By Richard Kayenda
Shanghai, China
SHANGHAI-(MaraviPost)-Malawian students who are studying at one of the most prestigious universities in China, on Saturday, 16 November, 2024, participated in an international cultural festival which was organized by the university.
East China Normal University (ECNU) which is based in Shanghai City, arranged the event with an aim of hosting both local and international students to a cultural mini-expo where they had to display various aspects of their cultures so as to market the same to the outside world.
Speaking during the festival, Annabel Potani, who is studying Master’s of Education Management, said such an event was an opportunity for her to learn about the cultures of other countries and also share her own culture with the outside world.
“I was not sure of what to expect. I thought it was going to be something that I might have experienced before. But it was very interesting. You know there are some countries that you don’t know they exist. Like I’ve seen one country, Laos.
” I didn’t know it existed and I have actually gotten to see what other people eat in their countries. This is very interesting. You might think that everybody eats the same basic food, but it’s different,” said Potani.
She further said she was impressed to see people expressing their true identities through their cultures; an aspect which she recommended for fellow Malawians to emulate so as to show the world out there their cultural uniqueness.
Potani sharing her culture with a fellow student at Malawi’s pavilion While sharing similar sentiments, a Ghanaian student, who is in second year of her PhD in Geographical Sciences, Eugiania Yada Danso, said the cultural mini-expo was a rare occasion which gave the international community based in China’s elite city of Shanghai, a platform to appreciate various cultural practices from different parts of the world.
Danso said: “This cultural event gives an opportunity to China and its residents to experience other cultures from different parts of the world. We have over 70 countries representing different continents: Africa, Europe, America and the Islands as well; all displaying their beautiful culture, rich heritage, rich food, so that people of China could experience because not everyone can travel to all these countries.
“But today, you could be able to experience a bit of each and every country before you go home. So, it’s a really breathtaking experience.”
Danso added that other countries; particularly those in Africa, can, through their universities, borrow a leaf from what China’s strong belief in its culture which dates back to over a thousand years ago as embedded in the history and background of Chinese philosopher, Confucius.
On his part, Charles Todd Dickey, an American student who is studying a bachelor’s degree in Biology in his country, but is currently on an exchange program at ECNU, said such an event was really good as it gave him a chance of appreciating other peoples’ cultures for he was able to see what they eat and wear.
Dickey also said cultural identity is something that countries have to promote as is currently the case with the People’s Republic of China.
One of the organizers of the festival, Sun Xiao Qian, who is the director of general affairs in the department of international students, said putting up such an event was like opening a door to the outside world.
“You know our university is an international one, so internationalization is one of our objectives of working. So, we have students coming from more than 130 countries.
“So, we just want to present a stage for all the international students to show their cultures. That is the first objective. Secondly, we would love to let our Chinese students to see more cultures in the world,” said she.
Qian added that as much as Chinese culture is important to Chinese people, other peoples’ cultures are also important for them to learn from.
In this year’s festival, students from 75 countries participated in the mini-expo. Some of the notable countries that were represented by their students were the United States of America, France, Australia, Poland, Argentina, Brazil, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Japan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Namibia, Tunisia, Sierra Leone and Malawi.
East China Normal University has, since 2007, been organizing the international cultural festival as one way of bringing the world to its campus; while also bringing itself to the world. At least 14, 000 dollars’ worth of money was used towards the preparation of this year’s event.
The university is a public higher learning institution which was founded in October, 1951 and is one of the Category A universities in China’s Double First-Class University Program, a higher education initiative launched by the Ministry of Education with an aim of developing elite Chinese universities into world-class institutions by the year 2050. It boasts of over 25, 000 students every years.
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One response to “Malawian students participate in China’s cultural festival”
Good work my brother Richard, keep on doing great.