A Story form the Student's Perspective: Learning Chinese and Professional Development

A Story form the Student's Perspective: Learning Chinese and Professional Development

In the 14 years since I graduated from my first degree, the professional developments and personal goals I have achieved in that time owe more to the inspiration of Greater China and the Chinese language than I would ever have expected. It was not until a year or so after I graduated from Oxford University that I first visited Asia. I remember on my first visit to Hong Kong, in February 1994, peering out of the aeroplane window at a grey, drizzly, dank-looking city and beginning to wonder why on earth I had spent 12 hours travelling to get to such an unappealing-looking place! However, now that I feel I know the city so well, it is difficult for me to recall exactly the thrill of the culture shock I experienced being in Asia for the first time. I simply recall that everything fascinated me: not only the sights of the crowds of people in Central, the intricate temples and the dizzying high-rises, the delicious cooking smells emanating from homes and restaurants and incense on the breeze, the constant sounds of traffic and jackhammers in the city, but also quirky small scale details, for example, that the white lines and signs painted on the road included Chinese characters, or that plastic spoons are the shape of Chinese soup spoons rather than western teaspoons.