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Nadezda Markovic met her husband Li Yuehai in China. She says his love has made her rich. Provided to China Daily |
51-year-old woman recalls her obsession, which began when she was a preschooler
Nadezda Markovic's romance with China began as a preschooler, when she received a beautiful red greeting card embossed with golden Chinese characters that had been sent from her mother's cousin living in China.
The cousin, born of Serbian-French parentage, worked as a French diplomat in China and speaks fluent Mandarin. Markovic loved the card, which featured a pair of lines of Chinese poetry that are often hung on the sides of front doors or as scrolls in homes.
She often gazed at the card for hours in her room and even tried to copy the characters on paper. It sparked an obsession in her to collect everything she could about China, including books, magazines and merchandise. Something as simple as a small red canister of balm was a treasure for Markovic.
In 1982, she went to a university in Belgrade, capital of Serbia, but was disappointed that she could only minor in the Chinese language. She returned home and told her mom she didn't want to go to college if she couldn't be a Chinese major.
"My mom was very worried and tried to persuade me to further my study," she says.
Markovic relented and chose Russian and Russian literature as her major, opting to take Mandarin as a minor.
Once the semester began, she found out too late that two of her three Chinese weekly classes and her Russian lessons clashed. Luckily, both teachers agreed she could take the first half of class to learn Russian, with the second half devoted to Chinese.
"Teacher Li was such a nice person and greatly helped me. I am very moved whenever I recall my classes with her," she says.
Teacher Li was the first kindhearted Chinese she had met. She was so moved by Li and by China that she resolved to one day move there.
"My parents understood my love for the Chinese language, culture, and country," she says.
In 1987, she came to China to study Mandarin at Beijing Language and Culture University, then called the Beijing Language Institute.
"I encountered many hospitable and interesting Chinese. Some were strangers that became friends," she says.
She says experienced kindness from everyone she met. When she didn't have a ration coupon to buy sugar, a grocery owner gave her one.
"Here I found a lot of love, and that is the most valuable thing in my life. It's made me so rich. I met a lot of friends and I was lucky enough and honored to have their love. And I met my husband here," says the 51-year-old.
Today, she helps her husband Li Yuehai with his company and at the O'Clay Sports Club, which has badminton and basketball courts. The couple loves sports and return to Serbia twice a year during the summer and winter to visit relatives and friends.
Markovic and her husband have also helped bring Serbian tennis clay court designers and contractors to build professional clay courts as well as therapeutic salt rooms in Beijing.
She says Serbians love tennis, though it doesn't hurt that Novak Djokovic, a Serbian, is the top men's player in the world and has a legion of Chinese fans.
In Serbia, she says it is not uncommon to see children playing tennis against housing buildings.
"Sometimes I think Chinese fans of tennis might visit Serbia to take tennis lessons and enjoy nature," she says.
She says traditional Chinese performance and acrobatics groups have visited Serbia, but that Serbians want to see China's modern art.
"China has a lot excellent performers of different artistic disciplines, and I hope more of them will have a chance to perform in Serbia. I also hope more Serbian artists will come to China.
"I have Chinese jazz musicians as friends and it would be great if they could soon participate at the International Belgrade Jazz Festival. I'll do my best to help."
xulin@chinadaily.com.cn
