[CCTVnews]Int’l students get some Chinese culture in Shanghai
As we already told you, today is the last day of the Dragon Boat Festival. It’s the time of year for zongzi, the popular festival dish made from sticky rice. Some international students in Donghua University have just had a chance to learn the skill of making it. But it’s not as easy as it looks.
Wrapping a zongzi neatly takes more skill than you might think of. Liam Tchathe from Cameron studies Chinese history at Donghua University. He says that while filling the leaves with sticky rice was easy, things soon got tougher.
Liam Tchathe: I don’t know how to close the leaves, and then you have to put the rice, to close it again and tie it.
Eva Minyem: It’s very complicated. I think it’s just the way you manage your fingers and your hands when you do it yourself.
Some other students tried traditional Chinese costumes, like this one that was used for ceremonial occasion in ancient China.
IIya Khukhuni: Pretty strange, I felt a bit more official, and at the same time, I felt I was a bit more Chinese than usual. I wouldn’t be able to put it on myself.
When asked about why Chinese people celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, their answers were different.
Liam Tchathe: I think it’s a very popular sport in China. I think so.
IIya Khukhuni: To commemorate the official who didn’t want to serve for those who conquered his kingdom, so he killed himself. For that people gather together, ride boats and try to commemorate that man, because of his love to the country.
Eva Minyem: There was a guy. I forgot his name, sorry. He got drowned because he was trying to save his village, and he was well loved by his people.
And that’s all why the university says it has been putting on events related to Chinese culture since 2010, hoping that international students can come to understand Chinese culture beyond their textbooks.
Gu Bohong, Int’l Cultural Exchange School, Donghua University: Each year,we have several activities for international students. For example, we have the Spring Festival. This is also a way we spread the Chinese culture for international students. Last year, we had 4700 international students on this campus.
Citywide, there are more than 56000 international students at local universities in Shanghai, only second to Beijing.
（来源：CCTVnews 2015年06月21日 记者：宋雯婧 通讯员：李璇、段然）
