China.

I am happy to become part of this great nation which helps to push me toward my life achievement. I really have no words on how to thank the people of China. As Tony Robbins once said – “The only impossible journey is the one you never begin”

I am glad that my journey begins in Jiangsu, China to this beautiful Wuxi city. My journey is not over yet. I am still continuing my life journey to see what else this magnificent country will offer for me in the future.

Let’s see, Love you China.

My name is Sabbir, my Chinese name is 沙迪, I am from Bangladesh. I came to China in 2018 to pursue my study at Wuxi Institute of Technology, Wuxi City, Jiangsu province. My hobby is photography, reading, video content creation, writing and traveling. Since my arrival in China, I traveled to many places and got in touch with Chinese culture and its ideals. As an Asian, I do understand deeply the Chinese morals and their ideals. I m passionate to do things I like and do leadership. In the last 3 years on campus and off-campus I attended numerous events and been honored with different awards and prestigious honorable mentions. Being an active Expat I able to participate in different local programs which shows me the inside of Chinese cultural heritage. I wish to do more and challenge myself to my limits. I want to experience more about the nature and culture of this land. I want to travel more which will satisfy my curiosity about China.

The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of China Daily and China Daily website.

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My Chinese Dream

Filed Under: Essays Tagged With: Dream

Since used by incumbent Chinese president Xi Jinping on November 29, 2012, the term meaning to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, Chinese dream, has been a catchword. Every Chinese is talking about it. “My Chinese dream is to get a stable job”, a laid-off worker said when investigated. “Mine is to give birth to lovely twin brother and sister”, a pregnant woman claimed. If asked, as a grassroots undergraduate, my Chinese dream is that we young people have confidence in and hope for a bright future.

Many cases of college students killing their schoolmates draw people’s attention. To name a few, this April, a junior undergraduate Jiang in Fudan University was poisoned by his roommate Huang to death just because of a small quarrel. In 2010, one was killed and two were wounded by student Zeng of Sichuan University only for mocking his plain appearance. A versatile student Zhu from Tsinghua University was poisoned by an intimate of her according to the police in 1994. How ridiculous these top students’ behaviors are!

They are smart and hard-working enough to enter college, but they are stupid and diffident enough to give up their years of hard work and decades of bright future in the blink of an eye just for an ill-considered impulse. They may be top students, but definitely not excellent students. As the old saying goes, man proposes, God disposes. We students should strive for a bright future through our competence, rather than turning to some evil deeds or impractical shortcuts.

The Essay on Challenges Face by First Year Students at University

Education can be referring as the pathway of success for students striving in the learning process of education system. However on the other hand this seems not true and easy for students that are beginning their first year of study at university level, as often there are several factors relating to the life at the university. These generally become a great deal of challenges especially for first ...

No one is perfect, so what’s important is to correct your own demerits, not to bear a grudge on others’ merits. “I worked hard for 18 years, only to have a cup of coffee with you. ” This phenomenon is getting more and more pervasive. Nowadays, the gap between the rich and the poor is so big that those born poor are likely to toil all their lives to catch up with the rich second generation. As a result, many young people become cynical and begin to lose heart on their comparatively slim chance of success.

Of course they have good reason to think that way. It’s proved that the better family background one has, the easier he gets a job and the higher his initial salary is. There is no doubt that students by no means start from the same point and rich students are easier to achieve success. However, should we grassroots students give up our dreams just because some stupid gaps? Should we lose hope on our future just because we’ve seen through the merciless reality? Should we let down our loved ones and ourselves just because of our own cowardice?

No! As young and energetic college students, we must be confident and hopeful that a bright future is beckoning to us somewhere. We just need to stay hungry for knowledge and stay foolish about the cruelty of life. We don’t love life for its perfection; we love life because of its authenticity. Realizing its flaws and still love it, that is real love. Let’s unload unnecessary items, take our Chinese dreams, embark on a raft and start our wonderful journey. Thank you!

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My Hobbies (我的爱好) Posted by sasha on Aug 12, 2012 in Culture , Vocabulary

When making small talk, it’s very common to talk about your hobbies (爱好 – Ài hào). After all, talking about what you like to do in your free time is always more interesting than talking about what you have to do at work or school. To help you build your vocabulary and learn how to talk about your hobbies, here’s a short article all in Chinese about mine.

