During this period, in addition to teaching Chinese students, I also made several off-campus friends, including elderly people over 60 years old, current employees from different industries, and smart and studious teenagers.

Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition

On April 30, 1985, Wang Xizeng (left) and his wife took a photo on Finland .

On June 7, 1986, Finnish students studied Chinese at Wang Xizeng's home.

In the 1980s, I taught at the University of Helsinki, Finland for more than two years. During this period, in addition to teaching Chinese students, I also made several off-campus friends, including elderly people over 60 years old, current employees from different industries, and smart and studious teenagers. Sometimes, they invite my wife and I to visit our home and spend weekends; sometimes, they come to our residence to talk, practice Chinese, and deepen their understanding of China's history, culture, customs and beautiful mountains and rivers, so that we can travel and study in China in the future. Among them is an old man in his seventies who once lived in China. She never forgets her second hometown - China. There is also a smart and studious boy who studied Chinese hard in order to realize his ideal of becoming a Sinologist.

Anniki's second hometown

The next day we arrived in Finland, we received a call from a woman who said in fluent and Hunan-style Mandarin : "I am Anniki Sibilai, welcome you to work in Finland. China is my second hometown, and I will find me if I have difficulties in the future..."

Anniki was a obstetrics and gynecology nurse when she was young. In 1939, she set out from Finland. Although the road was difficult, after three months of bumpy ride, she finally arrived in China and went to Hunan Xiangya Hospital . She persisted in the harsh environment at that time for more than 8 years before returning to her long-lost motherland and reunite with her relatives. "Without the care and help of Chinese friends, I would not be today! China is my second hometown that I will never forget!" Anniki said.

Indeed, Anniki never forgot about China. During traditional Chinese festivals, she would invite my wife and I to her house to celebrate the festival. One Spring Festival, she specially invited several old sisters to spend a "China-Finn" New Year's Day with us - she ate dumplings with Finnish cuisine. According to traditional Chinese customs, she posted a reversal character "Fu" in the middle of the wall opposite the door, and under the character "Fu" is a Christmas tree covered with colorful lights. During the meal, she was a translator, and everyone blessed each other and chatted and laughed. It was so unhappy!

Anniki hoped that more people would learn Chinese and understand China. With her encouragement, several elderly people expressed their desire to learn Chinese so that they could form a group to visit China in the future and learn about Chinese culture.

The elderly are very motivated. After the Spring Festival, they formed a class and found a quiet room to be used as a classroom. On a snowy afternoon, the Chinese class of this class officially began. Every Wednesday afternoon, my wife and I take turns teaching them. The elderly study hard, hardworking and serious, and sometimes they will say excitedly: "Learn Chinese well and travel all over China."

What makes Anniki feel relieved is that she, who is over 70 years old, later formed a group trip to China several times, and returned to Xiangya Hospital, where she worked and lived for 8 years, and took a look. She was extremely excited by the great changes and rapid development of China! The reading sound of children's amusement park

The spring and summer alternate, from mid-May to mid-August, the school was on holiday and employees took turns to take off. Anniki invited my wife and I to visit Arctic Circle . On the way back, she told me that a child from a friend from another place wanted to learn Chinese from us, but the time was not finalized.

Two days after returning to my residence, one summer morning, I went to the beach park and walked along the winding embankment to enjoy the beautiful coastal scenery. Suddenly, accompanied by the song of birds in the distance, the sound of Chinese reading came from the children's amusement park behind. I followed the sound into the amusement park. It turned out that a teenage girl was reading aloud with a Chinese book intently, and there was a "Pocket Chinese-English Dictionary" next to it.

"Good morning! Girl." I walked up to say hello.

"Good morning, sir! Are you a Chinese teacher at of the University of Helsinki, right?" She stood up and looked at me and said.

"Yes. You are..."

"I am Li Sulan-Xibazi Li, Su Yan, Lan of Finland. I am your future student."After pausing for a moment, she added politely: "Is it a bit presumptuous to say this?" "

" Where, where! You are welcome to learn Chinese. The more people learn Chinese, the more they can promote mutual understanding between the people of our two countries and enhance friendship! Your Chinese name is beautiful and you speak well in Chinese. You are..." I did not dare to rashly express my guess about where she learned Chinese.

