The School of Computer Science and Technology is the school’s important base department for studying in China. Currently, the school has more than 80 international students from more than 20 countries including France, Belgium, Poland, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Pakistan. The college implements a monthly meeting system for international students, establishes a full-process training progress list for international students, strictly standardizes management, and continues to strengthen management and service quality. Through regular heart-to-heart talks with international students, we can promptly discover various problems, help international students overcome academic and life difficulties, and create an international student training and management system that takes initiative and standardizes management. Organize special activities for international students during traditional Chinese cultural festivals such as the Mid-Autumn Festival, strengthen education on national conditions, and promote the cultivation of an international student group that knows China, is friendly to China, and loves China.
MY STORY WITH CHINA
The month was August. Malawi was transition from winter to summer. My friend and I were anxiously waiting for the results of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) scholarship. Our hearts were pouncing at high rates as we thought of possible negative results that would come. Almost daily in August, we would start and end our day by checking whether the application status has changed in the Chinese Scholarship Online System. But there was no change in status. It still read "In Progress". As we passed 10th August, our hopes faded even further, as we thought the results should have been out by that time. There was this other friend of ours who had applied for Chinese Government Scholarship, whose results came earlier. She constantly encouraged us that there was still time and that the MOFCOM scholarship results were not yet out.
One day, during the lunch hour, we decided to check the application status again in the Chinese Scholarship Online system. Voila! The status had changed, and we were both offered a scholarship at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. In no time we were found ourselves in the air dancing, singing and floating with jubilation. We waited for another one week or so, to get communication from the Chinese Embassy in Malawi.
When the communication came from the embassy, we immediately started processing our documents such as VISA and application of leave at our workplace.
Days were running so fast, as we were supposed to be at the campus for registration between 4th and 6th September 2023.
The air tickets were in, ready for the long journey to the eastern country, Peoples Republic of China. The reality started sinking in, thinking of the family I would leave behind for four years. I would think of my wife, the first daughter and second daughter of 6 months at that time, and my mother and other dependents. How would they live in my absence in that long period? Will the youngest daughter remember me? These were some of the questions crossing my mind. But something inside of me said, "Relax Umali. You are going to China for the good of the family. Why do you worry? Your scholarship provides a return air ticket every year of your studies. And also, there are technologies that will keep you connected such as phones and WeChat";. This smoothened my heart and started preparing for my departure. I immediately purposed in my heart that the moment am in China, I would buy a good phone that can make me easily connected with my family.
It is on 5th September 2023, and the day is just breaking up. The day that I must part with my lovely family and start a long journey to the east. My mother, brothers, sisters, wife and little children are there joyfully waiting to escort me to the airport. What a moment to part with your loved ones, I thought.
"Check-in process is about to finish". An officer announcing as we hanged outside the check-in room receiving some encouraging words from my wife, my mother and all. Hugging my little children hastily as I rushed into the check room. Maybe I am dreaming, I thought. After passing through the check points including the security and immigration check, I went straight to the plane as the boarding was already in progress.
In no time, the plane left the land, we were in the air, peeping through the window, I could see the trees and houses becoming smaller and smaller each passing second, as if they were saying "bye Umali. We hope to see you soon. Work hard in China, Malawi is waiting for you". And the clouds received us in the air, and we could see the houses and trees no more. The journey to the east had started.
All journey to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, then to Shanghai, China and finally to Wuhan, China was pleasantly unforgettable. From Ethiopia to Shanghai, I was sandwiched by two Chinese men. The one to my left would speak a little English, and the other one to my right never spoke any English. And when they were speaking to each other in Chinese, I could not pick any word. This made me start thinking of communication challenge I would face in China. Again, something in me said, "You will learn this. You are so able Umali". This settled me as I continued enjoying my flight.
Coming out of the Wuhan Tianhe International Airport, we saw a placard raised up by an average height good-looking gentleman, written on it were the words "I love HUST" with the word love symbolized by a red heart. I said to my colleague, we have arrived. We met with other few students who were also waiting for us. Each one of us was given a placard with some HUST words on it, as we posed for a picture, as we also enjoyed the snacks the university had prepared for us. It was a wonderful welcoming at the airport.
Few minutes later we were in the bus off to HUST campus. All the way to campus, I would just admire at the complicated roads, tall and beautiful buildings through the window. This was on top of seeing the magnificent airports at Shanghai and Wuhan. I said,"China is something else. They are so gone with development."
Arriving at campus, I thought we were taken outside the campus at some apartment, as they were many tall buildings. I would not believe that the campus can have such tall buildings surrounded by many big trees. Then I remembered, when I was still at home, reading about HUST, in my preparation for my trip, that HUST was well known as the university in the forest.
The time was 2 AM and we checked in to the international student dormitory, Bojingge. As I was so tired with the journey, I just fell asleep on the bed till 9 AM the following day.
After taking some cool first shower at HUST, on the one of the hottest days, I went to call my colleague and we started our day. Since, we had arrived in Shanghai, we did not have access of the internet, the first thing we wanted to be sorted out was to buy the mobile phone number and communicate home. When we went out of the hostel, we met a senior international student, who escorted us to the mobile company to buy the phone numbers. Soon afterwards we went to the international students' office to start the new student registration process.
We started feeling the language barrier as we found it hard to communicate with other officers in some offices including the bank. But for the registration, at the international students' office, we were okay, as some officers (teachers) could speak English.
Fast-forward, few days passed, some processes done. It was time to go to the Hospital for the Health Check, as it was the requirement to apply for the resident permit. All went well. Results came out as needed and we started the process of the resident permit application, and concluded within a month.
