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| Photos courtesy of Sriparna Pathak |
Sriparna tells us about her journey to BLCU (and her possible future plans for China), and considers some of the areas she feels the university still has room for improvement, while admitting that she had a lot of great experiences there. After all, although it's easy to remember all the joy from our time in Beijing, perhaps it is too easy to overlook some of the downsides and 'mafan'!
You can find all of our BLCU Q&As here, so be sure to check the rest out! For now, let's jump straight in and see what Sriparna has to share. I recommend you set aside some time to read the whole post, as it's a very worthwhile read and raises a lot of good points about the BLCU experience.
Please give me some background about yourself, including why you decided to study Chinese at BLCU.
My Masters was in International Relations, after which I opted for an M.Phil in Chinese Studies. (M.Phil is restricted to the Indian sub continent largely, and is an intervening period/degree between Masters and PhD.) My M.Phil dissertation was on the impact of the Global Financial Crisis on the Chinese economy.
While writing the dissertation, I had to rely mostly on Western sources for an analysis on China, and I felt my understanding was incomplete since it was based mostly on Western interpretations and interpretations undertaken by a few other Indians, who also rely on Western sources (the number of people from the West who know Mandarin is far more than the number of Indians who know Mandarin).
I felt the quality of my dissertation would have been better had I known Mandarin myself. I refused to rely on interpreters anyway since my understanding and analysis would definitely be different from theirs, which is why I didn't even think of hiring a translator to translate Chinese books and journal articles.
I worked at a think tank after my M.Phil. I was simultaneously pursuing a PhD degree (I am submitting my PhD thesis this July). At the think tank, I was heading the China Studies programme, and even travelled to Beijing, representing India at the BRICS Think Tanks' Summit. The desire for a better quality research at the PhD level reached its zeniths after having visited China twice. I did not like relying on a translator while giving interviews, or relying on them to make my Chinese counterparts understand what my area of specialisation was.
Related: 7 Study Tips For Success At BLCU
I came back and complained to the director of our think tank, and he suggested I speak to a few academics and government officials respectively to try and find out what could be done. Thus, in 2011, I was awarded the prestigious scholarship by the Government of India, and by the CSC to study Mandarin and to undertake research in China for two years (from 2011-13). My dreams came true!
I picked up Mandarin very easily. I already can speak about eight languages in all, which is probably why Mandarin also became easy. I found similarities between the grammar structure of a few Indian languages and Mandarin, which made life easier in classes at BLCU. I also undertook interviews while I was in China, visited warehouses, spoke to migrant labourers etc., all of which are now integral aspects of my PhD thesis.
I currently work for a think tank called the Centre for Development and Peace Studies (CDPS), which is based in Assam, India. My areas of specialisation at CDPS include urbanisation, manufacturing, rare earth metals, infrastructure creation among others. I have already delivered several lectures at several universities across India on various issues that the Chinese economy currently faces.
The final goal in life is to join the Indian Foreign Services someday, and to represent India in China, and try and solve our border issues and trade imbalance issues, among others. However, this dream shall have to wait for a few years, until I feel completely confident about my own diplomatic capabilities.
Well, those two years were a mix of good and bad experiences. I loved all my teachers and my classmates, plus the friends I made on campus outside classrooms. But I was disappointed with the facilities like internet for example, or the lack of drinking water facilities in the dormitories, or even the lack of avenues to complain about the misbehaviour of certain employees like the 'fuwuyuans' (maids) in the dormitories, etc.
Undoubtedly, BLCU is the best university in China to learn Mandarin, but it would be much better if it was more student friendly, and had more options to make lives of foreign students better.
Related: A Typical Day At BLCU
The wait to land in Beijing and to get to Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU), the BEST University in China to learn Mandarin, seemed to be never ending. Plus, BLCU was also popularly known as the "mini United Nations". I simply could not wait to get there! Nevertheless, after landing at the airport, what followed was an absolute shock, as I realised no one spoke in English outside the airport.
I hastily drew out my scholarship notice and showed it to the taxi driver, who nodded and said something that was absolutely beyond me; and I decided to test my luck and jumped into the taxi. Well, in an hour’s time BLCU was definitely where I reached, but I did not know where exactly to get off. I looked around for help, and asked someone who seemed to be a student for help. On being asked, he said he spoke Chinese, and rapid fire conversation in Chinese with the driver followed. I was immediately driven inside the campus.
