Postgraduate student Wang Xiao on his experience of studying at SPbU over the past ten years

Why did you choose to study in Russia? 

In 2006, when I was 12 years old, I visited the city of Beidaihe, which has a lot of tourists from Russia. It was the first time I had seen people of European appearance and it left an unforgettable impression on me. There are 56 nationalities living in China, but I think we still look pretty much the same and I can hardly tell one nationality from another. Russians look completely different. That’s when I first thought about going to Russia to study. 

Later in 2013 I went on a sightseeing tour with my family — three days in St Petersburg, three days in Moscow and another day in a town that is part of the Golden Ring of Russia, Sergiev Posad. After the tour, my family and I agreed that it would be better to study in St Petersburg — Moscow’s streets and architectural style are so similar to China’s that it would feel like I’d never left the country, while St Petersburg is completely different. You really get a sense of being abroad. It’s actually the same reason I chose Russia over, say, Japan, Korea or any other Asian country. From Asia to Europe, from Europe to Asia — the cultural differences are more readily apparent. 

And what influenced your choice of SPbU? 

School reputation, certainly. SPbU is the leading university in St Petersburg. It’s very old too, founded in 1724. My brother instructed me: "If you want to study abroad, only apply to top schools, the kind of schools that are hard to graduate from". You see, it is not difficult for foreigners to get into Russian universities: the Russians have one set of requirements and we have another. In China, it’s the opposite: very hard to get in, but relatively easy to graduate. 

Did you start learning Russian back in China? 

No, in Russia. In 2014, I came to St Petersburg and enrolled in the preparatory department, where I started learning Russian from scratch. The only course we had at the time was Russian as a foreign language, which lasted about nine months. 

Russian is one of the most difficult languages in the world, but I had set myself the goal of enrolling at SPbU, and to do that I first had to pass Russian as a Foreign Language at B1 level. It took some serious work. I remember we had two classes a day, five days a week. After class I would not run straight home, but stay in the library for about three or four hours: doing my homework, looking up things I had not understood in class, memorising new vocabulary. Confucius said, "Reviewing the old as a means of realising the new — such a person can be considered a teacher". 

Were there many Chinese students in your Russian as a Foreign Language class then?

Almost all of them, ninety per cent Chinese. The rest were Korean, Thai and Vietnamese. Why is that? We discussed this among ourselves at the time. I think the point is that Chinese people are willing to pay for a university degree: parents invest a lot of money in their children’s education. My parents, for example, said that their investment in me had paid off. You see, my journey to university was not easy. I did badly at school, I scored very low on the gaokao (the Chinese state exam), worse than a two on a five-point scale. And here I am, already a postgraduate. I also received funding from the Government of the Russian Federation for my Master’s and from the Government of the People’s Republic of China for my postgraduate studies. Over the past 10 years I have acquired over 70 certificates, mainly for participation in scientific conferences, publication of articles, intellectual competitions, Olympiads, professional development, online courses, volunteering, research, social, cultural, creative and sporting competitions. To be honest, my family didn’t expect me to get this far — for them a bachelor’s degree would have been a miracle. 

I am deeply grateful to my parents for giving me the opportunity to study in Russia, to my Russian teachers for their teaching, mentorship and knowledge, to St Petersburg University for the excellent and rigorous educational and research environment, and to the PRC and Russian governments for the financial support. I will do my utmost to repay both China and Russia. 

Can you tell us about the process of choosing your major? 

My priorities were international business and trade, then law, then journalism, then international relations and diplomacy. I had long considered applying for a degree in International Economics and Trade, but I did not have a strong enough foundation in mathematics. 

At first, philology was the last option for me because I was already in Russia and I thought it would be more effective to learn the language in addition to another subject, but the Chinese teacher at the Confucius Institute changed my mind. Firstly, philological education is not a language course like the one we took at the Institute of Russian Language and Culture, it’s an independent scientific discipline. Secondly, SPbU takes its scientific theory education very seriously, so don’t expect it to be easy. 

Actually, there is another reason: I was baptised in China, I am the first Christian in my family. I wanted to preach the Gospel in Russian. At the World Christian Conference in Moscow, a bishop suggested that if I wanted to preach to native Russian speakers, I should focus solely on Russian philology for the first four or five years in Russia. After his suggestion, I realised that philology was the right choice. I passed the entrance exams and joined the Faculty of Philology at SPbU. Specifically, I joined the Department of Russian as a Foreign Language and Teaching Methodology. 