Apart from the language, we hard another challenge, food. It was hard to find the food that was close to what we eat back home. So, we could sample some foods from canteen to canteen. With passing days, we managed to find some food that resonated well with us. Rice, chicken, pork, were our usual food at the beginning. But later more and more foods were identified including noodles, which I liked ever since.
With HUST, it was love at first sight. I fell in love with HUST as an excellent institution for higher learning, looking at its naturalness brought about by the forest within the campus. The whole environment would encourage somebody do school as the campus provided all the necessary facilities including sporting facilities which were located all over the big campus of HUST. It was a tremendous change of an education institution in both area and the buildings sizes as compared to the universities in my home country.
Few days later, upon my arrival, I met my supervisor, Ding Xiaofeng, who warmly welcomed me and guided me on what is expected of me to graduate in the next four years. My professor is very good man and speaks a very good English.
The day is Monday, the first day to attend a class in China. And this was a Chinese class. Ooh what wonderful classrooms, equipped with speakers and other smart devices for teaching. "Nimen hao!". The professor Feng, or as we proudly call her, "Feng Laoshi", greeted us. By this day, we had already learnt how to greet in Chinese, hence we replied, "Nihao". So, eager to learn Chinese, knowing that I have four years to stay in China, hence I would not take any chance to miss Chinese classes. Knowing the language is a must, at least for me. A month later, with a wonderful teaching style of Feng Laoshi, I am able to express myself in Chinese on basic things like introducing myself,"Wo jiao Li Ao (My name is Li Ao)", counting numbers,"Yi, er, san, si, wu liu, qi, ba, jiu shi (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)", asking things at the canteen, " Zhege shi shenme? (What's this?)", "Zhege Zhurou ma? (Is this pork)", or asking prices at the market, "Zhege duoshao qian? (How much is this?)".
We have had some other courses to date, and all is going on well. The library is big with very good studying environment. Looking at all the things that support learning at HUST, I concluded that I have come to the right institution for higher learning and therefore, I must put in every effort to make sure that I benefit most out of this institution and go back home as a much better and well-enlightened academic in areas of research.
As someone doing PhD in computer science, I really find China as a right place to learn Computer Science, considering how China is contributing at the world level in terms of innovations in the technology space. This is evidenced by how China has embraced technology in its culture and society. Talk of Cashless society brought in by WeChat, Alipay and others; e-commerce; electric vehicles; the metro networks; and bullet train technologies. China is becoming a leader, if not already, in many areas of technology.
In the past one and half months, I have been in China, and particularly at HUST, I have appreciated and immersed myself in Chinese culture through various activities organized by the university. For example, during the Mid-Autum festival, our school of computer science organized a cultural event where we participated and learnt more about the Mid-Autum festival including the origin of moon cakes. We also learnt more about Chinese national day which falls on October 1 every year, since the founding of the modern China in 1949.
As a way to understand China and our city Wuhan better, the international students' office organized a trip for us to two places; Hubei Provincial Museum and East Lake. On our way to these places, the tour guide helped us understand the Wuhan City in particular, and Hubei province at large, on political, economic and cultural positions. We were told that Wuhan is a university city, as it has over 100 universities and colleges with enrollment of over 1.2 million students.
At the Museum, we went through some exhibitions where I was astonished to learn how long and rich the Chinese history is, dating back to 5000 BC. The museum is very big with so many pieces from the ancient China. Some pieces are shown below.
Figure 1 : Some pieces at Hubei Provincial Museum, in Wuhan, Hubei, CHINA
On our East Lake trip, the tour guide informed us that W in Wuhan means water and Hu in Hubei means lake. So, Wuhan is a city on the waters, as it is surrounded by many water bodies such as Yangtze River and East Lake. We boarded one of the water vessels and we cruised through the lake appreciating the beauty of the city surrounding the lake. At the same place, we were also shown another vessel which the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi and Chinese president, Xi Jinping, boarded and signed a number of memorandum of understandings. We were also informed that the founding president of Peoples Republic of China, Chairman Mao Zedong, had a very unique love for the city of Wuhan. He visited Wuhan a number of times during his term in office, and he swum across Yangtze River for about 8 times. And this is recently being honored by annual Swimming competition on East Lake. The picture on the next page shows us in the cruise vessel at East Lake.
Figure 2 : Inside the water vessel on East Lake in Wuhan, Hubei, CHINA
China is such a beautiful and safe country with good and loving people. I know there are many good things I am yet to experience in China. But my first one and half months has accorded me with such memorable experience already. I am looking forward to more education and cultural exchange experience in CHINA.
Character introduction
Umali Leonard (Li Ao) is a 2023 Ministry of Commerce doctoral scholarship student in the School of Computer Science and Technology at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST). He comes from Malawi and studies under Professor Ding Xiaofeng. Before coming to China to study, he worked as a lecturer at Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (MUBAS). He is also a global talent member of the UNLEASH Global Creative Lab, which promotes innovation to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He participated in the 2019 UNLEASH Global Innovation Lab held in Shenzhen, China. In December this year, the UNLEASH Innovation Lab will be held in Kigali, Rwanda, and Umali will participate as a host.
Umali is fascinated by technology and aims to reduce poverty through education and technology. As such, he promotes digital innovation to Malawi’s youth. Through the "Hello Tomorrow" program, which Umali launches in 2022, he hopes to create tomorrow’s innovators as young as six years old by teaching them programming and other technologies.
Umali is honored to study in China, a technologically advanced country, and said that when he returns to Malawi, he hopes to realize his dreams in research and innovation. He looks forward to learning more from his mentor, Professor Ding Xiaofeng, understanding Chinese culture and technical exchanges, and spending a fulfilling study time at Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
