中国吸引来自亚洲各地的华裔学生

Ang Yi Lin, an international student from Singapore, stands in front of the library at Peking University. (Photo: Yuri Imamura)

After a hard day studying international politics at Peking University, Valerie Ang Yi Lin kicks back in a cafe.

Ang Yi Lin, 23, a Singaporean of Chinese descent, attended a school for Singaporean Chinese from an early age, which explains her fluent Mandarin. Despite this, she admits hardly knowing anything about China before coming to Peking University. But as China’s economy booms, the “motherland” is catching the attention of ethnic Chinese such as Ang, who were raised elsewhere.

In the past, the West was the most popular destination for Singaporeans studying abroad. However, in 2005, when Ang was in her third year at junior high school, a “Bicultural Studies Program” was added to the Singapore curriculum, teaching Chinese culture, history, politics and economics. The Singapore government also began handing out scholarships to encourage young people to study in China. With China developing at a breakneck pace, the aim was to raise a generation of Chinese-literate citizens who could contribute to Singapore’s future. The same year saw 20 Singaporean Chinese heading off to study in Beijing. By 2006, this number had increased fivefold.

Singaporeans receive a Western–style education, so Ang says people of her generation tend to have the same outlook as young people in the West.

Ang used to think Chinese people often lacked manners.

“I couldn’t understand why they didn’t queue properly and tried to push others out of the way,” she says.

After studying in Beijing for four years, though, her outlook has changed slightly. “Once you live in China you understand; with so many people here, you wouldn’t get anywhere if you just queued up politely. I realized that if you want to survive in China, you just have to fight your way through.”

Ang says she is not a fan of everything modern-day China has to offer. “To take one example, China clearly has a problem with air pollution. But Singapore says it needs workers who have lived in China, so if I keep heading down this path, it will position me well for the future. I will have an advantage over others. That’s the main thing for me.” She plans to stay in China for a while after graduating.

The pull of China’s growing economy can also be felt in Indonesia, where ethnic Chinese are in the minority.

“I am so happy China is doing well. It makes me feel proud,” says Herman Kasem, 39, a worker at the Indonesian branch of a major Chinese steel company.

A fourth-generation immigrant, Herman lived in Jakarta up until university and could speak no Chinese at all. At age 25, he accompanied a sick relative who was going to China to receive long-term treatment at a Beijing hospital. While there, he studied Chinese. On his return to Indonesia two years later, he got a job at a lumber company. When one of his Chinese clients realized Herman could speak Chinese, he was offered a job.

Anti-Chinese demonstrations were common in Indonesia under the regime of former President Suharto, who held office for more than 30 years. For a long time, it was forbidden to teach Chinese in schools. Shops owned by ethnic Chinese were also targeted in riots in the late 1990s. Herman recalls being bullied as a child because of his Chinese ancestry. In recent times, though, Indonesia’s rulers have worked hard to improve relations with China.

“Lots of cash is flowing into Indonesia from China and there are now more chances for Indonesian Chinese like me. People won’t look down on me anymore,” he says.

Dandy Fantoan, 31, works for an IT company. When he was a child, he says he almost lost his sense of identity. “I couldn’t speak Chinese and considered myself to be Indonesian, but others regarded people like me as Chinese.”

His father often told him to never forget his Chinese roots. Indeed, it was due to his father’s recommendation that Dandy went to Beijing to study at Tsinghua University. On his return to Indonesia, he found work at a company that was opening a string of department stores and businesses across China. He says the more China rose to global prominence, the more strongly he felt Chinese.

“I love Indonesia, but I also don’t want to lose my Chinese identity,” says Dandy. “As an Indonesian Chinese, I want to become a bridge connecting the two countries.”

HUI CHINESE: BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN CHINA AND THE ISLAMIC WORLD

In a basic Arabic course for foreign students at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, the teacher writes simple Arabic sentences on the blackboard.

The students recite the words, “The student studies Arabic. The student plays soccer.”

Al-Azhar, one of the most prestigious centers of Islamic learning, attracts 40,000 Muslim students from 140 countries. There has been a surge in the number of Chinese students over the last five or six years.

According to Sheikh Ali Abdul Baqi, head of the university’s Islamic Research Center, there are currently 1,534 Chinese students.