So, I was inside BLCU! Finally! I heaved a sigh of relief. But my relief turned to horror when I saw a long queue at some random dormitory where I was dropped off! There was a cafeteria nearby, and after a month I found out that was Dormitory No. 4! After waiting for about an hour, the receptionist (or rather ‘fuwuyuan’ as I learned later in classes) repeatedly said “NO” and “GO 9” in English. The rest was in Chinese. I was literally on the verge of pulling my hair out and dropped to the floor and started crying and howling.
Related: How To Book Accommodation At BLCU and Arriving At BLCU Without Accommodation
A couple of foreigners rushed towards me and picked me up, offered me water and asked me what the problem was. I told them I was jet lagged, I spoke no Chinese, and I needed to find my dormitory, and the lady at the counter just kept saying “Go 9” which did not make sense. One of the foreigners spoke to the lady and then told me that I had to go to Dormitory No. 9, which was meant specifically for scholarship students. Somehow, I managed to reach Dorm 9, and heaved a sigh of relief to find out that the ‘fuwuyuan’ there spoke some English!
So after you arriving at the Beijing International Airport, taking a one-hour taxi ride to BLCU, and eventually finding the correct dorm building for scholarship students (No. 9), what was next?
After registration at the university the next day, I was told there was an “orientation ceremony”. I really looked forward to it! In a few days, I made friends with classmates and with people who lived on my floor in the dorm. All of us were excited about the “orientation”, which meant different things to different people with different nationalities.
Related: Introduction To Life At BLCU
However, on the day of the “orientation”, we sat through a long boring speech on dos and don'ts in China, on handling depression, and how to respect rules! I definitely wanted someone to at least let us know how to use the library! We were students after all! Library introduction was definitely a mandatory according to my conceptualisation. Also, I really wanted to know about the campus, or the facilities available on the campus, or extracurricular activities or the grievance redress cell, or how to avail services of the hospital, etc.
None of them was discussed, and I was as bewildered as I was on the first day. I had imagined things would become easy after the orientation. But no! I was wrong. So, from things like water facilities (strangely enough not available in dormitories, for heavens knows what reason) to getting an Internet connection, to getting a phone recharge done, I had only NOBODY to rely on.
Thankfully, I met people from neighbouring countries, who pitched in and helped just because we spoke the same languages! On a completely different note, this helped strengthen what we South Asians call “People to people contact to ease animosity”. So, BLCU did prove to be a mini United Nations after all. It helped strengthen Track 2 diplomacy!
Going back to the problem of the lack of water in dormitories: BLCU’s dormitories are strange! My friends from Beida (Beijing University) and Tsinghua (University) told me drinking water facilities were available in their dormitories and they did not have to buy bottled drinking water like us! The issue is not the 15 RMB for a bottle of water, the issue is having to wait at times and going thirsty till water is delivered to the room!
Related: How To Get A 12L Water Tank At BLCU
The other irritating issue was that of getting an Internet connection! Well, BLCU is a respectable university, but I wondered why Wi-Fi facilities were not available to all the students for free. Besides the fact that renowned universities in my country (India) provide Wi-Fi facilities for free to students (since education is what the purpose of the existence of any university is), I also know of other universities in Beijing that provide Internet facilities either for free or for as cheap as 1 RMB! I paid 100 RMB! It was simply outrageous!
The dormitory continued to be a source of irritation throughout my stay in BLCU. Issues ranged from racist fuwuyuans to pathetic standards of hygiene in the washrooms to the dormitory turning into a hotel during the vacations: people who had to go to other provinces first landed in Beijing from their respective countries, rested in Beiyu for a day or two, and then proceeded to their final destinations. I failed to understand why long-term students were made to put up with random strangers in their rooms, or the fact that just two cooking plates were available in the kitchen, meaning that people had to queue up for hours.
For some of us, food became a serious issue. After falling sick a couple of times because of the food from the 'shitang' (canteen), I had to begin cooking myself. My stomach could not take any other kind of food anymore. There are also others who have religious considerations, as a result of which homemade food becomes a necessity. Two cooking plates is a joke! Seriously!
