School of Public Administration(SPA) of Zhejiang University has been committing to expand its foreign cooperative and communication all the time. At the time when the initiative of the “Belt and Road” received wide response from all walks of life, the SPA organized a project of visiting to Sri Lanka.
The 23 students from the profession of Labor and Social Security, under the leadership of Professor Yuehua Zhang of the Department of Social Security and Risk Management and teacher Huanhuan Hu of undergraduate management office, conducted and academic visit in Sri Lanka from July 12th to 24,2018.
Although the duration of the visit was not long, the visiting group still carried out many meaningful activities and appreciated the local customs while conducting academic communications during this limited time.
The first stop was the University of Colombo with 115-year history, which is the oldest university of Sri Lanka and located in Colombo, the economic center of Sri Lanka.
The visiting group conducted academic communications with teachers and students of the Department of Economics of University of Colombo. Communications began with welcoming remarks of Dean W.Wimalaratne and then students of both sides introduced themselves one by one. The following is a formal academic communication. Four students, Huan Chen, Yuchen Li, Bolin Chen, Yuanyuan Wen, of the visiting group made a presentation on topics of social insurance, data of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study(CHARLS), an introduction to the demand and supply of assistive devices for disabled elders in Hangzhou. And students of University of Colombo introduced to visiting group the the situation of Sri Lanka and the Belt and Road.
During the communication, the visiting group showed the propaganda film of Zhejiang University to the teachers and students of University of Colombo and sang the song of Zhejiang University, hoping to deepen their impression of Zhejiang University and express the welcome of Zhejiang University to international students with expectation of their having the opportunity to study and communicate with Zhejiang University.
After the academic communication, we walked on the beautiful campus of University of Colombo. The local students had not finished the final exam when we were in summer holiday that time. There were students reading books everywhere, such as on the grass and in the classroom, which showed the elegant figure of this top Sri Lankan university. In addition, many monks wearing robes on the road are teachers or administrative staff, who enjoy high status and are respected. Under the arrangement of the University of Colombo, we also visited the Colombo Museum in the afternoon. Sri Lanka is a country with an brilliant ancient civilization. In the museum, we saw many Buddha statues, ancient ornaments and utensils, the world's earliest toilets and so on. With the detailed explanations of the tour guides, the scenes of how the Sri Lankan ancestors built civilizations step by step and developed into the present picture had been unfolded in our mind. We couldn’t help but think of our great motherland, who has been standing in the long river of history all through. The love and pride of the motherland was also generated while admiring Sri Lanka.
The second stop was the University of Peradeniya, another top university in Sri Lanka,which has a long history and a high reputation.
The teachers and students of the Department of Agriculture of the University of Peradeniya had shown great enthusiasm for the arrival of the visiting group. Students of University of Peradeniya had taken the initiative to communicate with the students of the visiting group before the formal activities begun, which undoubtedly quickly brought the distance between the two sides closer. Later, Professor Yuehua Zhang introduced the basic situation of Zhejiang University to the teachers and students of University of Peradeniya, highlighted the characteristics of SPA, and expressed his expectation for further cooperation of students exchanges and scientific research.
In terms of academic communications, in addition to presentations of 4 students of the visiting group, Professor Yuehua Zhang also gave an academic report on how micro insurance (swine insurance) reduces the use of veterinary antibiotics”. The two sides had a heated discussion on these issues. Of course, academic reports of professors of University of Peradeniya also benefited the members of the visiting group. For example, Professor Jeevika's speech on nutrition and education for children in Sri Lanka gave many inspirations to the teachers and students of the visiting group.
Besides, students of the Department of Agriculture of the University of Peradeniya arranged wonderful games, songs and dance performances for the visiting group. In the process of having fun, we sang some Chinese songs like Deskmate and Childhood. In return, students of University of Peradeniya sang melodious songs. Even though we didn’t understand the meanings of songs of each other, there were smiles on our faces. Friendship between students and teachers of two sides and between two countries had been built.
In the afternoon, teachers of the Confucius Institute at the University of Peradeniya also took us to visit the beautiful sceneries of the university. Huge hundred-year-old trees, wild monkeys, and rivers passing through the campus gave the visiting group the best visual enjoyment.
In addition to communications with local universities in Sri Lanka, the visiting group also conducted rural research, the tea garden visit. Sri Lanka's black tea is world-famous and students are very interested in it. Therefore, we came to visit the local tea garden.The staff of the tea garden gave us a very warm reception, took us to visit the tea field, gave detailed explanations on the cultivation of the tea, demonstrated three methods of picking tea invited us to taste their black tea and milk tea. The trip to the tea garden also added more stuff to the memory of the members of the visiting group.
The 13-day trip to Sri Lanka is fleeting. What we have seen and heard in Sri Lanka is a novel and valuable experience. Though unwilling to leave, everyone felt it was so lucky to be able to participate in the project. Thanks to Zhejiang University and the motherland, we can have a chance to have such experience. We are proud to have seen the achievements of China's rapid development in the past 40 years. China has not only developed herself, but also is committed to driving the development of other countries. The contribution of the “Belt and Road” to the development of the world is enormous. In this context, Zhejiang University has been dedicating to making comprehensive understanding of countries and peoples along the “Belt and Road” and various efforts and innovations. These can not only be integrated into the practice of “One Belt, One Road”, but also fully reflect our own characteristics and values, and promote the construction of Double Top”.
Editted by Wen yuanyuan
Source: http://www.spa.zju.edu.cn/spachinese/2018/0921/c13219a850578/page.htm
