Understanding China Starts from Experiencing

People's Daily Online, June 29, 2012

 

In recently years, the fast-developing China has been attracting more foreigners from all over the world. Foreign students studying in China, as a special group, have been increasing too. In 2011, the total amount of foreign students studying in China exceeded 290,000 and they came from 194 countries and regions. During their study in China, they obverse China with their sharp eyes and experience China with their sincere hearts.

 

Recording the beauty of China

 

A woman wearing traditional Tibetan clothes walking in a field of flowers, high buildings with bright lights standing beside the Huangpu River at night, the National Grand Theater under the sky of stars on the water surface with colorful lights…. The people who shot these "beautiful sceneries of China" photos are all foreign students studying in China. "When the local woman was passing by, I caught the moment. I think the combination of the woman leading a yak and the background of a field of flowers was extremely beautiful," said Zhang Bei'er, a grade two Malaysian student studying in the Department of Psychology at Peking University. She said that she always recalls the vigorous scenery and those hardworking local people, every time when she sees the photo. Therefore, she named the picture "Vigor - Living."

 

Foreigners' interests in China have a long history. In the 18th century, a "China wind" once blew all over Europe and foreigners started imaging what the ancient China looked like by looking at pictures in China traveling journals. After the Opium War, many European photographers went to China and shot many photos reflecting China's suffering and fighting and these photos evoked wide repercussions in Europe. In 1972, an Italian film director Michelangelo Antonioni shot the documentary "China" which attracted global attention once again.

 

At present, photographers and film directors who introduce China to the world have greatly increased. As China is communicating more with other countries, more foreigners have also come to China, using their cameras to record beautiful natural landscapes and folk customs of China's rural and urban areas, and experiencing the great change of China's living conditions and daily lives.