This is the first of a series of short biographies about Chinese students at UK. They'll be in both English and Mandarin Chinese, so keep an eye out for the next installment.
Jian Cai, a.k.a. Charlie, is a graduate Accounting student here at UK, and has just completed his first year of study. I sat down with Charlie to get to know him better. He speaks English fluently with a noticeable British accent. He likes BBC documentaries and the TV comedy “The IT Crowd,” which explains the source of his accent.
Charlie is from Guangdong China, a southern, coastal city that has occupied an important spot in Chinese history as the main port of entry for foreign powers during the 19th century, prior to the Opium War. While Mandarin is the national language in the People’s Republic of China, the major dialect spoken in Guangdong is Cantonese, which while similar in both writing and grammar to Mandarin, differs widely in pronunciation. Another distinctive feature of Guangdong and Cantonese culture is a form of dining known as dim sum. Charlie admitted that he missed the food of his hometown quite a bit, specifically one dish, fried radish cake.
Despite the food differences, Charlie had quite a few good things to say about Lexington and our southern hospitality. “People here smile rather often, which makes me smile too. It actually just makes you happy, the smiling and all the encouragement. One extraordinary thing is that people will hold the door for you. They don’t do that in China.”
Charlie has made some good friends within the Christian community in Lexington, and is very thankful for the support they provided him. “They’ll come pick you up at the airport, and they’re always inviting you to come spend time with them, they’re very warm and friendly.” Before coming to Lexington, Charlie spent some time visiting his uncle in California, but he said, “In California, life is faster paced, so it seems there’s less time spent on religion there.”
Even if life here in the bluegrass is slower paced, that doesn’t mean our schoolwork is any less rigorous. “The most difficult part for me is studying. I have to go to the library nearly every day and study very, very hard, but it has paid off, I earned a 3.75 GPA last semester.”
I asked Charlie if he had any other advice for new students coming from China and he had three points to offer. “First: Study English, this is your foundation, everything builds from this. You have to read books, watch movies; it is a life-long sort of study. I watched a movie that really inspired me to study English when I was younger; it was called “The King’s Speech.” Second: Be open-minded and active. Things are going to be different, and that’s exciting! Here, if you want others to notice your strengths, you have to put them on display, you have to share them. Third: Always prepare, it will make your life much easier if you do.”
We finished up our conversation discussing some of the differences between Lexington and China. “The biggest difference is in class. In China, you don’t raise your hand and ask questions, which might make your professor angry. At UK, you can talk to professors like they were friends and ask for help with things. All the encouragement I get from classmates and teachers really makes me feel welcome.”
这个小传是一系列肯塔基大学中国学生小传系列第一篇，情保持关注期待下一篇。蔡健来自广东，他是一年学生，专业是会计。我们一起坐下聊天儿。他说话的时候有明显的英国口音，他解释他看过很多的BBC纪录片和英国电影。最特别的电影是《国王的演讲》，他觉得很励志。他说：“英语是要终身学习，你需要读书，看电影，说话。”明显他的付出回报了。
我问他：“为什么来到肯塔基大学？” 他说：“我觉得列克星顿比大城市更地道美国式，每天我都要说英语。”来到列克星顿以后发现了肯州人有礼貌并且友好。“在美国，人们常常笑，让我也笑，他们都很欢迎我。”他跟基督教社区的人交朋友，对他们他很感激的。“他们来飞机场接送我，邀请我跟他们一起出去玩。”早前来肯州他去了加州看他的叔叔。“在加州生活太快了，他们没有很多宗教的时间，在列克星顿无论什么时候你还可以去教堂。”
尽管列克星顿的生活慢点儿，我们的大学课程还很难。“差不多每天我都去图书馆，必须学习非常非常努力。”
对新中国学生，健蔡攸三个建议：第一，学习英语，这是你的基础。第二，开放思想，积极主动，要想让别人看到你的优点，你需要分享你的优势。第三，总是做好准备，肯定让你的生活容易点。
最后，我们谈到肯州和中国不同的地方。“最大的是在上课，在中国你不举手，也不问问题，这也让教授生气，在美国你可以跟教授很轻松地聊天。我同学们的鼓励和教授们的帮助让我很温暧。”
