In order to truly integrate Chinese and International students as well as help students to better understand regional and country custom, SPPM international students from English programs and Chinese MPA students had a fun activity on November 21st with a theme of “Winter, Gourmet Food, and Appreciation.”
Although there was heavy snow, nearly 30 international students and 50 Chinese MPA students attended the event and brought food from their home countries and provinces. Associate Dean, MS. MENG Bo kicked off the event with a documentary called “A Bite of China”, and hope students can obtain more understanding of each other through food from their hometowns. The event was also held right before Thanksgiving, thus American and Canadian students shared the meaning of thanksgiving and also gave thanks to classmates, faculties, and staff.
According to Chinese traditions, it is a custom to eat dumplings during winter. In order to help international students to better understand Chinese culture and custom, the event also had a session to teach students on how to make dumplings. Chinese MPA students taught international students individually. For many MIDG and IMPA students, it is their first time to make Chinese food. International students also shared food from their countries that they cooked themselves such as noodles from Southeast Asia, marinated eggs, chicken wings, and bread from East Africa. Students had a good time of sharing foods and talk about study and life at Tsinghua.
In order to promote integration with Chinese students from the English program’s perspective, there has been many new events and ideas created past years. One of them was cultural exchange with MPA students and it has been a tradition since 2014 to build a platform and to assist communications between the two groups.
