During my stay in China I often learn about the Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era from the media. This thought, especially “a community with a shared future for mankind” concept, leaves me a deep impression. The concept of “a community with a shared future for mankind” and the Belt and Road Initiative, as two great missions of China’ unique diplomatic policies, present different emphasis. The former focuses on the thoughts and the concept. The later stresses on the practice and mechanism. It is of great importance to build a community with a shared future for mankind with the help of the Belt and Road Initiative while human beings are facing a new situation.

The Belt and Road Initiative plays a crucial part in promoting and strengthening the cultural exchange between China and the Central Asia as a new cultural cooperation platform. Both China and Central Asian countries need to take its full advantage to improve the level of Chinese language teaching, reinforcing the high level education cooperation. Related countries should explore different modes to develop the joint education and increase the efforts of the introduction of the aspects like art and culture and advance the mutual cultural exchange in order to realize people-to-people communication. Stabilization, development, and prosperity are all the goals that China as well as the Central Asian countries are trying to achieve. China and Uzbekistan are two Asian countries which share some culture in common, like advocating the filial piety, showing hospitality, and being accommodating. The similarities of our culture lays a good foundation for our cooperation, but how to respect the difference is the problem and an important one. I hope more and more people will know more about Turkmenistan, Kyrghyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan, known as the five Central Asian counties through collaboration and exchange and then no longer call us “Stan Countries”. We need not only to respect the cultural diversity and to respect the equality of different cultures but to fully absorb the excellent achievements of the Central Asian culture so that Chinese culture could enhance its influence in Central Asia. We are all looking forward to, with the help of the Belt and Road Initiative, promoting mutual exchange among our peoples, increasing development oppotunities, and learning from each other on the precondition of respecting the difference of people and culture in order to promote the further development in the people-to-people exchanges and economy between China and Central Asian countries.

The construction and boosting of the Belt and Road Initiative will help to build a friendship bridge and hold our destinies closely together. It is also an important guarantee of facilitating people-to-people communication and strengthening the cultural exchange. The Central Asian peoples are benefiting from this initiative and I am an example. I had already fell in love with this unique country before I came to China. I did not even know what exactly gave me this feeling. Maybe it was the films of Jackie Chan, or TV tourist programs about the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and the Terracotta Warriors, or it was just because many products in my home were “made in China”. As a child, I had longed to know where the country which produced so many things was and wanted to see the beautiful sightings in person.

When I was 16 years old, one of my friends went to China for studying. After her returning to my hometown, she usually talked about those exotic Chinese customs which made me more and more interested in this old and mysterious country. At that moment, I had a dream to go to China in my deep mind. However, Chinese language was a very arcane language for me and I really wanted to decipher it. So, I began to study Chinese. I still remembered my first Chinese class. There were about 20 students studying initials and I was the only one who could not pronounce them. Although my teacher did not criticize me, I felt awful. From then on, I practiced the initials and compound vowels every day and gradually I was able to speak them. My teacher saw my determination of studying Chinese and he told me that if I wanted to improve my Chinese level, I had to love Chine and learnt Chinese history and culture. From that day on, I buried my head in Chinese culture. I listened to Chinese music, watched Chinese movies, read Chinese news, and appreciated Chinese pictures every day. Gradually, I found that learning Chinese had already been an indispensable part of my life.

There is an old Chinese saying: “The progress of studies comes from hard work and is retarded by frivolities. Doing a good job lies in thinking over, and destroyed by random.” I never question that my efforts would be wasted. I always believe that the time and energy I devote to my work will pay me back in the future. After two years of studying Chinese hard, the chance to visit China came to me and my childhood dream was realized. I could never find words to describe my feelings when I first put my foot on this ground. I saw the modern skyscrapers, the ancient building groups, the fantastic Great Wall, the voguish 789 art zone, the amazing Forbidden City, the beautiful Tian’anmen Square, the fantastic Temple of Heaven Park and the Summer Palace in Beijing. At that time, I realized that China is a great country with long history and unique culture. Those sweet memories always came back like flash in my head when I returned to my country and motivated me to study Chinese harder. The experience made my wish to study in China stronger and it seemed like China held every gorgeous thing in the world.

Now I have been studying in China for three years and during this period I feel I am closer to China’s society and customs and have a deeper understanding about China’s history and culture by making many new friends, which influences my feeling about China. If now somebody asks me why I chose China instead of other countries for studying, I would tell him without any hesitation that it is because I love China. As the instant push of the Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese language is becoming more and more important in many countries; thus speaking Chinese fluently can make people more competitive. Thanks to Chinese studying, I know a lot of friends from different countries and I also go to many places with specific characteristics and most importantly I improve my ability.

In the long history, foreign students are always playing an important part in mutual communication. Foreign students are witnesses as well as participants of the  Belt and Road Initiative. At present, the relationship between China and the Central Asian countries are becoming closer and closer which means not only opportunities but also challenges to us. We have to enhance our comprehensive abilities to meet the social development’s demand.

As foreign students in Lanzhou University, we must thank China and our countries. We must aim high and work hard to take the responsibility of contributing to the peace and development between China and the Central Asian area. My dream is to advance the relationship between China and Central Asian countries and reinforce the foundation of cooperation through my hard work, and improve our friendship and mutual trust, making myself a messenger of these two different cultures.

                                                                                                                                                                                                  Author: LOBAR MIRZAEVA(Uzbekistan,an undergraduate majors in Chinese lagnuage)

                                                                                                                                                                                                   Instructor:  Zhu Dong

                                                                                                                                                                                                   Tanslated by: Shang Fucheng