Wang Jianhao recording a special program
By our correspondent — Recently, the video account “This Is Jilin” under the Jilin International Communication Center launched a series of programs titled Seeing Chinese Modernization in Jilin, featuring a special interview with Dr. Moataz Abdellah (Chinese name: Wang Jianhao), an Egyptian faculty member of Jilin International Studies University (JISU). The program was released during the National Two Sessions and received high acclaim from the leaders of the Jilin provincial delegation attending the sessions.
Under the title When Mountains Meet the Sea: Encountering the Warmth and Resilience of Jilin — An Egyptian Scholar’s “Jilin Notes”, the program was released in three episodes, chronicling Wang Jianhao’s journey from choosing to study Chinese, to coming to China, and ultimately putting down roots in Jilin.
In the interview, Wang Jianhao remarked, “It was fate that brought me to China, and it was my career that led me to choose Jilin. But in the end, it was the people here that made me decide to stay. Here, I am not only an Egyptian scholar teaching Chinese, but also a witness to how this black soil is truly bursting with new vitality on the path of Chinese modernization.”
Speaking of Changchun, Wang Jianhao said, “As an Egyptian, I am very sensitive to how ‘old things’ are ‘transformed’. Egypt has pyramids and temples, and we are also thinking about how to make young Egyptians fall in love with their own history. But what I see in Changchun is that the old industries have not died — they have become culture. The old buildings have not been torn down; they have been integrated into new ways of life.”
Speaking of Jilin’s ice and snow, Wang Jianhao said, “In Egypt, we bask in the sun. In Jilin, people chase after the ice and snow. Seeing so many people flock here from all over to enjoy the snow and skate on the ice, I find it truly fascinating. It reminds me of a saying: Ice and snow are also as valuable as gold and silver. The people of Jilin have not treated the cold as a nuisance, but rather turned it into a gift of nature, transforming ice and snow into a wonderland that attracts people from all over the world. In Jilin’s ice and snow, I have seen another possibility for development.”