我的爱好是：旅行，听音乐，看书，做运动，看电影，和去饭店吃饭，去酒吧喝酒。我很喜欢旅行。除了中国我已经去过几个国家－加拿大，墨西哥，牙买加，荷兰，意大利，希腊，日本，韩国，泰国，和老挝。明年我打算去东南亚洲，比如：越南，柬埔寨，马拉西亚，新加坡，什么的。我也很喜欢听音乐。我全天听音乐－在家里，在健身房，在路上，或者在公司。我会弹吉他，也会拉大提琴。我爱看音乐会。做运动的话我喜欢打篮球，游泳，爬山，跑步，骑自行车，打保龄球，和玩飞盘。在家里我喜欢看书或者电影。周末的时候我喜欢跟朋友们一起去出玩。我们常常先去饭店吃饭然后去酒吧喝酒。什么菜我都喜欢吃。我喜欢喝黑啤或者鸡尾酒。

I realize that’s a lot to take in at once, so here’s a sentence-by-sentence breakdown, with pinyin and English to assist you:

我的爱好是：旅行，听音乐，看书，做运动，看电影，和去饭店吃饭，去酒吧喝酒

wǒ de ài hào shì: lǚ xíng, tīng yīn yuè, kàn shū, zuò yùn dòng, kàn diàn yǐng, hé qù fàn diàn chī fàn, qù jiǔ bā hē jiǔ

My hobbies are: traveling, listening to music, reading books, doing exercise, watching movies, and going to restaurants to eat and going to bars to drink.

我很喜欢旅行。除了中国我已经去过几个国家－加拿大，墨西哥，牙买加，荷兰，意大利，希腊，日本，韩国，泰国，和老挝。

wǒ hěn xǐ huan lǚ xíng. chú le zhōng guó wǒ yǐ jīng qù guò jǐ gè guó jiā – jiā ná dà, mò xī gē, yá mǎi jiā, hé lán, yì dà lì, xī là, rì běn, hán guó, tài guó, hé lǎo wō.

I really like traveling. In addition to China, I’ve already been to many countries – Canada, Mexico, Jamaica, Holland, Italy, Greece, Japan, Korea, Thailand, and Laos.

明年我打算去东南亚洲，比如：越南，柬埔寨，马拉西亚，新加坡，什么的。

míng nián wǒ dǎ suàn qù dōng nán yà zhōu, bǐ rú: yuè nán, jiǎn pǔ zhài, mǎ lā xī yà, xīn jiā pō, shén me de.

Next year I intende to go to Southeast Asia, for example: Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, and so on.

我也很喜欢听音乐。我全天听音乐－在家里，在健身房，在路上，或者在公司。

wǒ yě hěn xǐ huan tīng yīn yuè. wǒ quán tiān tīng yīn yuè – zài jiā lǐ, zài jiàn shēn fáng, zài lù shàng, huò zhě zài gōng sī.

I also really like listening to music. I listen to music all day long – at home, at the gym, on the road, or at my company.

我会弹吉他，也会拉大提琴。

wǒ huì tàn jí tā, yě huì lā dà tí qín.

I can play the guitar, and also the cello.

wǒ ài kàn yīn yuè huì.

I love going to concerts.

做运动的话我喜欢打篮球，游泳，爬山，跑步，骑自行车，保龄球，和玩飞盘。

zuò yùn dòng de huà wǒ xǐ huan dǎ lán qiú, yóu yǒng, pá shān, pǎo bù, qí zì xíng chē, dǎ bǎo líng qiú, hé wán fēi pán.

As far as doing exercise, I like playing basketball, swimming, hiking, running, cycling, going bowling, and playing frisbee.

在家里我喜欢看书或者电影。

zài jiā lǐ wǒ xǐ huan kàn shū huò zhě diàn yǐng.

At home I like reading books or watching movies.

周末的时候我喜欢跟朋友们一起去出玩。我们常常先去饭店吃饭然后去酒吧喝酒。

zhōu mò de shí hou wǒ xǐ huan gēn péng yǒu men yī qǐ qù chū wán. wǒ men cháng cháng xiān qù fàn diàn chī fàn rán hòu qù jiǔ bā hē jiǔ.

On the weekends, I like going out with my friends to play. We often go to a restaurant to eat first, and then go to a bar to drink.