I chose the same major for my Master’s programme. There is a specific reason for that. After completing my undergraduate studies, I missed out on an honours degree by just 0.1 points. By that time I had already developed a passion for my studies and not getting a "red" diploma was frustrating. So I stayed in the department. 

Were you able to return to your original focus — theology? 

I am now a graduate student in Biblical Studies. This means that I am no longer just a linguist or philologist, but also a biblical scholar and theologian. I’m majoring in Historical Theology. I am involved with various religious groups, including Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox churches, as well as representatives of other religions such as Buddhism, Taoism, and Islam, both in China and Russia. I am part of the Chinese Christian community here in St Petersburg. We have about 60-70 parishioners on Sundays and a total of about 30-40 clergy. 

Now, during my postgraduate studies, I appreciate the opportunity to explore Russia’s strengths and take part in activities that are difficult to come by in my country. In Russia, Orthodoxy is supported by the government and the Church is actively involved in politics, business, the army, voluntary work, education, the arts, science, the international community and so on. It’s great, there’s always something going on! 

For example, I am a member of the volunteer organisation «A Thousand Friends» of the St Petersburg diocese, and I take part in various church and outreach events. It was unusual for me, for example, to see Nevsky Prospekt closed on 12 September for the transfer of the relics of the Grand Duke and warrior Alexander Nevsky, a saint and benefactor of the Russian Orthodox Church. Such large-scale religious events are quite rare in China. 

What are your prospects now that you have Russian education and language skills? Would you like to stay in Russia? 

I am now studying on a scholarship. That means I have to go back to China for two years. I get financial support here, which is a lot of money, and I have to pay it back to my country. This is a very important responsibility and I consider it a great honour. In other words, if I could work in Russia at all, it would have to reflect these values even more! For example, I could work in a consulate or in an embassy to develop bilateral relations between China and Russia, to strengthen Russian-Chinese friendship, and also to raise China’s prestige in the hearts of the Russian people. 

I also want to continue working in higher education or other educational institutions, which is why I went to graduate school. In China, the minimum requirement for a university lecturer is a PhD, and only then do they look at how many publications the applicant has, in which journals they have published, and what their achievements and research output have been. Plus I don’t feel like teaching high school. 

I also believe that cooperation between China and Russia in the field of education is now developing rapidly: for example, many Russians are now studying Chinese, although you have to admit that it would be much easier for them to learn a European language, as it is much more difficult to switch from the alphabet to Chinese characters. Languages represent not only different ways of writing, but also different civilisations, different systems of thought. 

What do you like about Russian culture? 

My interests varied at different times and my exposure to Russian culture was mainly through lectures on Russian history and literature. At that time I often watched Soviet films, including war films, and even collected badges from that period. And I didn’t just read, I travelled: to Tsarskoe Selo to see Pushkin, to Yasnaya Polyana to see Tolstoy. I remember going to the village of Konstantinovo, where Esenin grew up. For me it was not enough to listen to lectures, read books, watch videos or films — I needed to see the real places, to hold old things in my hands, to look at reconstructions in museums, in other words to "visit" the period. I consider it a precious experience to have been able to talk to people who remember Soviet life. 

What made you so «hooked» on the Russian language that you were willing to study it for so many years? 

My mind is not "philological", so I’m not really very talented at learning languages. There are such people, polyglots, it is not difficult for them to master many languages, but I usually lagged behind my classmates and had difficulty understanding the lectures with all their definitions, specifics, classifications, scientific schools, histories of development, etc. I realised that it wasn’t enough just to memorise all of it, that I had to understand it, but I had no real connection with the theory, I didn’t "see" it, I didn’t "feel" it. 

It took me a very long time to get used to studying, not just for exams, but for myself. At first I pushed myself to learn the material in order to pass the exams, but that was it, I was passive in my studies. But gradually I became comfortable with studying and research, it became a part of my life, my hobby. The better I speak Russian, the richer and more varied my life becomes. 

You have passed the Russian as a Foreign Language exam at the highest level. How did you do it? 

I passed every level. It took nine years just to get from the first B1 level exam to the C2 level. You don’t really need to study for C2 — living in Russia will prepare you well enough. There are no new grammatical constructions to learn for this exam, and the texts in the reading tasks are so varied that they cannot be predicted in advance. 

Language learning is slow work. As the Chinese proverb goes, "Small steps accomplish a journey of a thousand li; small streams converge to form the rivers and the seas". Although there are many ways to learn a language, I would advise students to attend classes regularly, do their homework on time, prepare thoroughly for every exam, aim for perfect grades in every subject, and Russian will improve naturally. In my free time I participate in social activities. I combine theory and practice, applying the knowledge I have gained to give it real meaning in my life. 

