Peking University, June 5, 2015: The 2014 Peking University Student of the Year aims at setting up role models for students and carrying forward the school’s values and spirits. Last year, 35 candidates were selected and their stories were released on WeChat, which were viewed for more than 360,000 times, and ten of them became 2014 PKU Student of the Year. They are all dedicated and passionate youngsters who excel at what they are doing, including researching, volunteering, or entrepreneurships. Right now, we are going to introduce one of these ten wonderful students, Tahmina Inoyatova – a dynamic Russian girl and an ambassador of Chinese culture – to our readers.

Tahmina Inoyatova, who possesses dual nationalities of Russia and Tajikistan, is a graduate student from the School of Journalism and Communication. Beautiful, diligent and smart, Tahmina can also speak fluent Chinese. She is the champion of the Chinese Bridge Chinese Proficiency Competition in 2012.

Learning Chinese is a whole new world for me

When she first came to China, Tahmina didn’t even know how to say “Hello” in Chinese. But what distinguished her was her curiosity about this country. “There are so many people in China, and so many big cities. Everything is different from my country,” said Tahmina, and she decided to stay because she wanted to know more.
Tahmina can still remember clearly how she started learning Chinese from scratch. She started from pinyin, which is the alphabet for Chinese, and tones to the characters. The characters were especially hard for her, but Tahmina was relatively confident about her language skills compared with other foreigners who were paralyzed when it comes to the complicated structures of Chinese characters.

When asked about the Chinese Bridge competition, Tahmina said she never thought that she could win. “The encouragements from my teachers got me into this competition in the first place, and I wanted to study at Peking University.” said Tahmina. The biggest rewards, according to her, were the friends she made at the competition. “Learning Chinese is a whole new world for me. It broadens my horizon and brings me to the profound Chinese culture and ancient civilization. How lucky I am!”

I am a glass half full, and I like challenges.

Everyone who knows her cannot forget her smiling face. As she describes herself, “I am a glass half full, and I like challenges.” The first days at Peking University were never easy, she admitted, with all the best students and high-level academic courses. She was among the few foreign students in her class and the pressure was huge, especially when it came to writing theses. “I didn’t have much experience in writing theses. The research methods, assumptions, and theories were completely new to me.” Though college life was tough at first, Tahmina soon found herself a way to manage it – by consulting teachers and classmates, who were always willing to give her a hand.

Though confronted with difficulties and challenges, Tahmina didn’t view her life as bitter or miserable. Instead, she found herself lucky among the best students in China, so that she need to improve herself in order to keep up with them. Thanks to her deep interests and studying impetus, Tahmina soon gained progress and adapted to the college life.

I want to be an ambassador of Chinese culture.

Besides doing well in her academic work, Tahmina also proactively participate in all kinds of cultural activities on campus. She was the hostess of many major events, in which teachers and students were all impressed by her language proficiency and elegant demeanor.

After one year at PKU, She has already been influenced greatly by the school’s spirit and culture. It is here that she gained her independent thinking, research methods, and global perspectives. Just as she put it, no matter where she goes after graduation, the influence of learning Chinese will always be there. She wanted to be a Chinese teacher and an ambassador of Chinese culture, spreading the wisdom of the ancient Chinese to the rest of the world. To her, every little effort matters and she will keep focusing on doing her best. And she felt really satisfied to see a lot of students from Tajikistan who want to learn Chinese after seeing her at the Chinese Bridge competition.
It’s hard to leave PKU, but I will be better in future.

There is only half a year left before Tahmina finishes her study at PKU. When asked about her goals, Tahmina told the journalist about her plans. After all these years in China, her life and future have become closely interwoven with this country. “ I want to find a job about China, and it has to be meaningful,” said Tahmina.

Tahmina also developed a love for Chinese novels. After reading several novels by Zhang Ailing, a famous modern Chinese female writer, Tahmina wants to write a novel about China herself in the future. She believes that it would be interesting to write a book about China, in the eyes of a foreigner, and it can inspire more and more people to come and experience for themselves the country’s great culture and spirit.

If Tahmina ever gets the chance to choose the things she would like to keep from Peking University, the last thing she would want to leave behind is the Weiming Lake. The beautiful and quiet lake always brings her back to peace after a busy day. PKU is more than a place where Tahmina has studied and lived, it is where she has grown and discovered herself. “If you can make a little progress everyday, you will be closer to your dream each step of the way.” says Tahmina. She does not deem herself as a foreigner any more, nor is she shy. She is a PKUer, and she is going to make her alma mater very proud.

Reported By: Lai Huan
Edited By: Xu Liangdi
Source: PKU News (Chinese)