On April 11, 2025, the award ceremony of the 8th My Beautiful Encounter with China International Student Essay and Short Video Competition, organized by the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange under the Ministry of Education, was held in Beijing. Our university was honored with the Outstanding Organization Award for Institutions, while the essay Xian Xinghai Street Across Time and Space by Yerali Balgyn (Ba Ligen), an international student from Kazakhstan, won the second prize in the essay competition and was included in the anthology My Beautiful Encounter with China—2024 Outstanding Works of International Students in China published by People's Daily Press.
In her work, Balgyn used her pen as a boat and words as a path, sketching the fabric of China-Kazakhstan friendship through the winding streets and alleys of Almaty, weaving an eternal bond that connects the hearts and hands of the two peoples. This ancient city, which has witnessed both the camel bells of the Silk Road and the flow of modern traffic, preserves a cross-temporal civilizational dialogue in two parallel streets—more than eighty years ago, Chinese musician Xian Xinghai and Kazakh musician Bakhytzhan Baikadamov met here, where the musical notes of different cultures intertwined amid the flames of war to form a brotherhood transcending national borders. Inspired by these indelible memories and her childhood immersion in this history, Balgyn embarked on her journey to study in China. Determined to become a cultural envoy, she has continued writing a new chapter of civilizational exchange along the Silk Road with the passion of a contemporary international youth, capturing the nuances of cultural interaction between China and Kazakhstan.
The My Beautiful Encounter with China competition has built a multidimensional stage for civilizational dialogue among students worldwide. Adhering to the Harmony and Beauty philosophy of international education in China, our university has consistently regarded this competition as a golden link for cultural exchange. Through initiatives such as thematic workshops and multilingual writing support (Chinese, English, Russian, Vietnamese, etc.), we enable students from Belt and Road countries to capture the subtle pulse of Chinese civilization and the vibrancy of everyday life, composing a magnificent symphony of Sino-foreign cultural resonance through the perspectives of youth from diverse cultural contexts.
Looking ahead, our university will continue to explore a new educational model for Understanding China: constructing a dual-track curriculum system combining national conditions literacy + professional knowledge, creating immersive classrooms for cultural visits + social practice, and developing innovative workshops for traditional crafts + digital communication. Through this three-dimensional educational system, we aim to help international students deeply decode the zeitgeist of China's development, foster cultural empathy in real-world scenarios, and elevate their study-abroad experience into spiritual nourishment that cultivates understanding and friendship toward China. We hope this civilizational dialogue across mountains and seas will nurture more envoys with both global vision and humanistic sentiment, contributing brilliant chapters to educational diplomacy in the grand narrative of building a community with a shared future for mankind.
