Feature: Learning Chinese helps Tajik youth achieve their dreams

DUSHANBE, July 4 (Xinhua) -- "One! Two! Three! ..." In a martial arts studio in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, Eleonora Faizova is practicing Wushu routines with a group of children around the age of 10, with her Chinese commands clear and firm.

Twenty-year-old Faizova is a student at the Tajikistan Wushu Federation and the Confucius Institute at Tajik National University (TNU). For her, practicing martial arts and learning Chinese are equally essential.

As a child, Faizova often watched movies featuring kung fu stars like Jackie Chan. "Their moves fascinated me," she said.

From Sanda and Taolu, two categories of competitive Wushu, to swordsmanship, Faizova has been practicing martial arts for 10 years. "It's definitely tiring, but my love for it keeps me going!"

The Tajikistan Wushu Federation is often invited to perform at the Confucius Institute. "I envied the Tajik students there who could communicate freely in Chinese. I also wanted to learn Chinese and gain a deeper understanding of Chinese culture," she recalled how she started learning Chinese four years ago at the Confucius Institute at the TNU.

To improve faster, she studied for four to five hours every day. "For example, I wrote the word 'pepper' dozens of times before I could remember it," she said.

She has applied to study law as an undergraduate at East China Normal University. "I hope to become a judge in the future, uphold social fairness and justice, and use my spare time to open a martial arts school to introduce more people to Chinese culture," Faizova said with a big grin.

In Tajikistan, many like Faizova are studying Chinese in educational institutions.

Take the Confucius Institute at the TNU as an example. Since its establishment in August 2008, the institute has trained nearly 39,000 Chinese learners.

The Luban Workshop in Tajikistan, co-founded by China's Tianjin Urban Construction Management and Vocation Technology College and Tajik Technical University, trains professionals in urban thermal energy and engineering surveying. Students attending classes there are equally eager to learn Chinese.

"I want to go to China to learn more professional knowledge, then become a university teacher, so more people can help build our country," said Bakhtiyor Bozorzoda, a junior in the surveying and mapping major at Tajikistan Technical University.

"I have a dream: to learn Chinese well and study in China ..." In Khujand, Tajikistan's second-largest city, a Chinese speech contest was recently held at the Confucius Institute of the Mining-metallurgical Institute of Tajikistan, where students expressed their genuine love for Chinese language and culture.

Raboniddin Mahmudov, 28, attended the event as an outstanding student representative of the Confucius Institute, and listened to each contestant's speech.

Mahmudov started learning Chinese eight years ago, when he was a tour guide at a travel agency in Khujand. "China and Tajikistan are neighbors, but I received very few Chinese tourists. So I decided to learn Chinese and develop the Chinese tourism market," he said.

In 2017, funded by a Confucius Institute scholarship, Mahmudov traveled to China to pursue a master's degree in teaching Chinese to speakers of other languages. During this time, he passed the HSK (the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi or the Chinese Proficiency Test) Level 6 exam, opened a travel agency in Khujand, and established an office in Jinan, the capital of east China's Shandong Province.

Over the years, as exchanges between China and Tajikistan have become more frequent, Mahmudov has become busier. This year alone, he has received more than 2,000 Chinese tourists.

"Some Chinese clients come not only for tourism, but also to explore the Tajik market for investment and cooperation opportunities," he said. "Helping Chinese friends better understand my country and contributing to the expansion of Tajik-China exchanges make my work very valuable."

Ren Gengtian, the Chinese director of the Confucius Institute of the Mining-Metallurgical Institute of Tajikistan, said that thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative and the continuous development of China-Tajikistan relations, an increasing number of Tajik youth choose to learn Chinese and engage in China-related work, becoming builders and beneficiaries of the friendship between the two countries.

"Years ago, the China University of Petroleum (East China) and the Mining-Metallurgical Institute of Tajikistan jointly established the Confucius Institute to promote Chinese education in Khujand, an ancient town on the Silk Road," Ren said.

The institute has sent hundreds of outstanding students to study in China through various scholarship programs, and "their lives have been changed," Ren added.