[Laos] Tieo Chansamone, Chengdu Textile College
Encounter is the origin of fate, and acquaintance is the continuation of fate. I am an ordinary Laotian girl. When I sit in front of my computer and think back on my 21-year life journey, I am surprised to find that I have been involved with China for 14 years. In my memory, there are many things related to China’s mountains and rivers. It is because of these bits and pieces of memories about China that unconsciously condensed into a huge force, pulling me step by step to approach the nation. Finally, I’ve become an international student in China, and my fate with the country maintains real.
All Start from Phongsaly
Laos is a mountainous country, and my hometown is no exception. I think that without the help of Uncle Cao from China, I might still be in the mountains of my hometown like my parents.
My hometown is Phongsaly Ude county, in northern Laos, surrounded by mountains, with a mild climate and fertile soil. When I was 7 years old, a foreigner came to our hometown, and although the person was a foreigner, he looked very similar to us. Hailing from Yunnan Province, China, Uncle Cao came here to invest in banana cultivation in our county. Before his arrival, my hometown mainly grew grain for a living. The villagers worked at sunrise and returned home at sunset. Although the work was hard, the income was very low. After Uncle Cao arrived in my hometown, many people went to work in his banana plantation, and our income has been increased a lot. He is a very amiable person, who loves to play with kids. A most memorable thing is that every Spring Festival, Uncle Cao will buy me a new set of clothes and give me a red envelope with money as a lunar New Year gift. He said that it is the custom of the Chinese New Year. Once I was sick, Uncle Cao paid for my medical bills. Later, my parents bought a TV with their savings. Because of the closeness to China, we can also watch Chinese TV programs. From the TV show, I knew that the other side of the mountain was Xishuangbanna in Yunnan Province, and I knew that they also celebrated Songkran Festival. In addition to these similarities, I got to know more differences. Besides the Spring Festival, China also has other major festivals such as the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, and the Qingming Festival. In my daily life, my favorite thing to do is watching Chinese TV series, especially The Romance of the Three Kingdoms,Journey to the West, Princess Pearl and so on. These are the TV series broadcast on Chinese TV stations every year, and I like to watch them very much. Especially Journey to the West, I am never tired of watching it. I often think that if I had Monkey King’s magic power, I could turn over and go to a place 108,000 miles away, so that I could go to China conveniently. If I come to China, I can see the peach blossoms for the Chinese TV series To the Sky Kingdom and see the urban prosperity in the TV series Struggle. Gradually, I also learned many simple Chinese expressions on TV.
Chinese TV programs accompanied me all the way to middle school. At that time, I made up my mind to study in China and experience the world in the TV series.
Drink the Same River Water
As the Mother River, the Mekong is the largest river in Laos. Many of Laos’ well-off cities are built along the River.
After graduating from junior high school, I was finally admitted to a senior high school in another province through my efforts. Although my parents agreed to let me go to senior high school, they did not have enough money for me, and all the difficulties had to be handled by myself. I worked part-time while studying at school, spending three months every year during the holidays. To earn my tuition, I have been working in several cities along the Mekong River. I haven’t been home for more than two years. I worked like this for five years. In these five years, I have not given up learning Chinese by myself, and it is this persistence that has brought me an opportunity. By chance, I got the offer to work as a translator at Yunnan Construction Investment Ltd, which has an office in Vientiane. At the time, I was involved in a project to build a water conservancy project on the Mekong River. Sister Wang, who acts as the liaison, is particularly kind to me. Although I was able to do daily interpretation at that time, my written Chinese was not so good.
There were many Chinese characters that I could not write. Nonetheless, Sister Wang never blamed me but patiently taught me to write Chinese characters. She noted Chinese people stress being upright, and Chinese characters have many vertical and horizontal strokes. Writing Chinese characters is just like being a human being: you have to be straight and square, and only in this way the words we write can look good. Privately, Sister Wang took me with her a lot. I learned for the first time that the source of the Mekong River is from China. The upstream of the river is Lancang river, which is also the mother river in China’s Yunnan Province. I was told that Laos and Yunnan share the same river, which means Laos links closely with China.
Later, I also participated in some other projects along the Mekong River. I made the acquaintance of more Chinese people, who worked with Lao people to make the country better. These work experiences have enlarged my understanding of the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China, and I have felt the deep friendship between China and Laos. I gained insight into the political philosophy of the Chinese people to build a community with a shared future for mankind, and these working experiences made me realize the significance of translation work. I made up my mind to work as a bridge between the people in China and in Laos.
After working here for about a year, my application to study in China was finally approved. In 2021, I became an international student at Chengdu Textile College. My major is construction engineering, and I hope to build Laos as beautiful as China in the future.
Fight against COVID-19
Life is impermanent like running water, and so many things have passed unconsciously. In September 2021, I was supposed to have studied in China, but due to the coronavirus, I temporarily came to study at Luang Nam Tha Leizu College, which was jointly created by the Chinese school and Langnanta Normal College. According to the actual situation, Chinese schools have adjusted their teaching plans. In the morning, the Lao teachers of Leizu College will attend class on the spot, and in the afternoon, Chinese teachers will teach us online. With the joint efforts of the teachers of China and Laos, we have made rapid progress in our Chinese language. While attending classes, I also paid close attention to the spread and changes of the epidemic, which led to a lockdown of Luang Nam Tha. Meanwhile, thanks to the COVID-19 vaccines and anti-epidemic materials provided by Chinese side to the three northern provinces of Laos, followed by a Chinese team of medical testing experts, the epidemic has been basically controlled. At the same time, Chinese schools have also sent us masks, school supplies and other materials to ensure normal study activities. But at this time, I encountered new problems, I ran out of money from part-time work. After countless efforts, I have made my current achievements, do I have to give up my dream of studying abroad at the last moment? I was upset. When I was hesitating about what to do, Teacher Cheng from China reached a helping hand and paid the tuition for me, so my heart finally calmed down. Now I am always the first person to arrive at the classroom every day and the last to leave, sometimes even eating only one meal a day. But for the sake of that dream in my heart, I am not afraid of any hardship and tiredness.
“Suffering is like a dark cloud, and when you look at it, you can see that it is inky black, but when you are under it, it is only gray,”Richter once said. Looking back my life, I feel lucky although there were many hardships. I have traveled to many places in China, met many people, gained a lot of friendship – all these experiences are deeply embedded in my heart, and finally turned into a light, guiding me to bravely move forward. Now, under the guidance of Belt and Road Initiative, the China-Laos Railway, which symbolizes the friendship between China and Laos, has also been opened. The passage between China and Laos becomes smoother. I look forward to taking the high-speed train to study in China in the near future. I believe that one day, my dream will come true.
The story is from "My Beautiful Encounter with China" Essay Competition organized by the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchanges (CSCSE).
