Yuji MO

Student of The University of Sydney, Australia
Exchange to Tsinghua University, China

First of all, I am very honored and grateful to be chosen as one of the students for the Australia Cheung Kong Award, and I felt the necessity to give back something to show my appreciation. This is one of the main reasons for writing this memoir. I am also writing this memoir to reflect on the wonderful experiences that I gained throughout the exchange period in Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.

Retrospect back to the time when I was writing the Statement of Purpose to apply for exchange to China, I wrote that 'I have always wanted to visit China and assimilate into its history, culture and people, and throughout my times spend at Tsinghua I indeed fulfilled this dream of mine.

Credit points were not the only thing I gained and benefited from during the exchange trip. At Tsinghua, I participated in two different student associations that have profoundly changed my perceptions of China and its people as well as my personal worldview to some extent.

The first student association I joined in Tsinghua was named 'Caring for the Workers'. As a member I have been offered the opportunities to interact with some of China's underprivileged emigrant workers. Among them, the youngest was only 16 years old. These workers came to Beijing and have contributed to the construction of one of the world's prosperous cities, but they are usually not well valued and expected by the so called 'city people'. They could hardly afford rent in the city they built, and were living in shabby houses with poor living conditions in the outskirt of Beijing. But when asked whether they will leave Beijing, none of them said 'yes'. For some of them, staying in Beijing was not a matter of choice, because they need to earn an income, but for others it is all about their 'dreams'.

During times at Tsinghua, I have also volunteered in a program as a teacher for middle-school children in a poor county of Hebei. Most of those children are 'Left-behind children' with parents working in other provinces such as Beijing. They usually live with grandparents or sometimes by themselves. Attending schools and receiving education for those children was not an easy thing to do, most of their homes are located in mountainous areas. However, the harsh living circumstances did not prevent them having a warm personality, most of them are living with positive attitudes, with dreams to explore the world outside of the county they have lived for almost their whole life.

Being part of the above student association and volunteering program is the highlight of my exchange trip, as I am inspired by their optimism and striving for a better life. There was not even a minute that I have regretted going on this exchange journey. The memories, experiences and friendships have all become valuable assets of mine. I hope my memoir will be encouraging and inspiring for those who are hesitating to participate in exchanges, because trust me, you will not regret.

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