Since I have hit the topic of food, let us take a diversion to the quality of food and the levels of hygiene in the shitang! If I had to use one word, I’d just say, “pathetic”. The used dishes are just stacked one on top of the other, unwashed and stinking, flies hovering over food, cockroaches found in food items, and the list goes on. BLCU definitely can do a better job at the shitang standards!
I certainly agree that there are many hygiene and quality concerns around food in China, even at BLCU. I myself was sick many times during my one-year stay. The Internet process for new students could also be better streamlined to get them up and running without so much hassle. Please go on with your story...
The most irritating part was the absolute absence of a grievance redress cell! I spoke to my teachers, who lent me a sympathetic ear, but it ended at that. Diverting again to the dormitory: after classes, I needed to stay away from the dormitory as much as I could, so I sat at LaVita Cafe or the Beer Garden, or on the benches near the basketball courts.
Related: LaVita Cafe, BLCU
After a year of Mandarin, I was confident of my Chinese skills and decided to jump straight from 'chuji' (beginner level) to 'gaoji' (advanced level)! Well, it did seem intimidating, but thanks to the constant encouragement I got from my laoshi (teacher), life did not seem difficult. Soon enough, we were taken for a field trip (waidi shixi) and I got to experience more of China. That definitely was one thing I shall be thankful to BLCU for the rest of my life. It gave me the scope to interact with people from Southern China, and to get a different view from what I had been getting from people in the north.
Can you tell us a bit about your final semester at BLCU?
Another semester passed, and I was in 'gaoji xia'! The final semester! However, this semester was the most difficult one, not because of the language, but because of other reasons. It was this semester which made me realise how difficult it is to get things done in BLCU. In one of the chapters on population, the statistics for India were wrong, and were definitely not what the UN statistics for India are.
I brought this up in class, since I definitely know the population statistics for my own country just as well as I know my own name. But the teacher simply said it was impossible to change the books. Being fed with wrong data was definitely not something I came to BLCU for. In another chapter on the philosophies of life, it was stated that Hinduism is based on the four elements of life, while it is the five elements of life for China. This again was ridiculous, but there seemed to be no way to get this across. I definitely felt seriously disappointed. However, I let all the 'laoshis' know about this. I do not know if it had any effect or will ever have any effect.
These are all valid points, and unfortunately errors always abound in Chinese textbooks, as quality control is not always as good as in some other countries. It is a shame that they did not check their facts better. How about some of the positive aspects you found in studying at BLCU?
Yes, enough about the negatives of BLCU. Life definitely is a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly, and it is true for BLCU as well. Two years at BLCU taught me enough Mandarin to compete with someone who has learnt Mandarin for five years in India. BLCU also gave me the scope to showcase my country at the world cultural festival.
BLCU gave me two of the teachers I love and respect the most in my life, and was also the reason behind my meeting with our First Secretary (Culture and Education) the first time, as I went to invite him for the 50th anniversary of BLCU. BLCU also became the reason behind my boyfriend flying down from India to see the kind of environment I lived in. In the process, he proposed marriage at the Wu Club in Chinese!
Well, we had always known we would get married, but never did I dream that he would fly down to China, learn how to propose in Chinese (he learnt it from my laoshi, he says) and then finally fly back to India, making me realise that I would never be able to survive without him. So, I do have a lot of precious BLCU memories.
Related: 10 Reasons To Study Chinese At BLCU
In all honesty, I love BLCU, and since it is the Beijing Language and ‘Culture’ University, I shall end with something from my own culture. Our culture teaches us to love our parents and teachers (we also have the concept of filial piety like the Chinese do). BLCU gave me some of the best teachers of my life.
In addition to filial piety our culture also teaches us to criticise what is hindering the development of our social units of existence, because criticising is the first way to get rid of the problem that is holding us back. This is a form of love. Given the fact that I love BLCU dearly, I would be the happiest if the problems I had faced while I was there are dealt with and eradicated permanently, 因为我永远爱母校北语 (because I'll love my 'mother school' forever)!
One last thing...
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