什么菜我都喜欢吃。我喜欢喝黑啤或者鸡尾酒。

shén me cài wǒ dōu xǐ huan chī. wǒ xǐ huan hē hēi pí huò zhě jī wěi jiǔ.

I like eating any kind of food. I like drinking dark beer or cocktails.

So… how about you? What are your hobbies? (你的爱好是什么 – nǐ de ài hào shì shén me)

Build vocabulary, practice pronunciation, and more with Transparent Language Online. Available anytime, anywhere, on any device.

About the Author: sasha

Sasha is an English teacher, writer, photographer, and videographer from the great state of Michigan. Upon graduating from Michigan State University, he moved to China and spent 5+ years living, working, studying, and traveling there. He also studied Indonesian Language & Culture in Bali for a year. He and his wife run the travel blog Grateful Gypsies, and they're currently trying the digital nomad lifestyle across Latin America.

谢谢你这个博客！ 我学很多。 我的爱好是： 学语言， 数学， 看书， 和跟朋友一起去玩。我的最好的爱好是学语言。 我会说英语， 一点普通话， 广东话， 印地， 和用美国手语。现在我也学习微积分学。

对不起我的中文不好， 还学词汇， 语法， 汉字什么的。

This is quite a fantastic job u have done.im a fresh learner only 2months learning chinese.wô xihuan the way you are thorough and honest.iam kenyan and wo xiang to know how i can get to learn more from you.your website plis for listening and downloading materials.thankyou,su shan.

谢谢你。你的中文很棒。我是斯里兰卡人。

我的爱好是做医生来帮别人(´･ω･`)

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Essay on My Dream in 200, 300, 400, 500, 600 Words for Students

Everyone has a dream to achieve in their life. So do I and you. That’s why we are sharing some amazing essays on my dream in 200, 300, 400, 500, and 600 words for students of class 1-12. All students can find suitable my dream essay here for their study.

In This Blog We Will Discuss

Short Essay on My Dream in 200 Words

As a school student, I have a dream to fulfill in my life. I want to become a social worker. I love to work for people. As a career, I want to become a doctor, if possible. Because I think a doctor can help the people at his best. 

My dream is to help poor people. After being a doctor, I will go to some underprivileged area to serve them. There are lots of countryside areas where people don’t get proper treatment and they die due to very simple disease. They are not health conscious too. I will work for them. 

Social warfare is my major target. I won’t become a doctor to make money. I will make money to have a very simple lifestyle and most of my time, I will spend on the people. I think this is the best decision for me. My parents are very supportive and they welcomed my decision. 

I am studying hard to reach my goal. I need to get myself admitted to a medical college to become a doctor. It is not that easy, but I hope I will make it real with my hard work and proper study. I’m very honest and serious about my dream. 

My Dream Essay in 300 Words

Introduction:

The dream has no limits. You can dream anything in your life. All dreams shouldn’t come real in your life. But still, we have some productive goals and aims that are highly important to achieve. Today I am talking about my dream to become a pilot. It’s a huge thing and challenging for me. But still, I am hopeful that I will make it. Today I am going to share my dream and my preparation. 

My Dream to Become a Pilot:

My dream is to become a pilot. And I had this aim from my childhood. My parents are supportive and I hope I am going to make it. I know that it is a tough thing to do in life. And very few people succeed to become a pilot. I know it will be challenging for me. But I will try my best to get myself admitted to an aviation school. 

My Preparation:

I am very passionate about Physics and it’s an important subject for aviation learning. I am studying this subject with lots of attention. And I hope after completing my high school I will be able to get myself admitted into an aviation college. 

The process of being a pilot will be easier if I can get myself admitted there. My parents are very hopeful and they always tell me that I will make it. And I am a very serious and attentive student. I hope I will make good results so that I can be a pilot. 

Conclusion:

This is my dream to become a pilot. I am very serious and honest about my dream. I am ready to work hard as much as possible to make my dream come true. I hope it won’t be hard to make this dream true. 

Essay on My Dream to Become a Doctor in 400 Words

At the early stage of life, everyone gets a dream to achieve in their life. But everyone can’t go to the goal. But still, people are aiming for their dreams and working for it. Why should you have a dream? Because it will keep you on track when you are looking for success. 

