Wudaokou Watch: "Beijing is a Beautiful Ocean of People"

From: Peter M. theBeijinger 2019-12-09

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Welcome to Wudaokou Watch, where we profile a different Beijing-based student from abroad each week to hear about their life in China's capital. You can read the whole series here:

My name is Wajid Muhammad and I come from Pakistan.

It was my dream to be a linguistic expert. I majored in Modern Languages and now I can speak five: Urdu, English, Chinese, Arabic, and Hindi. Mandarin is getting more and more popular in the world. It was a big achievement to be able to come to Beijing and to learn Chinese at the Beijing Language and Culture University.

I was so happy because I knew that it was a great opportunity to come to Beijing to learn, meet different people from different countries, and understand their cultures and languages.

I had never eaten Chinese food before, so that was difficult in the beginning. Communication was also so difficult because the Chinese language I had learned in Pakistan wasn't enough to communicate. After some time I started to communicate and also started to eat Chinese food. I liked it, especially Xinjiang food.

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People do not always understand my culture. Nobody is perfect but there is something very special about everyone. We are human and we do make mistakes, but I hope one day everybody will understand that, and not discriminate based on skin color and looks.

When I feel homesick I just go out with my friends or attend a cultural activity at my school. Actually, I'd like to thank the Beijinger for organizing some great activities like the Pizza Festival and Hot & Spicy Festival. [Ed's note: You're welcome, Wajid!]

Beijing is so beautiful. It's an ocean of people. I like crowded places, so I never feel alone.

My most memorable moment in Beijing was at the Beijing Language and Culture University cultural festival: it was so amazing to see the world in just one day. It's huge every year, and always different from past years with new cultural activities.

If you will work hard, you will never regret it and you will get closer to your goals. I have plans to stay in Beijing for a few more years to learn and explore China.