I’ll Stay in China, Wait for the Spring to Come——Voice from an Egyptian Student

ABDELFATTAH MAHMOUD MOHAMED SALAMA ELGHAFARY MOUSTAFA (Chinese name Jin Zhiyuan) is an oversea student in Nanchang University who came from Egypt. Graduating from Ain Shams University in Egypt as a Chinese major, he came to Nanchang University to further study Chinese in September 2019, working hard to achieve his goal of becoming an excellent Chinese tour guide.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19, Jin Zhiyuan's family members and friends all expressed great concerns about him and asked him to go back for several times. However, Jin told them: "I am safe here, I don't want to leave, and I choose to stay together with the Chinese people! I'd stay and continue my study on Chinese to realize my dream". Let us hear his voice...

To be an excellent Chinese tour guide has always been his dream.

Hello, everyone, I am Jin Zhiyuan from Egypt. After graduating from Ain Shams University in Egypt as a Chinese major, I found that my Chinese was not good enough, so I decided to come to China for further study. In September 2019, I finally came to China and continued my Chinese studying in Nanchang University. China is as clean and beautiful as I read in the books and I have made so many Chinese friends here. When I first arrived in Nanchang, I felt nostalgic. Besides, I often got sick because I couldn’t get used to the weathers here especially in winters. It was my teachers and friends who were there taking care of me, giving me the feeling that I am one of them, and it was then that I became more determined to learn Chinese well.

I had planned to experience and enjoy the Chinese Spring Festival during the winter vacation. However, the new coronavirus outbreak occurred in China at this time. With the increased number of infected cases, many foreigners in China chose to come back to their own countries and my families were also worried about me. In the beginning, they almost called me every hour to ask me to come back and my younger sister even cried in the phone. They sent online information to me everyday which made me scared, so I turned to my Chinese teacher who then told me not to be too nervous, pay attention to protective measures and go out as little as possible. Later, I found that there were many fake news in the internet and gradually I could distinguish which were true and which were false. When my families felt worried because of the online information, I comforted them and told them the real situation here in China. Slowly, they were not as worried as before. The last time, my compatriots told me that the Egyptian government would send a plane to China to pick up the Egyptians to return home, and my brother also called the Egyptian embassy to confirm that I can return home together. But after thinking for a long time, I finally decided to stay in China. Evil diseases have broken out, and I cannot leave China at this time. I choose to stand with the Chinese people. Furthermore, my dream is to learn Chinese well and be a Chinese tour guide when I come back to Egypt. Now my Chinese is not good enough so I cannot go back. I want to stay here and continue to realize my dream.

I have been in China for more than half a year. I have seen Nanchang in summer, autumn and winter, but I have not seen spring yet. My Chinese teacher told us that spring has come, and the spring in our campus will be very beautiful with many flowers. I especially hope that I can run freely on the campus without wearing masks in the spring, that when spring comes, I can go back to the classroom to learn Chinese with my teachers and classmates. Come on China! I believe in you!

Winter will eventually pass

Spring is sure to come

Let’s stand together

Wait for the spring flowers blossoming