On 1st of October 2019, students from both IMEM and MEMprograms attended the cross-cultural exchange program during the first day of China’s national week. Before the commerce of this event, all students and staffs were invited to visit Tsinghua’s Art Museum which is one of the iconic landmarks inside Tsinghua campus. There was a special exhibition known as “Everlasting Like The Heavens”,showcasing many beautiful and top-quality cultural artifacts of the successive Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang dynasties. This exhibition was held in line with the 70th anniversary on the formation of People’s Republic of Chinain1949. These four dynasties were regarded as the peak of Chinese civilisation in which the cultures, philosophies and technologies blossomed significantly during these periods. Some artifacts such as Terracotta Army from Qin dynasty and bronze wine vessel from early western Zhou dynasty were so mesmerising and this indicated the highest form of Chinese craftmanship in the past. Many IMEM students learned so much from this visit and were deeply impressed by the exhibition at Tsinghua’s Art Museum.
After the museum visit, the cross-cultural exchange program was held at theShundebuilding. Some IMEM students from different continents were invited to give brief presentations on their home countries. Mr. Nick, one of the IMEM students from cohort 2019 became the host of all presentations. The presentation began with IMEM student from Russia, followed by Pakistan, Indonesia, Greece and France. Some other participants were also invited to share their stories of their home countries in the midst of all presentations. The audience was excited and attentive at the same time during the presentation as many were very interested to understand more about other countries. Prof Zhang, the director of IMEM program was also very interested on the stories from many different continents across the world outside China. After that, there were two Chinese representatives from MEM that presented their opinions on China.
The first Chinese MEM student shared his stories with opinions on thefast changes of Chinese lifestyle, while the other MEM representative talked about the story of the high-speed railway across China including its impressive and successful development in the past decade. Both of their presentations were somehow aligned with the success story of China’s economic reform since 1979 and the 70th anniversary on the formation of People’s Republic of China this year marked a significant milestone of success for all Chinese people. Many international students got fruitful exposure on China from both of the presentations.
The students from both IMEM and MEM cohorts learned a lot from each from this event in term of deepening the understanding on each other’s countries and cultures. After that, all students and staffs had lunch together and the event was very successful with the group photo taken.
Writer: Kang Wee Shuien (IMEM 2019)
