I’m a student of mathematics and computer science from the University of Melbourne.
I studied, started studying Chinese in two thousand and thirteen, now obviously I’m
here at Fudan studying languages and interning in computer science company VMWare.
I really enjoy music, I love to sing.
I started playing guitar a little bit when I was a lot younger and I have really picked
that up again while I’m here so I’m really enjoying the music culture here at Fudan.
And I’m also separately quite an enthusiastic cyclist.
I found a community of Chinese and international cyclists here in Shanghai that are a great
bunch of people.
So when I have some time off I like to go out on a Saturday morning and ride along with
them.
I believe Australian and Chinese students have a really strong role to play in the future
of Australia-China relationship.
First of all, the students involved in this space at the educational level will go on
to become the leaders in business or in institutions or governments perhaps.
And so any people-to-people relationships that we build as students here will continue
to flow on to the future, when we’re hopefully leading the organisations involved in this
space.
What’s more, I think understanding of the language is absolutely essential to any cooperation
between cultures.
Because in order to understand what someone’s thinking it really is necessary to understand
what they are saying.
Initially of course my ideas on Chinese language as any Westerner studying Chinese was it was
very hard, it was overly complex, and I didn’t really see any rhyme or reason to Chinese
characters.
The longer I spent studying Chinese the more I loved the language.
I love the writing, it’s phenomenal, I think.
The most useful word I used in Chinese, I guess there are a couple, but most useful
in terms of most necessary in living here has got to be “qing wen”, because everything
I do here, everything I have learnt here, have been from asking people around me.
There’s really no substitute to just engaging with the people around you and being polite
about it.
So any students who go overseas and learn a language greatly enhance their ability to
negotiate, cooperate, and collaborate with people of the opposite culture.
And in this way we can improve our ability to understand each other and work together.
So my interest in China actually stems from my love of languages.
When beginning university I’d like to take on another language.
And thinking about which language I’d like to choose I thought about relevance.
I thought China currently has strong relevance to Australia and will continue to have relevance
in the coming century.
Whether it’d be in trade links or businesses operating jointly in China and Australia.
So I decided to start studying Chinese.
The New Colombo Plan isn’t just a university exchange.
It’s a leap forward into the Australia-China space.
For example my second day here in fact, I was involved in a luncheon for International
Women’s Day, organised by the Consulate here in Shanghai.
And it was a fantastic opportunity to start to meet the kinds of people who were involved
in business, who were involved in government, working between Australia and China.
Since the New Colombo Plan is a government initiative, I’ve been lucky enough to have
the support of the Consulate General here in Shanghai.
For example, I’ve been able to leverage the New Colombo Plan to form a new international
internship program in VMWare where I’m working.
Throughout the day we speak Chinese, they tell me about their world view.
I really like to discover the way they think about things, not only to do with work but
to do with life in general.
Through the support of the Australian Government I’ve been able to develop that program where
they hope, in the future, to take on new interns.
To anyone considering applying to the New Colombo Plan, absolutely go for it, it’s
a fantastic program.
And when you do, think about where you want to go and how you want to involve yourself
in that city.
Personally for me, I’ve been in Shanghai which has given me fantastic opportunity to
develop relationships with the business world.
For someone more interested in perhaps learning language, a smaller city with less foreigners
might be more suitable.
But wherever you go, get involved in the local culture.
Go to local restaurants, meet local people.
Over the national holiday – week long Golden Week holiday – I was lucky enough to be
invited to the home of a friend of mine I met here in Shanghai who lives in Yunnan,
which is the south-west of the country.
So I was, I was lucky enough to hear what they talk about over the dinner table, to
live with them for a week, and really develop my understanding of the Chinese way of life.
So I say to anyone applying, please apply, go for it, have a great time and get involved
in the local culture.