The Chinese diaspora stretches far and wide across the globe. This diaspora is often synonymous with Han Chinese, but with Chinese economic influence spreading across the Middle East and Africa, the Muslim “Hui” ethnic group is rising to prominence as a bridge between the China and the Islamic world.

Muslims only account for around 1.5 percent of China’s population, but this still adds up to an impressive 20 million people. Many Muslims came to China in the 13th century, when the Mongol Empire ruled from China down to west Asia. Apart from certain minorities such as the Uighurs, Chinese-speaking Muslims are known as “Hui.” Islamic communities can be found throughout the whole country.

According to Sheikh Ali Abdul Baqi, head of the Al-Azhar’s Islamic Research Center, there are currently 1,534 Chinese students. “This is proof that China and Egypt are forging closer bonds,” he says.

Near the dormitory for overseas students, there is a Chinese restaurant. It was opened two years ago by Amina Nashwan and her mother. Amina, 21, is an international student who hails from Liaoning province. The chef, 31-year-old Marsis, is another international student from China. The restaurant provides authentic Chinese food at inexpensive prices and is always busy.

Chinese goods such as clothes, sundries and electrical products are now flooding into stores throughout Cairo and the wider Arabian world. Xinhua, China’s official news agency, built a new building for its Middle East Regional Bureau in Cairo in 2005. Most of its articles are translated into Arabic before dispatch.

Lin Ma, 26, hails from Yunnan province and is a fourth-year Arabic student at Al-Azhar University. “In the future I want to teach Islamic education back home, but I might also work as an Arabic interpreter for a company in Guangzhou for a while to earn money,” he said.

Another international student is Chao Wang, 28, a Hui Chinese who also comes from Yunnan. He teaches at an Islamic school back home under the Islamic name of “Abdel Wahab Ben Adam.” He enthusiastically spoke about his desire to “study in Arabic at the most prestigious Islamic education institution.”

As a Muslim, Wang is well-aware of his dual responsibility as a bearer both of Chinese culture and of a wider, borderless Islamic civilization.

在北京大学上了一整天的国际政治课之后，瓦莱丽·昂依林找了一个咖啡馆坐下来休息。

23岁的昂依林是一位华裔新加坡人，自幼就读于中文学校 ，因此说一口流利的普通话。尽管如此，她仍然承认自己在来北大之前，对中国知之甚少。但随着中国经济的发展，“祖国”正吸引着他们这些在外长大的华裔人士的目光。

在过去，西方国家是新加坡人海外留学的首选目标。但2005年，当昂依林读初三时，新加坡课程中增加了“双元文化项目”，教授中国文化、历史、政治和经济。新加坡政府还通过将奖学金项目来鼓励年轻人去中国留学。随着中国的迅猛发展，新加坡政府的目的是培养一代熟悉中国的国民，为新加坡的未来做贡献。同年，有20名华裔新加坡人来北京留学。截至2006年，这一数字增加了五倍。

新加坡人接受的是西式教育，因此昂依林说她们这一代人与西方的年轻人拥有同样的观念。

她还一度认为中国人通常不讲礼貌。

她说：“我不明白为什么她们不爱排队，还试着把别人推出队伍。”

然而，在北京学习了四年，她的世界观发生了细微的变化。“一旦你生活在中国，你就会明白。中国人实在太多了，如果你仅仅是有序地排队，你永远也轮不到。我开始意识到，如果想要生活在中国，你就必须突出重围。”

昂说她并不盲目追求现代中国提供的任何东西。“举例说明，中国存在明显的空气污染问题。但新加坡政府说需要曾在中国生活过的员工，所以如果我一直朝着这个方向努力，未来职业发展就很看好。我会比别人有优势。对我来说，这是主要的事情。”她计划毕业后在中国待上一段时间。

印尼也感受到了中国强劲的发展势头，印尼华裔仅占人口的少数。

今年39岁的赫尔曼·卡萨姆是中国一家大型钢铁厂印度尼西亚分厂的工人，他说：“看到中国越走越好，我十分高兴，也倍加自豪。”

赫尔曼是第四代的移民，从出生到上大学一直居住在雅加达，他不会讲任何汉语。25岁那年，他陪同一位生病的亲戚准备前往中国北京的一家医院接受长期治疗。就是在那，他学习了汉语。两年后，他回到印度尼西亚，在一家木材厂找到了工作。赫尔曼的一个中国客户知道他会讲中文，因为这个原因，他得到了这份工作。

