A clever tongue can get you all the way to China

Both adults and schoolchildren study Chinese at Polotsk State University

The Centre for Chinese Language and Culture, or, as it is also called, Confucius Point, was opened on the basis of PSU named after Euphrosyne of Polotsk six years ago. Since then, more than 500 students, schoolchildren and ordinary residents of Polotsk and neighbouring Novopolotsk have become its listeners.

Polotsk State University is located in the buildings of the Polotsk Jesuit College, founded in 1581  Vitaly Pivovarchik

Eastern interest

In a cosy office, everything is made in Chinese style. At the entrance, the ‘wind music’ amulet sets you up for positive, there are bright Chinese lanterns around, and pictures with hieroglyphs on the walls... language volunteer. The class is led by Associate Professor of the Department of Economics, Management and Economic Theory of PSU Li Junhua and the charming She Danhui, who arrived from China six months ago as a language volunteer.
We are talking about the fact that both children and adults are welcome in the centre with Li Junhua, who teaches at the Polotsk university and at the same time at the Belarusian State Economic University. A 33-year-old native of Henan province has been in Belarus for 13 years old, seven of them in PSU. He jokes that he almost became Belarusian, “Here I have friends, colleagues, hobbies (football) and, of course, the opportunity to popularise the Chinese language and culture, to help strengthen business ties between our countries.”
In addition to his main job, Junhua, by the way, an economist by education, leads Chinese language groups at the university, and also performs translations. For example, technical documentation for the construction of a residential building as part of the ‘Construction of Social Housing’ Belarusian-Chinese project, legal negotiations through the Taxes and Duties Ministry, seminars with representatives of the Industrial Park Great Stone... Junhua is sincerely glad for such interaction,
“The friendship between Belarus and the People’s Republic of China in various fields, including the economy, is only growing stronger. More and more Belarusian children show interest in education in China.”
Among those who dream of a trip to the PRC, Roman Afanasiev is a tenth-grader of gymnasium No. 1 named after F. Skorina, with whom PSU and the Weihai Higher School of China have signed a trilateral co-operation agreement. One of the best students, Li Junhua, won the Chinese essay contest in the ‘Beginning Sinologist’ category, “I hope to visit Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to get acquainted not only with the Mandarin dialect that we study, but also with other dialects.|

Kira Muryndina and She Danhui   Ilya Shvedko

In Polotsk, even grandmothers learn Chinese. This opportunity came to 25 activists of the golden age thanks to an agreement between PSU and the Committee on Labour, Employment and Social Protection of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee.

Bridges of friendship and co-operation

 At the origins of the Polotsk Centre for Chinese Language and Culture was its current head Inga Zenkova. She is also the head of the Department of Economics, Management and Economic Theory at PSU.
“The idea of the centre was born at the 2nd Forum of the Association of Science and Technology Parks, Silk Road High and New Technology Zones. During the event, we met with Li Junhua and representatives of the Belarusian National Technical University. In the latter, in 2014, the world’s only Confucius Institute for Science and Technology was opened. In fact, our centre is the ‘child’ of BNTU, and today it operates in four main areas: education without borders, scientific and technical exchange and engineering business, development of entrepreneurial initiatives, cultural exchange and social responsibility,” says Inga.
PSU has a specialty with an in-depth study of the economy of the Middle Kingdom and the Chinese language. Such knowledge will definitely come in handy in the modern labour market and not only in the China-Belarus Industrial Park Great Stone companies. By the way, the head of the park attended the opening of the centre for start-ups and entrepreneurial initiatives on the basis of PSU, who highly appreciated the contribution of the university to business development, the exchange of scientific results between the two countries. The Polotsk university is part of the innovation-industrial petrochemical cluster, it also has a Belarusian-Chinese company, which means that one cannot do without competent translators who build bridges. The Chinese New Year is held very warmly at PSU, acquaintance with the traditional cuisines of our countries, photo contests, the participants of which share their views on Belarus and China…
The name of She Danhui, a 24-year-old graduate student at Shenyang Northeast University, with whom PSU has a co-operation agreement, translates as ‘red flower’. For convenience, the students call her Aurora, the girl smiles, “Since childhood, I have been fascinated by your region, so when I entered the specialty ‘Foreign Languages and Religious Studies’ there was not even a shadow of doubt. By teaching courses at PSU, I improve my own Russian. When applying for a job, his knowledge will be very useful to me, it will help me find a more prestigious job. I am in Polotsk for another four months, and then to my hometown of Hami, which is known as the ‘house of sweet melons’.”
The volunteer admits that her favourite writer is Pushkin, and immediately surprises us by reciting the classic’s poems by heart. The girl also likes to sing. ‘Apple and pear trees blossomed...’ Aurora’s sonorous clear voice is heard. And then she remembers Victory Day, “During this holiday they sing Katyusha, and I really like this song. Like the Belarusians, the Chinese are sure that the most important thing is peace on earth, diligence and creativity.”
Under the supervision of Aurora, the students of the gymnasium No. 2 of Polotsk diligently draw on the board in hieroglyphs ‘The Year of Peace and Creation’. Chinese is not an easy, but very beautiful, melodic language, fifth-grader Kira Muryndina shares her emotions, “I have been learning it since this autumn. At the everyday level, I already understand something.”

Roman Afanasiev and Li Junhua   Ilya Shvedko

Her classmate Platon Klemyato picks up, “A lot of people are interested in Eastern culture today. After learning about the courses at PSU, I went to my parents for advice, and they said, ‘Go ahead’.”
Language courses at PSU are attended not only by students, schoolchildren, but also by employees of Naftan and other enterprises. So, Anna Tsybulskaya from Novopolotsk hopes to master Chinese at a technical level. The leading engineer of the local branch of the Grodno Research and Design Institute of Nitrogen Industry and Products has been studying the language since 2017. She saw an announcement about the recruitment of students at PSU and had a craving, “Twice a week I come to classes in Polotsk. With Chinese, unlike English, I have ‘love at first sound’, and what is interesting is always absorbed easier and faster. Immediately after the first year of study, I was lucky to visit Shenyang and Beijing, in the summer school of the Chinese language. Emotions and impressions are a sea, so in my case you can change the saying: the language will bring you to China.”

By Anna Naumova