Humans of HUST: An Introduction

A friend, and a fellow fellow (see what I did there?), started an awesome project at her University called #shareQufu. Every week, she interviews a different student who attends Qufu University and then shares the interview with family and friends back home. I'm stealing her idea, because I think it's an awesome way for me to get to know my students better and for my fam to get insight into the lives and thoughts of young Chinese people.

 Because of the irresistible consonance, and the additional inspiration from "Humans of New York," I'm calling this project "Humans of HUST." HUST stands for "Huazhong University of Science and Technology." I've posted about it earlier, but as a university, it can be compared to MIT, in terms of the science focus and the level of rigor. Apparently, it used to be known as the 'forest college,' some years back, when the area surrounding it wasn't an explosion of shopping malls. Happily, plenty of forests still exist inside of the college, and my first student interview took me to one today.

Enjoy!

Human of HUST: Shi Can

My first featured student is Shi Can (pronounced "Tsan"), a freshman at HUST. She is in my narrative writing class this term. We met at her favorite place on campus, which is a lovely, shaded forest next to the library. Shi Can prefers this area because it is cool and quiet. She also happens to love trees.

You can tell right away that Shi Can is an English major. She comes to our interview prepared, with a book filled with marginalia and post-its notes. Before I ask her any questions, she launches into an analysis of the book, which is called “Kaili Blues.” She translated an important quote into English to share with me. The quote is translated as: 

"In the modern life, the world belongs to folly and numbness and temptations. Today, successful men are those who have the qualifications to enter the madhouse, who are immoral, slightly manic and lack the ability to think.”

Shi Can related this quote to life in China: "Nowadays, people are very anxious. They are always hurried to run after something, including me. Sometimes we don’t know what we really need and indeed we are not very knowledgeable about ourselves. People just follow others, so they will be anxious and upset. Even though they will be very busy but they have no time to calm down to think. That is why the author said the world is numb and full of temptation. Many people think they know very well about themselves, but they don’t." She went on to discuss the trend in China to associate attending good colleges (Peking University, Tginhua) with future success, and that many people who matriculate from these excellent schools find themselves lost, anxious, and rushed. That, despite having attractive qualifications, many people still can only follow others and lack the ability to listen to themselves. As she says, "They don’t know how they should spend the rest of their lives, so many people are confused about their lives. Sometimes I am also confused about myself but I try to know more about myself. Even though I know I need to do that, but sometimes I also feel I know very little. I try to read more books. But, the books I have finished are very few. But if I have time, I will read more books to find the answer about my confusion."

Clearly, Shi Can is a thoughtful, intelligent young woman. I wasn't surprised to hear that her given name, "Can" means 'brilliant,' like a star shining in the sky. Her mother gave her this name to bless her with a bright future. Unlike English names, Chinese names have the family name first, followed by the given name. Her family name, "Shi," is a very unusual one, and falls outside the ranks of the popular last names in China (Wang, Li, etc). She often has to explain the pronunciation to people she meets, and she does this by alluding to a famous Chinese novelist from ancient times, Shi Nai'an, whim whom she shares a name. 

Shi Can is from Hebei province, which is north of Hubei (where Wuhan is), and closer to Beijing. She grew up in a small village. When she thinks of her home, certain sights and smells spring to mind. She thinks of the early mornings; "the air in the village is very brisk, and there is a special smell in my hometown in the morning, you will smell the smell of the trees, the trunks, and the smell of the fog." And, she thinks of her grandma and great-grandma, who both still do house and garden work to this day. Shi Can loves to spend time with her grandmas and will sometimes sit besides them as they prepare vegetables or take care of their chickens. 

Shi Can bursts with ideas and dreams. She seems to be interested in everything, but when I ask her about her hobbies, she responds simply: "Reading books." She refers to another famous Chinese writer and how he once wrote that it is easy to be limited or restricted by yourself. Shi Can wants to keep on reading and discovering, but is quick to shake her head and note, "I find that when I read books, it seems that I look like I understand what the writer said, but later, I found that I just understood what I have already understood. So many times, you will be restricted by yourself. You will not see the bigger world outside of your own opinions." Whatever the Chinese equivalent of a 'Renaissance Woman' is, is what I'd like to call Shi Can. 

We came back down to earth a bit to talk about Shi Can's experience at HUST and how she ended up here. She explains how, like all other Chinese students, she had to take the GaoKao, which is the incredibly difficult college entrance exam. Based on her score, she then would list her top colleges that are within her score range. HUST was second on her list, but she says that, "I think it’s the best, after being here. I am satisfied. If we can learn to be content, we will be happier. English is my favorite major. I am studying what I like to learn." Shi Can is a natural English major; books falling out of her bag, always a different writer's name on her lips. I ask her about the transition from high school to university, and how she has adapted so far. She gushes over the beauty of HUST, especially the trees, and how large a campus it is. Then, she speaks of the initial confusion and difficulty she experienced when trying to be more outgoing. A naturally quiet person, she had to force herself to join several University clubs, but found them to be too tiring for her. She again returns to the importance of being true to her own heart and not following others. As she puts it, "The time in university maybe is the best time of my life; it’s very beautiful. I should value, cherish it. But, first, I should not be influenced by others. I just need to follow my own heart and do myself. I just need to be happy; that’s enough."

What exactly is campus life like at HUST? Shi Can explains a little about her schedule, which starts with a quick run at 6:30 in the morning that makes her feel great. Students, especially English majors, arrive to their 8:00am class early to do oral recitation from books, a suggestion from one of their teachers to improve their English pronunciation. Then, she usually has about 4-5 hours of class every day. During her free hours, she either takes extracurricular classes such as health and Chinese history, does homework, or reads books in her dorm room. On the weekends, she goes to explore the vast city of Wuhan with friends. She also loves shopping, eating, and watching movies with friends. 

In the future, Shi Can may want to be a journalist. What she knows now is that she loves writing and she hopes she can do something with it in the future. When asked what Shi Can loves about herself, she smiles and says, "I think I’m approachable; very considerate. I like little kids. I think I have a good temper. I’m patient." When asked for a picture that described her personality, hobbies, or interests, she gave me a picture of herself biking in Beijing. At the time, she was biking with her father. She loves this picture because of the "trees along both sides of the street and the sunshine dropping through the branches."

We finished by discussing culture. I asked Shi Can what she would share with Americans about China, and she responded with, "I welcome friends in America to travel in China but I suggest that they travel to the village or towns such as in the mountains, the places that have the old traditions." She went on to explain that big cities in China are not that different from big cities anywhere. She believes that the beautiful, lasting aspects of Chinese culture can be found not among the high skyscrapers but rather among the small village houses in the countryside. When asked about her favorite part of Chinese culture, Shi Can thought for a moment and then replied that "the spirit of Chinese culture is to pursue beauty." She explained this more by mentioning Chinese poetry, calligraphy, and the more intangible pursuit of quality of character. She believes that if foreigners are unaware of China's background, history, and values, they will likely misinterpret a lot about modern Chinese culture. 

Thank you, Shi Can, for your quiet wisdom, and for being such an excellent student:)