Ukrainian students embrace Chinese

KIEV - Singing the Chinese folk song Jasmine Blossom, doing a traditional Chinese dance and performing a Chinese wedding ceremony, Ukrainian college students share their understanding of Chinese culture during a theatrical performance.

The show, titled Golden Rooster Heralds the Arrival of Spring, was recently held at the Confucius Institute of the Kiev National Linguistic University.

The fluency in Chinese, demonstrated by the young Ukrainian performers, means much to them as Chinese is deemed in Ukraine as "a language of new chances".

"I learn Chinese because it means tremendous opportunities in Kiev," says Pavlo Zvenyhorodskyi, a final-year student in his early 20s at the Confucius Institute.

Zvenyhorodskyi has already received several job offers from Ukrainian and foreign companies because he is proficient in Chinese. This is still a language that few of his fellow Ukrainians can speak.

His love for Chinese culture and language was fostered in childhood while watching Chinese movies on VHS tapes in his hometown of Chernigov in northern Ukraine.

Zvenyhorodskyi, who won a prize in the Chinese Bridge Proficiency Competition for foreign college students, has drawn wide attention in Ukraine. He says it would have been impossible for him to achieve this without the support of his teachers at the Confucius Institute.

"These people are very committed to their job. They do their work not because it is a duty, not because they are paid the salary, but because it is the call of their hearts and souls," says Zvenyhorodskyi.

The efforts of the Confucius Institute teachers were greatly appreciated not only by the students, but also by professionals.

In 2015, the KNLU Confucius Institute, which was then less than 3 years old, was ranked among top 20 Confucius Institutes worldwide.

In 2016, Shi Yajun, president of the KNLU Confucius Institute, was granted an individual honor for his outstanding contribution.

Shi says he attaches great importance to combining the complementary advantages of teachers from China and Ukraine.

"Chinese teachers are native speakers, and they have vast experiences in tutoring, while Ukrainians are well aware of how to teach local students," says Shi.

As China is cementing its position in the global arena, Chinese is rapidly gaining popularity in Ukraine.

The number of students enrolled at the KNLU Confucius Institute increased more than tenfold between 2013 and 2017.

"Now we teach between 800 and 1,000 students per year. There were only 59 students learning Chinese when the institute opened," says Shi.

Xinhua