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The more I spend time here, the more I find similarities between Indian and Chinese culture. Actually in every field you can see China has done really very well and China has achieved a great result. What's it like for foreign nationals to live and work in China? What draws them to this land? What have they achieved in their fields and what motivates them to stay? My name is Vikas Kumar Singh. I'm from India and currently I'm in Beijing. I'm teaching at Beijing Foreign Studies University. Given his fluent Chinese, people often mistake Vikas for a native speaker. He says his journey of learning Chinese began two decades ago. At the beginning of this century, bilateral trade between China and India expanded rapidly, with China gradually emerging as India's major trading partner. And this extensive economic cooperation caught the young man's attention. How I got interested in Chinese, it's all about finding a good job or making money. When I started learning Chinese at that time in India, Chinese language was one of the popular language because most of the students when they graduated from the university, they all got a good job. Even some of them, they were working as an interpreter, translator, even the tour guide and they were making a very good money. So that's how I was also interested to learn in Chinese language. So in 2004, I got admission in Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi and I started studying Chinese, measuring Chinese language and literature. For Vikas, the initial intention of learning the foreign language was to seek better financial opportunities, though he might not have imagined at the time how it would change his life trajectory. In 2007, Vikas obtained a one-year scholarship to study at Renmin University of China, one of Beijing's top universities. And this opportunity kickstarted his decade-long journey of residing in the country. Actually, when we were studying Chinese at the university, we didn't have much contact with the Chinese people. Before coming to China, as Vikas recalls, his perceptions of the country were largely based on outdated textbook knowledge and minimal news coverage. He had expected a land trapped in the past, struggling to keep up with modernization. However, his arrival in Beijing shattered these preconceived notions. Because here in Beijing, in 2007, Beijing was preparing for the olympic, you know, the 2008 olympic game. And everywhere, like the skyscrapers, the old buildings, metro was there. In India, I never seen metro, so here I saw the metro for the very first time. So it was totally different what we learned about China in India and what I experienced here after coming to China. Motivated by this newfound perspective, Vikas decided to stay and pursue a master's degree in international relations. That time in the university, I've made a lot of Chinese friends. Some of them, they are still in contact with me. And through them, actually, I learned Chinese. So for me, learning the language, it was through the help of my Chinese friends and like learning a new major, international relations, to understand you can say the China-India relations, Chinese politics, Chinese foreign policies, all these things. In addition to his studies, Vikas traveled extensively throughout China, exploring various regions and their cultures. This deepening interest inspired him to pursue further academic endeavors. He then embarked on a PhD journey in modern Chinese history at Peking University. After working in a real estate company for a while, Vikas ultimately joined Beijing Foreign Studies University in 2018. Although the previous job offered better pay, he found his true passion in teaching, which he says better suits his personality. When it comes to teaching, his own experience of learning a second language has proven quite beneficial, as it enables him to help his students overcome language barriers. If you want a student to be interested in a particular language, first of all, you have to tell them about the richness of the culture of that country. Then how like slowly or gradually they become interested in that language and they will learn the language. So this is the method I use, like when I teach my students, I put some videos, I put some Bollywood movies also, Bollywood dance also. So when they see these videos, they get much interested in Indian culture, they get interested to know more about the Indian culture and there is only way to know the culture that is the language. So I ask my students first to master the language, then you can go to India and you can experience yourself on the basis of your language ability. China and India both boast a long history of civilization and rich cultural heritages. Over the years, Vikash has dedicated himself to promoting cultural exchanges between the two countries, not just through teaching, but also through literary translation. He notes that there is a lack of understanding about China among people in India. That's why he sees translation as a medium to bridge this gap. India, there are very few translation works of Chinese literature, like some of my teachers, they are doing translation, but still like in India, very few works have been done in this field. And another thing is like in India, a lot of people, they have a different kind of perception about China and because they don't know much more about China, because of the unavailability of the Chinese literature in India, if there are some available translations in India, then these are translated from other languages, like most of them are translated from English. So it becomes the third language, so from Chinese to English and then from English to Hindi or any other Indian languages. So the essence of the Chinese language somehow missed in the translation work. And this realization has inspired him to translate Chinese literary masterpieces into Hindi versions. He participated in a joint