A Nepal’s Dream Comes True

Aneesh Malla/Nepal

Confucius Institute of Kathmandu University, Lecturer

In 1995, when I was only 10 years old, I followed my parents from another side of the Himalayas to China. The solemnity of Tian’anmen Square in Beijing, the magnificence of the Great Wall, the beauty of LeShan, Buddhism, and the night scenery of Shanghai are all engraved in my childhood. In 1997 and 2001, I had the opportunity to visit Kunming in Yunnan, Hangzhou in Zhejiang, Xi’an in Shaanxi, Urumqi and Kashgar in Xinjiang, as well as Shenzhen, Chongqing and Shanghai.

I still remembered that when I visited Tian’anmen Square for the first time, I called Tian’anmen Square as “tinyming square”. Climbing the Great Wall, I did not know that I had become a “hero”. I was excited to see the Buddha, well known in Nepal, but I didn’t realize the origin of the Buddhism between Nepal and China at that time. The historical significance of Xi’an terra cotta warriors, city walls, Famen Temple and other historical sites, as well as the important courier stations of Hangzhou, Xi’an and Kashgar along the Silk Road, can not have a profound understanding of myself at that time. When I was in Lhasa, I received special care because of my serious altitude sickness. Although I was grateful to the Chinese doctors for their treatment and care, I did not realize the friendship of the Chinese people towards their friendly neighbor — Nepal until years later.

In 2005, I was awarded the Chinese government scholarship. After learning Chinese for two years in Beijing Language and Culture University, I begun the undergraduate study in Chinese People’s University from 2006 to 2010. After graduation, I went to Fudan University to study for a master’s degree.

When I first came to China to study, my classmates came from all parts of the world and the campus just like “United Nations”. Although I had visited many places in China, my Chinese was still awkward. At the beginning of studying abroad, the language became an obstacle. When I think of the difficulty of learning Chinese, I can’t forget the embarrassing experience. One day, I went out to visit Beijing. When I got back to school, I was very tired, so I decided to take a taxi. At that time, I had been studying in BLCU for nearly a semester, and I felt that I could communicate in Chinese. After getting on the taxi, I told the driver, “I’m going to ‘Bei Yu’.”I felt that what I said is clear, but the driver didn’t understand. I repeated it five times back and forth until I drew out the Chinese character of the school name. The driver suddenly realized: “Oh! ‘Bei Yu’!” I kept muttering, didn’t I say something like that? Later, I remembered that when speaking Chinese, one should pay attention to the tone. If the tone is wrong, the meaning may be different. Since then, whenever I speak, I pay special attention to the intonation.

With the help of my teacher and classmates, I have been learning Chinese smoothly and happily. The situation is not the same after the beginning of undergraduate study. There are few foreign students in the class. Most of the students are Chinese. The teachers gave lectures in chinese. The theoretical knowledge of international relations taught in Chinese was difficult for me to understand. Sometimes, some expressions the teacher used made Chinese students laugh. We, foreign students got total loss. Luckily my teachers and classmates were very nice and have helped us learn a lot. Since then, we have established profound friendship with Chinese friends. More and more exchanges, I have learned about Chinese society and civilization. With the deepening study of Chinese society, I began to participate in various activities inside and outside the school, and gained more friendship and some honors.

To sum up, I spent a quarter of my time in Beijing and Shanghai. During the years of studying in China, Chinese culture, politics, economy and all kinds of education had a profound influence on my production. I have not only felt the profound charm of the Chinese language, but also witnessed the rapid economic and social development of China in recent years.

After returning to Nepal after graduation, I have been engaged in the work related to China. I have become a Chinese teacher. I have taught undergraduate courses and Chinese studies. Now I am a Chinese lecturer at Confucius Institute, Kathmandu, Nepal. Based on the accumulation of teaching experience, in the past two years, I have started to work with Nepalese experts in China on the teaching, translation and research of Chinese and Nepalese languages. I have developed a lot of translation practice, published a lot of translated works, and also helped a number of cultural exchange activities. In ancient times, Xuan zang who went to the west to seek the true scriptures without fear of difficulties and dangers, and passed through Nepal, which opened the way for Sino Nepalese cultural exchanges. Today, a child who once could not even pronounce Tian’anmen Square, can represent his motherland Nepal with outstanding scholars from all over the world, to discuss how to become a young Sinologist who can make more contributions to the exchanges and cooperation between the two countries. This is the process in which my dream of “going east” has become true. China and Nepal have been friendly for generations. The two countries have a long history of cultural exchanges and have broad prospects for cooperative research. China is willing to share its development experience with us on the “Belt and Road” and jointly create harmonious development. I am willing to spare no effort to contribute to the cause of cultural exchange between the two countries.