A specific aim is the most important thing to become a successful person. May all of your dreams won’t come true, but still, you shouldn’t stop or never stop dreaming. Here I am talking about my dream to become a doctor. 

How to Become a Doctor?

To become a doctor in my country, someone needs to get himself admitted into a medical college after passing the 12th. And then there is an MBBS course lasting for six years. That’s the process. And then some go for higher education and some start working in different places. 

But it’s very tough and challenging to take admission in medical colleges. There is a huge competition. Thousands of students participate in the admission test. But the seats are only a few. But I’m confident enough that I will make it. 

A student must have a science background in school and college to get a chance in a medical institute. The grade should be higher. And finally, he needs to be good at Biology. 

My preparation is pretty solid. Right now I’m studying as science is my topic. And I’m good in Biology. I hope that I will make a good result in my 10th and 12th. Both of my results will help me to get a chance in a medical college. 

I know it won’t be easy at all, but I am very confident. I’m an attentive student and I follow a strict daily routine for me. This routine helps me to schedule everything properly. 

What Will I Do After Being a Doctor?

After completing the medical degree I have a plan to serve the people of my village. People of my village are not rich. They can’t afford better treatment. 

And they face lots of fatal diseases. But there is no doctor to help them. I will be there to help my village people. I will try to make a small hospital there. 

My dream to become a doctor is an honest plan. I want to help and serve the people. I love to be with people always. That’s what my aim is. I hope that I will be able to make my dream real. 

Essay on My Dream in Life (500 Words)

Everyone has got a dream in their life. Dreams and desires help us to get success. When you have a specific dream and you are focused only on that thing then you have a higher chance to get success in life. 

Because you can focus and can be dedicated to a specific thing at the right time. That’s why getting an aim or dream is important. I have got a dream to become an engineer. Today I will talk about my dream here. I hope you will love it. 

My Dream to Become an Engineer:

When I was a kid reading in grade 2, my dad bought me a computer. The main reason was playing computer games. I was very passionate about video games. I wondered how people make these games. And I always wanted to learn more about this. 

When I grew up, I learned that computer engineers develop these games. And right on that moment, I fixed my aim to become a game developer. To be one I have to study computer engineering and need to become a CSE graduate. 

Why I Want to Become an Engineer:

The main reason is to become a game developer. And then I know the current world is based on technology and information. The person who is strong on these two things has a better opportunity to have a stable career. I think this time is so revolutionary for computer engineers. 

And it’s the perfect time to invest effort here. My plan and dream are really exciting for me. I am sure that this industry is my passion. And I enjoy spending time with the computer. I can spend all day long learning new things related to programming and others. 

I have a pretty good preparation for this dream. I have shared my future plan with my parents. They are really supportive with this. Even my father is an IT officer. I planned to get myself admitted into a university after 12th. 

I have plans to take part in the admission test for government universities. If I don’t get a chance there, I will be admitted to a private university and complete my CSE graduation from there. I am confident enough that I will get a chance at a good university. 

Right now, I am focusing on my current study. And I’m also learning different things related to computers. I’m planning to join an online course where I will learn Java Programming slowly. 

What Will I Do After Being an Engineer:

After completing my degree I have a plan to start my own gaming company. I will hire some similar minded people or take them as partners. It will depend on the condition at that time. But I will try my best to do some jobs before starting my own company. Starting a company is the biggest goal for me. 

That’s all about my dream to become an Engineer. I am hopeful that I will be one someday and my dream will come true. I am very honest about my dreams and I am working very hard to achieve it. 

Essay on My Dream in 600 Words

Introduction: 

A dream is a thing that keeps us focused and dedicated to our life. We all need to have a very specific dream to reach. Without a proper aim or dream, we can’t succeed in the end. Your dream will help you mentally and make you strong inside. Without any dream or desire, it will be hard to reach a goal. That’s why everyone gets a goal in their life, so do I. Today I am going to talk about my dream to become a teacher here. 

My Dream to Become a Teacher:

Different people have different types of dreams and I want to become a teacher in the future. Yes, that’s my dream. My thinking was always different. I wanted to do something productive in my life. The stage that I am at right now is not that challenging. 

I am a student and I have to study properly. But to run behind a goal or dream could be very hard. And I can realize that. From the beginning, I loved to teach the kids. 

And finally, I found that is my passion. It will be great if I can become a teacher. People might dream to become a college professor or university teacher, but I prefer to become a very normal school teacher. 

