A hard farewell of an Indonesian student

In the midsummer of 2015, when Xu Tianxiang, a student with a Chinese origin from Indonesia, was returning home after completing his study at Yunnan Normal University, he was full of melancholy. With a deep love of Yunnan, Xu Tianxiang told me that he would come back some day.

Recalling his study here, Xu Tianxiang clearly remembered the 2012 Spring Festival when he spent his first Chinese New Year in China with families of one of his classmates. Starting the early morning of the Spring Festival’s Eve, Xu and his classmate were busy putting on their traditional Chinese garments, putting up Spring Festival couplets, buying firecrackers and preparing the eight-dish dinner. Xu was born and brought up in Indonesia, and all these celebrations were both exciting and familiar. Amid the sound of firecrackers, he and his classmate’s family sat around a large square table and began to enjoy the Spring Festival’s Eve dinner. In the process, Xu Tianxiang received a red packet with best wishes for the next year from his classmate’s mother.

 “In addition to the Spring Festival, I experienced many other interesting festivals in Yunnan,” Xu Tianxiang said happily. Since he began his study at Yunnan Normal University in 2011, this kind-hearted and enthusiastic young man made a lot of friends in Yunnan. They invited him to celebrate all sorts of festivals. In the past four years, he has tasted moon cakes stuffed with flower petals for the Mid-Autumn Festival and Zongzi stuffed with red bean paste for the Dragon Boat Festival, experienced the coolness of the Water-Sprinkling Festival and the passion of the Torch Festival.

For Xu Tianxiang, tasting Yunnan food helped him better understand Yunnan. However, when he first came to Yunnan, Xu Tianxiang found the big servings of various delicacies hard to accept, for, in Indonesia, he had long been accustomed to small but frequent meals. He was shocked at the “big appetite” of Yunnan people, but soon after, he eventually succumbed to the temptation of delicacies and adapted himself to the Yunnan eating habit.

In his spare time, Xu Tianxiang took part in a lot of outdoor sports to exercise his body and practice his Mandarin. He found his own way of life in Kunming, an open and inclusive city, which became his second hometown. “When in Indonesia, my grandfather told me that Yunnan has poetic and picturesque scenery, and I had naively thought that he was referring to stunning sea views,” Xu Tianxiang said with a smile. In many places of Yunnan, Xu Tianxiang has really seen various “sea” views – the sea of fragrant flowers, the sea of verdant trees and the sea of people on the streets on holidays.

A hard farewell of an Indonesian student

In the midsummer of 2015, when Xu Tianxiang, a student with a Chinese origin from Indonesia, was returning home after completing his study at Yunnan Normal University, he was full of melancholy. With a deep love of Yunnan, Xu Tianxiang told me that he would come back some day. Recalling his study here, Xu Tianxiang clearly remembered the 2012 Spring Festival when he spent his first Chinese New Year in China with families of one of his classmates. Starting the early morning of the Spring Festivals Eve, Xu and his classmate were busy putting on their traditional Chinese garments, putting up Spring Festival couplets, buying firecrackers and preparing the eight-dish dinner. Xu was born and brought up in Indonesia, and all these celebrations were both exciting and familiar. Amid the sound of firecrackers, he and his classmates family sat around a large square table and began to enjoy the Spring Festivals Eve dinner. In the process, Xu Tianxiang received a red packet with best wishes for the next year from his classmates mother. In addition to the Spring Festival, I experienced many other interesting festivals in Yunnan, Xu Tianxiang said happily. Since he began his study at Yunnan Normal University in 2011, this kind-hearted and enthusiastic young man made a lot of friends in Yunnan. They invited him to celebrate all sorts of festivals. In the past four years, he has tasted moon cakes stuffed with flower petals for the Mid-Autumn Festival and Zongzi stuffed with red bean paste for the Dragon Boat Festival, experienced the coolness of the Water-Sprinkling Festival and the passion of the Torch Festival. For Xu Tianxiang, tasting Yunnan food helped him better understand Yunnan. However, when he first came to Yunnan, Xu Tianxiang found the big servings of various delicacies hard to accept, for, in Indonesia, he had long been accustomed to small but frequent meals. He was shocked at the big appetite of Yunnan people, but soon after, he eventually succumbed to the temptation of delicacies and adapted himself to the Yunnan eating habit. In his spare time, Xu Tianxiang took part in a lot of outdoor sports to exercise his body and practice his Mandarin. He found his own way of life in Kunming, an open and inclusive city, which became his second hometown. When in Indonesia, my grandfather told me that Yunnan has poetic and picturesque scenery, and I had naively thought that he was referring to stunning sea views, Xu Tianxiang said with a smile. In many places of Yunnan, Xu Tianxiang has really seen various sea views the sea of fragrant flowers, the sea of verdant trees and the sea of people on the streets on holidays.