project between the Chinese and Indian governments and dedicated two years to translating a renowned novel called Qingqiang, also known as the Shanxi Opera. The title refers to a local opera form from Shanxi province in northwestern China, which dates back some 2,000 years to the Qing dynasty. The novel was written by one of China's most celebrated contemporary authors, Japinghua. It revolves around the lives of people from the author's birthplace, Shanxi province, in the late 1970s, capturing the transformations within a village community amidst the winds of change. It's very difficult to say like… However, the translation wasn't easy for Vikash. The most difficult thing I found in Qingqiang while translating, like in Qingqiang there are a lot of local dialects, like the writer has used like many words, that is, especially from that region, from Shanxi region. So this is one of the most like toughest tasks, how to convey the meaning of the Chinese language into the targeted language. So like what I did, if I don't find equivalent in my Hindi language, then I also take the help of the local dialect because dialects, like there are so many dialects in India also, like China, and there are some words, there are some words which you can find in the local dialect and that is not available in the current language, like in the main language you can say. So I also took the help from the local dialects and translated some of the words, not in Hindi, in the local dialect. By incorporating dialects and expressions from northern India, Vikash aimed to convey the regional differences of Chinese society to resonate with more Indian readers. Following Qingqiang, Vikash completed another masterpiece, Liao Jai Zhi Yi, or Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, a collection of classical stories written between the 17th and 18th centuries by Pusong Ling. Vikash hopes that, through his translations, more Indian people are able to gain a better understanding of China, its culture, and its literature. Beyond his professional endeavors, Vikash has forged deep personal connections with China. He married a Chinese woman and made Beijing his home, raising two lovely children. His experiences have shown him that, despite some cultural differences, China and India share many commonalities, such as in their wedding customs. Vikash says that, the longer he spends time in China, the more common ground he finds between the two countries. One key example is the shared value of family. He vividly recalls his first experience celebrating Chinese New Year or Spring Festival in Beijing, which is the most important occasion for Chinese people to reunite with their families. With his Chinese friends all back home and school canteen and most local restaurants closed, he and fellow foreign students had to dine in fast food restaurants from morning till night. And they want to celebrate the festival with their family. As much as people appreciate spending time with their families, there's also pressure stemming from family obligations. Vikash notes that children's education ranks among the top priorities in families. So, here in China, everybody wants to admit their kids to a good school. And when my elder kid, my son, he was about to go to the primary school, then I faced the same situation. My wife was also so worried to send him to a good school. So, we have same kind of feelings also, same kind of responsibilities also, same kind of family attachment also. Having lived in China for the last 17 years, Vikash has witnessed the country's development and changes firsthand. He is particularly impressed by the significant advancements in the transportation system. In 2008, I went to visit one of my friends from Beijing to Koizhou. And it took me 28 hours to take the train to Koiyang. And after Koiyang, like I had to switch to another train, and then it took me four hours and then bus and everything. But now, like after 15 years or 16 years, I can say, I just went like last summer, I again went to Koizhou to visit my friends. And it took me only 11 hours to Koiyang. And from Koiyang, he drove me to his hometown just two hours. So, this is the change happened. Or you can say, I feel the transportation system, the bullet train. If I remember clearly, in 2008, the first bullet train was started. And from 2008 till now, the whole China is connected through the bullet trains. So, this is the pace of the development of China. And I don't think any country would be able to realize in such short time, like such a huge achievement. In 2008, as Vikash noted, China's first high-speed railway was put into operation, linking Beijing and its neighboring city of Tianjin at a design speed of 350 kilometers per hour. Since then, China has vigorously expanded its high-speed rail network, reaching remote and ethnic minority areas. Today, the country is home to the world's largest high-speed railway network. Actually, in every field, you can see China has done really very well, and China has achieved a great result, you can say, in the field of education, in the field of health and hygiene, in the field of science and technology, in the field of transportation, infrastructure, all these things. Like China has achieved a lot. And if you talk about the health and hygiene, like there are a lot of students from India, from Pakistan, from Bangladesh, from Nepal, from African countries, they are studying here, and they are studying medicine. So you can see how China has done, like how China has achieved in these 10 or 15 years. So they are attracting foreign students to come here and pursue their education in the field of medicine. So these all things inspire me also. And I think not only me, like a lot of people, those who come to China for the very first time, like they are amazed to see the development of China. So I think China has achieved a great result. And I think China has achieved a great result. And I think China has achieved a great result.