I love a very easy and normal lifestyle. I want to spend the rest of my life living in a calm and naturally beautiful place, teaching lots of kids and students. And I am working hard to make my dream come true. 

Why I Want to Become a Teacher:

There are so many reasons behind this dream. The first thing that I can mention is I love teaching. That’s the biggest reason. When I shared my passion with my parents, they were amazingly supportive. They told me to follow my passion and my dream. 

And then I got a huge boost in my desire. There are some other reasons to become a teacher. I love to live a very simple life. And I know a teacher is a person who can live a very simple life. 

I want to make a difference in our education system. As you know our education system is not great. I want to fix that. It is a hard part, but that’s my ultimate goal in my life. I want to bring some changes to the system of teaching style. 

I think this profession has pretty good job security and a good income too. And another thing that I forgot to mention is fun and excitement every day. There are new things every day and that’s a huge thing for me. 

My Preparation for My Dream:

As I want to become a teacher, I need preparation for sure. And yes, I am preparing myself for this. Right now I am a student and I need to focus on my education first. But in my leisure time, I love to do the teaching. 

I have some amazing cousins who come to my home to do maths and learn English. I teach them and I enjoy them a lot. After completing high school, I have my plan to study ‘English Literature’ for higher education. 

And that will be my subject in my teaching career. And finally, after being a teacher I will join a govt school and will serve the unprivileged kids. I have a dream to start my own school too for the street kids. 

Overall I am very serious and focused on my dream. I want to make my dream true. And I am working on it. I know teaching is a noble profession and teachers are the main person who leads the nation from the front. 

10 Lines Essay on My Dream

1. Everyone needs to have a specific goal or dream in their life. 

2. That’s why I also have a dream in my life. 

3. I want to serve the needy people and want to help them at every moment.

4. That’s my dream and that’s why I am trying to become a doctor. 

5. Because I think a doctor is the best profession to serve poor people. 

6. After completing my 12th, I will try to get myself admitted to a medical college. 

7. I want to open a clinic in an underprivileged area and want to treat the poor people for free. 

8. I will get lots of inner peace by doing this. 

9. My parents are really supportive and they inspire me always to do that. 

10. That’s all my dream.

What is your dream essay? 

Here we have got some beautiful ‘my dream essays’. These essays are very informative and super easy to learn. As a student, you can try to learn them for yourself. I can assure you that these essays are good for your academic study.

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Chinese dream and my dream Essay

“There would be no new China without the Communist Party”. I’ve heard of this stating since I was a small kid. From so on. the Communist Party has left a deep and elephantine feeling on me. China makes great advancement under the leading of the Communist Party which has ever been the belief of China. I’ve been told that it would be a great award to be a party member. So now I am a party member and the Chinese belief becomes my echt belief. However. as turning up. I begin to inquire whether all the party members can see the Communist party as their belief all the clip and whether they are making the things the party member should make.

The reply is so defeated. The power of Chinese belief and the consciousness of Chinese people of back uping the belief are going weaker and weaker. China needs a house and strong advocator of the belief. Many people can set up the belief of going a party member. but they can’t follow their original belief all the life-time. Gradually they lose themselves in the orgy lives and they forget what they have said under the flag. Other people without party association are harder to see their ain belief clearly.

A state without definite belief is deplorable and atrocious because it can be easy destroyed by the outside rumour. Chinese dream of demand a power to keep the belief is the same as my dream. We are confronting the similar state of affairs. It is easy for me to put up a end. but I can’t carry out the end from get downing to stop. Sometimes the obstructions or the outside environment do me give up the end. I lack the doggedness. I lack the power to keep the end. I’ m a member of the Communist Party. but I’m non true of the name for the ground I’ve mentioned above.

After many old ages. I’ m afraid of going the sort of individual I disliked before. I’ m afraid of losing myself in the busy universe. I’ m afraid of forget all the dream and belief made when I was immature. I truly necessitate the power to assist me keep the belief. China is developing and I’ m turning. We all portion the same dream. China needs the citizens to rouse themselves and I need the self-awakening. The glamor of the surface must be really vulnerable. We should be tested by the clip. Merely keeping the belief all the clip can we travel further towards the success. Chinese dream is my dream. Hoping the dream comes true.

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