"I learned Chinese in the United States. "She told me the story of her learning Chinese.

3 years ago, Li Sulan and her parents went to the United States to travel and met a Chinese girl studying in the United States. Although two girls from different countries met by chance, they had a speculative conversation. The Chinese girl was very enthusiastic and introduced her to China's culture, history, art, and scenic spots, and taught her some simple Chinese sentences and Chinese characters. But the Chinese student was studying in another city at the time. A few days later, the two said goodbye in a hurry. Before leaving, the Chinese girl gave Li Sulan a beautiful Chinese handicraft and gave her to her. A beautiful Chinese name was given - Li Sulan.

The long Chinese history, splendid Chinese culture, and beautiful Chinese scenery all attracted Li Sulan, and the kindness and enthusiasm of the Chinese girl made her feel warmer. So Li Sulan decided to learn Chinese. After many twists and turns, she found out that in the city where they were traveling at that time, there was a school to teach Chinese, so she asked her parents to agree to learn Chinese. Her parents had to change their travel plans and sent her to the school's short-term Chinese class for one month.

"It was because the time was too short and she learned too little. "Recalling his learning experience at that time, the little girl felt quite regretful.

"I hope to become a sinologist"

"I don't have a school to teach Chinese in my hometown, and no one understands Chinese. I can only read these two Chinese books at home and write Chinese characters, but I don't have the guidance of the teacher, and I don't know if I read it correctly. "Li Sulan smiled and said, "Just a few days ago, my mother's friend Anniki asked me to learn Chinese from you. "

It turns out that the child Anniki said a few days ago was the little girl in front of her. I invited her to come to college to take Chinese classes after the summer vacation.

"Teacher, that's not possible. "After hearing what I said, the little girl became a little anxious, "My home is in a small village two or three hundred kilometers away from Helsinki , and I am in middle school and I can't go to college to attend classes every day. But now I live in a relative's house in Helsinki and want to take advantage of the holidays. Please teach me Chinese. But the time is too short, so I can only stay here for 11 days, and I have to work for a short period of time after returning to my hometown. I plan to learn Chinese for two hours every morning. Is it convenient for you? "Her plan has been done long ago and the time has been arranged very tightly.

I nodded to agree and praised her for her diligence and studious. At that time, a friend had already made a plan and invited us to travel abroad, but in order not to disrupt Li Sulan's plan, I decided to change my travel plan.

"That's great!" With my consent, the little girl smiled happily.

We walked out of the children's amusement park, circled the tree-shaded road on the artificial island, and talked while walking.

" The conversation just now, even if your entrance exam has good grades, you can get full marks. "I said half-jokingly, and then made a study plan with her. I started learning on time at 8 o'clock every morning. After teaching the text, I helped her practice speaking Chinese and taught her to write Chinese characters. Whenever I rested in the middle, she always said, "It is a rare opportunity for me to talk to Chinese teachers, so I should hurry up. "

Li Sulan studied hard and practiced seriously. She wrote down all the content I said in detail in the notebook and asked to leave more homework. Later, she not only extended the study time by one hour every day, but also decided not to work for the time being and learn Chinese for half a month longer.

She is very interested in language, literature, and art. She can speak English, Russian, etc., and insists on learning Chinese, Spanish . I said that I wish her the dream of becoming a linguist, but she said: "I don't want to be a linguist, I hope to become a sinologist. "

" China has a long history and is a treasure house of culture and art. But in Finland, there are very few people who truly understand Chinese culture, and I want more people to understand China. "Li Sulan said firmly.

(all pictures provided by the author)

(Wang Xizeng, born in 1939. In 1962, he graduated from the Chinese Department of Beijing Normal University, worked at the Beijing Language Institute in 1965, and was later seconded to the Peking University International Student Office to teach Chinese. At the end of 1969, he returned to the second department of the Chinese School of Beijing Language Institute to teach advanced Chinese until his retirement. During this period, he taught at Pakistan , Romanian , Finland, the United Kingdom and Thailand universities for nearly 9 years.)