Landscapes grown familiar, Foreign country turned into hometown

[Palestine] Mohammed F. Y. Ashour, Harbin Institute of Technology

Ten years ago, I couldn’t have foreseen, or even dared to imagine, that I would one day travel far from my homeland to a distant and unfamiliar country, where I would study, make friends, grow, harvest, and even become a part of it. China is the most beautiful encounter that I have ever expected. It is the garden of my heart where I explore the unknown of science and pursue the truth of life. The landscape here is not as uproarious as that of my hometown, but during the years when I was close to her, I have long grown familiar with her deep elegance and calmness. Wasn’t it a foreign country? But it is already like my hometown.

Recalling 2018, when I received the first master’s scholarship email from the Chinese government, it seems like yesterday. At that moment, I knew I had been given an extremely rare opportunity to further my study, even if this country was so unfamiliar and was thousands of miles away from my hometown. But since I finally won the chance to see the real face of that mysterious East with a long history and brilliant culture, I never hesitated, but packed up and left right away.

It was natural to have a little fear and anxiety for a newcomer. But soon everything became novel, interesting, colorful and rich. I received great support and help from my classmates and teachers in academic areas and achieved good results. In 2021, I won a PhD scholarship from the Chinese government. It is this country which had been a stranger to me that has guided me along the path of scientific exploration. She is a mother to me, who cares for me and nurtures me; She is a talent scout, who has helped me achieve many academic achievements with all her might.

The Chinese often say, “There is no lunch for free.” When I recollected the many surprises and joys I experienced along the way, I occasionally wondered if I had been too lucky. But my friends told me that the Chinese had another old saying: “God helps those who help themselves”. All this “luck” wouldn’t have been possible if it hadn’t been for my love and effort for scientific knowledge since childhood, if it hadn’t been for a prosperous China that is generously willing to provide learning opportunities for young people from abroad. It is difficult to explain in words how grateful I am. Poet Ai Qing’s eyes were often filled with tears, and I think I can now understand how deep his love was for this land.

What is hometown? It is where we grow, harvest, and understand. Whenever it is recalled, it is the attachment that ripples in heart; it is the echoes in the wind that are bound to the distant. Yet right now, as I am completing the fourth year of study in China and starting the first year as a doctoral student, I want to shout loudly and proudly that a strange land can also be homeland!

Looking back on these years of academic research, I find that it is China that has given me an important inspiration to explore scientific phenomena and practical projects from multiple perspectives. It is well known that China is one of the first countries to achieve excellence in scientific research.

The Four Great Inventions are just the ones better known to the world, but many other ancient scientific and technological treasures in rice growth, silkworm cultivation and textiles, basic theories and data in mathematics and astronomical research, etc. that are still serving hundreds of millions of people around the world, are also from the great China. Modern science and technology, such as “two bombs and one satellite”, hybrid rice cultivation, high-speed rail and other outstanding achievements are also noted by the world. Watching my colleagues working hard in the laboratory from morning till night, I was strongly infected by the enthusiasm of active exploration time and time again and then also devoted myself to scientific research.

What is homeland? It is a place where we experience the freedom of happiness, and where we breathe the fresh and natural air and feel the smallness and the greatness of life. In my leisure time, I have experienced China’s support for competitive sports and community sports to improve the physical fitness of the general public.

The success of the Summer and Winter Olympics has allowed China’s cultural and sports strength to blossom on the world stage, which highlights the greatness of the times, motivates the national fitness movement, and calls out “ice and snow sports for all”. Mass sports are naturally bound up with China’s parks. The square dance that the aunts and uncles are keen on has already become a unique scenery in cities.

The sun at dawn and the sunset at dusk, along with these lively, charming elders, make people wonder what difficulty and suffering in life cannot be overcome? All is experience. All is life. For a few times I blended into them naturally, enjoyed a moment of comfort, and then put my full spirit back into work again.

In the past four years, besides the surrounding areas of the laboratory and the neighborhood, I have travelled to many famous cities and ancient alleys with my feet, have been to mountains and deserts, seen small bridges and flowing waters and enjoyed the majesty of the Ming Great Wall in Beijing and the magnificence of the ancient city wall in Xi’an. I have faced the sea, have lived in the ice city... The length of China’s history, the profundity of its culture, the diligence and enthusiasm of Chinese people all infected me, a foreigner who came from afar. And now, I can’t separate these qualities from myself.

I like to have a cup of tea in the afternoon, I like to take a walk in the evening and chat with friends; I work hard in the laboratory, and I roam amid the mountains and rivers. My Chinese friends are all over China, speaking different Chinese dialects of the north and the south and telling stories about China’s past, present and the better and more exciting future that we will experience together in China.

I am grateful for fate that sent me to this strange land, which has become my homeland. I have a deep feeling that I have grown familiar with the landscapes here, and that life here is worthwhile.

The story is from "My Beautiful Encounter with China" Essay Competition organized by the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchanges (CSCSE).