在印度尼西亚前总统苏哈托执政的30多年间，印尼的反华游行十分普遍。在相当长的一段时间里，学校是禁止教习汉语的。在20世纪90年代后期，华裔商人开的店也经常遭到攻击。赫尔曼回想起来，在他孩童时代，还曾因为自己的中国血统被别人欺凌。然而近几年，印度尼西亚的领导者都在竭力改善同中方的关系。

赫尔曼说道：“当前，大量现金正从中国流入印度尼西亚，这就给像我这样的华裔印度尼西亚人提供了更多的机会。人们不会再轻视我了。”

丹迪·范特安现年31岁，在一家IT公司工作。他说在他小的时候，自己几乎没有什么身份的概念。“我不会说汉语，所以一直认为自己是印度尼西亚人，可别人总把像我这样的人看作是中国人。”

他的爸爸经常告诉他不能忘记自己的中国根。的确，也正是因为爸爸的建议，丹迪去了清华大学学习。回到印尼，他在一家公司找到了工作，该公司名下的一系列的百货商场和企业遍布中国。他说，中国在世界上越出名，他就越能感觉到自己的那种民族根。

丹迪说：“我喜欢印度尼西亚，但是我也不想丢掉我的中国身份。作为一个华裔印度尼西亚人，我想要成为沟通两国的桥梁。”

华裔回族人：缩小中国和伊斯兰世界差距的桥梁。

在埃及爱资哈尔大学专为外国留学生开设的基本阿拉伯课上，老师在黑板上写下了几个简单的阿拉伯语句子。

学生进行背诵，“学生学阿拉伯语。学生踢足球。”

作为最富盛名的伊斯兰教学习中心之一，爱资哈尔大学吸引了全球140个国家的4000名穆斯林学生。在过去的五、六年间，中国学生的数量激增。

爱资哈尔大学穆斯林研究中心的主席谢赫·阿里·阿卜杜勒·巴齐称，当前该校共有1534名中国留学生。

中国侨民绵延甚广，遍布全球。他们通常是汉族的代名词。但随着中国经济影响力在中东和非洲日益增强，穆斯林回族群体也逐渐成为沟通中国和穆斯林世界的桥梁，并因此广为人知。

中国人口中，穆斯林人虽然仅约占1.5%，但这足足增加了2000万人。13世纪，许多穆斯林人来到中国，那时蒙古帝国的统治范围从中国一直延伸到西亚。除了一些少数民族，如维吾尔族，其余说汉语的穆斯林都被称作“回族”。全国各地都有伊斯兰群体的足迹。

爱资哈尔大学穆斯林研究中心的主席谢赫·阿里·阿卜杜勒·巴齐称，当前该校共有1534名中国留学生。他说：“这足以证明中国和埃及正建立起更紧密的联系。”

在留学生宿舍附近有一家中国餐馆。它是两年前由阿米娜纳什旺和她的妈妈开的。阿米娜今年21岁，是来自辽宁省的国际学生。31岁的马西是餐馆的厨师，同样，他也是一名中国留学生。餐馆以低廉的价格向客人提供正宗的中国菜肴，生意总是很火爆。

中国的商品，如衣服、小饰品、电器产品，正逐渐涌入埃及和广大阿拉伯世界的市场。2005年，中国的官方资讯机构新华社在开罗为它的中东地区分局建了一座新的建筑。发稿之前，大部分稿件都要被

马林，26岁，来自中国云南省，现在是爱资哈尔大学阿拉伯语专业的四年级学生。他说：“未来，我想要回到家乡从事伊斯兰语的教学，但我也可能会在广州的某个公司待上一段时间做阿拉伯语

还有一个国际留学生名叫王超，今年28岁，也是来自云南的回族人。回到家乡后，他在一所伊斯兰学校教课，他的伊斯兰名字是“阿卜杜勒·瓦哈卜本·亚当”。他满怀热情地说他希望能在最著名的阿拉伯教育机构研习阿拉伯语。

作为穆斯林人，王很清楚自己作为中国文化和广阔、无国界的伊斯兰文明的承载者的双重责任。