Burmese student's attachment to China

Editor's Note: Soe Lei May, whose Chinese name is Zhao Xiufang, was born in the city of Yangon in Myanmar. She attained the best scores in the university matriculation examination at high school and was awarded a district prize for her achievements. She is pursuing dentistry at Shanghai Jiao Tong University as a freshman this year, and has been granted the Shanghai Government Scholarship Type-B to support her studies in China.

May’s journey in China

Being a third-generation migrant Chinese to Myanmar, May has learned about Chinese culture since childhood, particularly the festivals, music and movies. She had a dream of pursuing higher education in China and made herself familiar with Chinese social media, such as WeChat, Douyin and QQ.

In 2019, not long after she graduated from high school, she had the opportunity to visit Guilin city in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region with her family.

To her surprise, she discovered that Guilin was a combination of nature and art. The scenery was fascinating and the customs of Chinese ethnic cultures made the place even more breathtaking. She tried on the clothes of Miao people and said that the sparkling silver head-wear and long dresses were glorious.

May visited a company in Guilin and found that the working environment was friendly. The company provided employees with high-end facilities, including a gymnasium, a football field and transportation.

May also visited Guangzhou in Guangdong province. There, she discovered how advanced the technologies in China were. After her visit, May knew more about the beauty of China, its people, and its well-developed technologies.

Pursuing higher education

In 2021, May’s father went to Shanghai Jiao Tong University for a short training program on implantology in dental surgery. Since then, she has learned more about the university's reputation as one of the top-tier universities in China.  May applied for the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Pre-University Program and was admitted with the freshmen scholarship for her excellent academic performance.

Due to the difference in the education systems of China and her home country,  May encountered difficulties at the beginning, such as the online teaching system and the language, but she solved them swiftly thanks to the help offered by classmates and teachers. Finally, she passed the HSK-6 examination.

She also demonstrated her talents in other subjects, such as mathematics, English, chemistry, and physics. Through her hard work, she achieved the Excellence Award in 2021 Math Contest of International Students. She also served as a representative in the English class and helped to host activities, such as the English Speech Contest, and won third prize for an English play.

May not only did a good job in her academic studies, but also participated in other activities and won prizes. She exerted great efforts in practicing her Chinese calligraphy and won third prize. She also appreciates the unique charm of classical Chinese poetry. As a contestant in a Chinese themed video competition, she won third prize with a video of a temple full of Chinese elements.

One of her favorite courses is Chinese culture, in which she learns about Confucius and Mencius, geography, architecture, dialects, martial arts, handicrafts, folk songs, operas, and food. It was the first time she had the opportunity to learn about the many different aspects of China.

The very first celebration she spent in China was Mid-Autumn festival in September. She learned more about traditional Chinese festivals and participated in lots of activities. She also performed in a singing performance with three other friends, two from Malaysia and one from Japan.

She felt lucky to have met so many friends from different countries and cultures who shared the same dream of studying in China. Furthermore, she helped to organize the New Year Party and the Commencement Ceremony. Students enthusiastically participated in the activities with their astounding performances.

As time went by, she performed better academically and fully acclimatized to life in China.. The school provided each student with consulting services to support their studies and applications for colleges, and May made sure to attend a personal meeting with her counselor once a month. She valued each test and interview and was ready to show her potential in the final assessment.

After a whole-year of hard work and under the guidance of her teachers, she was admitted into Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine to pursue her dream major, dentistry, with the Shanghai Government Scholarship Type-B. She also won the scholarship for her excellent academic performance and comprehensive abilities in the pre-university period.

The beginning of pre-university life

Shanghai Jiao Tong University's School of Medicine is one of the key colleges that recruit overseas students in China. It admits not only scholarship students recommended by the China Scholarship Council, but also non-scholarship students for undergraduates, postgraduates, PhDs and advanced studies. The school system covers 23 colleges, such as the Basic Medical College and Clinical Medical College, and 13 affiliated hospitals.

There are two eight-year programs (clinical medicine and stomatology), and seven undergraduate programs (clinical medicine, stomatology, biomedical science, preventive medicine, medical laboratory science, nursing and nutriology). The school began to admit foreign students in 1967 and established inter-collegiate relations with 61 schools from 19 countries around the world. It cultivates students to become talents in the medical field and promotes the school's all-round development. May said she feels honored to have been admitted into the school.

For the first semester, she is taking Chinese, calculus, basic chemistry, medical physics, and Python classes. As a freshman, she is both nervous and excited. The lecturers are experienced and she appreciates the flexible time arrangements.

The Chinese lectures are related to medicine and it is good for her to build a foundation for the usage of Chinese medical terminology terms.  

She surprisingly found that the professor of calculus class was once an announcer for the school radio program. She could not only learn mathematics but also listen to the professor’s rich vocabulary and stories to better memorize the formulas.

Plans for the future

After graduation, May said she will pursue a master’s degree in China. While pursuing her career, she is also determined to become an international speaker in dental meetings and explore new breakthroughs in the field of dentistry. She would also like to participate in volunteering programs to enhance the oral health of the people.

May said that she wants to impart the knowledge to the people of Myanmar and lend them a hand in pursuing their studies in China.  She shared her story to one of her home friends and helped her friend get admitted into Nanjing Medical University.  

She wants to help more students in Myanmar to understand higher education in China and strives to improve people's oral health by applying the skills she has gained.  She believes that she has a meaningful and bright future. She wishes for an ever-lasting relationship between herself and China.