SPbU also organises the International Online Olympiad in Russian as a Foreign Language. How does it differ from the state TORFL exam and how can it help students and applicants? 

The Olympiad allows you to assess your level of Russian as it combines tasks from B1 to C2 levels. It starts with easy tasks and then gets progressively harder. The first time I took part in this Olympiad was in the fourth year of my Bachelor’s degree, four years ago. I came first then, but to be fair, thirty people shared the first place — it is called a first degree diploma. The Olympiad allows you to assess your level of Russian, but as a goal-oriented person I didn’t just want a participant diploma, I wanted a first degree diploma. 

Preparing for all sorts of tests and Olympiads proved to be very hard, fraught with frustration and resentment. My advice to younger students is to take their time. It is important to do your homework assignments. Some of my classmates thought they didn’t have to since they weren’t in high school anymore. This is a mistake. It takes a lot of time and effort to achieve a high level of fluency and confidence in a language — years of gradually completing everyday tasks. 

What advice would you give to Chinese students who are just thinking about applying to SPbU? What should they pay attention to in order to make their life and studies in Russia comfortable? 

First of all, make sure you learn Russian! A student has just begun to lead an independent life. However, without language skills, they may face many difficulties not only in their studies but also in their daily lives. For example, when you go to a pharmacy or a store, you will often hear "Do you need a bag?" but what if you can’t even understand the word "bag". 

Chinese students tend spend all their free time with other Chinese students and don’t interact much with Russians — they simply don’t know how. The reason is cultural differences, and culture is harder to master than language. With enough diligence you can learn any language — it may take one, three, five years; you may pass the first, second, sixth level exams — none of this is really a problem, but you have to remember that the mindset of a people is defined first and foremost by its culture.

I’ve become a very open person now, a chatterbox even, but I didn’t come to that immediately. There’s an expectation of: "Hey, we’re all from different countries here — you’re Russian, I’m Chinese, he’s Japanese, and we’re all very interesting people, we all have our own unique qualities, we all have our own personalities — let’s get to know each other!" This is a very naïve expectation: you’re in an absolutely unfamiliar environment, you don’t know the rules, you have to learn everything from scratch, and it’s a lot of effort just to overcome shyness. 

It’s up to you to overcome this barrier. Having a hobby is a good way to make new friends in Russia, a kind of excuse to meet new people. For example, I have met a lot of people at church. If you like theatre, go to the theatre, even if you don’t quite understand the performances in Russian; if you like military themes — take part in historical re-enactments; if you like art — spend time in museums and galleries. 

And some foreign students also complain about completely subjective things, saying that things are done wrong here, that that everything is inconvenient, that things are "slow" here. That kind of attitude needs to change, too. Life in Russia is very different from life in China, so it is not advisable to transfer Chinese concepts, values and standards here — only we ourselves will suffer. First you have to adjust your attitude, and then you can gradually build on that by adapting to a new environment, which is a much more difficult process. Keep an open mind and a positive outlook and you will be able to embrace new things with a sense of joy. Otherwise, you will just come across as rude. The simplest example is that in Russia you should address teachers by their first name and a patronymic, not by "teacher + surname" as you do in China; there is no need to argue that this is how it is done in your country, you are no longer in your country. 

There are also some students who refuse to talk to Russians on principle, probably because they were forced to come to Russia by their parents. But that is a separate issue. 

What are the most obvious differences between Russia and China? 

It is true that Russia and China are like two different worlds. China is developing rapidly, and every time I go home there is something new and unfamiliar. I was in Harbin this year and couldn’t even buy a ticket at the station. I thought to myself: "I’m already thirty, I have a university education, but here I am like a senior citizen who can’t even manage to buy a ticket". Sure, it’s frustrating, but it’s not my fault: it’s China that’s changing too fast, and I’m just playing catch-up.... For example, my hometown of five million people is considered quite small, but by Russian standards it’s a big city. In Russia the changes are not so obvious, the pace is slower, but on the other hand there is a good system of social security, people take care of each other and there is a lot of space: the great outdoors, mushrooms and berries and forests — in China these things are a luxury. Living in Russia has changed me, even my Chinese friends now say I’m "turning into a Russian", there’s even a word for it in Chinese — éhuà (俄化). Even in appearance I now look more like a Russian to them, maybe a Buryat, a Kalmyk or a Nanai. Maybe it’s because there’s not much sun here and my skin has gone pale.