Generation Global: Navigating a Changing World, Ep. 3

Discussion keeps the world turning.

This is Roundtable.

From the heart of Beijing to the edges of the Globo stage,

you're at Roundtable. I'm Yeul Hunlin.

When we talk about international relations,

we often think about governments,

summits, or policy frameworks.

But sometimes, the most meaningful exchanges

happen in classrooms, research projects,

and everyday conversations.

In this episode of Generation Global Navigating a Changing World,

Roundtable's Ushan speaks with three young scholars

currently living and studying in Beijing,

coming from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Indonesia.

Each arrived with their own academic interests and expectations.

But their experiences in China have also reshaped

how they see the country and its development.

Today's conversation explores what happens

when curiosity meets lived experience

and how young scholars are helping bridge perspectives

between societies.

Now pull up a chair and enjoy the conversation.

China, it's a word that conjures

a million different images, ancient temples

and hyper-modern skylines, time-honored philosophies

and breakneck technological speed,

a place of deep and long history

and the driving force in shaping our global future.

We often try to understand it through the lens

of politics and economics.

And considering an annual tone-setting event,

which is the two-session that's going on in Beijing right now,

today's chat is all about setting the tone

for the future of our world.

And we're going to look at China through a different,

if not more, personal lens.

I'm Ushan, and for this segment of Roundtable,

I'm honored to have three young

and very talented researchers

from Yinching Academy of Peking University joining us today.

And I'm telling you, they're not China observers

from a distance.

They are here, living, studying and immersing themselves

in the very fabric of this country.

So, without further ado,

let's warm up this chat a little bit

by inviting you guys to tell us who you are.

May I start with Nicole?

Okay, thank you so much Ushan.

Hi, everyone.

My name is Nicole Akalyang-Riawan.

Usually people call me Nicole or Kole.

I'm born and raised in Indonesia,

specifically Bandung and Tanggrang.

Right now, I'm a second-year schooler

in Yinching Academy, studying politics

and international relations.

And also, this is my second year living in China.

Lovely.

And what about you, Krupa?

Hi, I'm Krupa.

I'm born and raised in New York,

and my family is from India.

And this is my first year in China

as Yinching Scholar as well.

And I'm on the literature and culture track.

I focus on urban studies,

and I'm interested in anything related

to sustainability and sustainable spaces

and urbanism.

So, yeah.

Nice, and last but not least, we have Rory.

Hi, my name is Rory D'Angelo.

My Chinese name is Rory.

I'm from the UK.

I grew up in East London, like Krupa.

I'm also in my first year,

and also on the literature and culture track.

And I'm very interested in the history and development

of China, and specifically with regards

to the emergence of the Chinese writing system,

and all of the different permutations

of Chinese languages and dialects,

and how that also informs a very vast

and interesting and rich culture.

That's really nice.

And Rory, I understand that you've been learning Chinese.

Can you show off just one of your very recent Chinese

that you learned?

Oh, well, I was just saying we were...

I was having some philosophy discussions

with my professor who's very keen fan on Confucius.

And he taught me San Lianxian, Bio Wars.

And it's these kinds of sayings

that I think are very highly detailed

and tell a very interesting story.

Yeah, San Lianxian Bio Wars is something

that other Chinese students also learn

ever since we were in primary school.

Literally, it means, like, among three random people

you can run into on the street,

there's always something that you can learn

from each and every one of them.

And that's also my goal here today too.

I am very much looking forward to learning a lot

from the three of you.

And I also think that this saying

really conveys one of the big cells

of a program like Yenqing,

is that it brings together people

from so many different backgrounds,

so many different academic experiences.

And that's one of the real joys of this program so far,

is that not only have I learned

from my professors who are incredibly, incredibly eminent

in their fields,

but I've also learned so much

by being around students

with such vast and interesting perspectives as well.

That's really lovely to hear.

And this also brings to my first question to all of you.

So can you tell us why you choose to come to China

to pursue your studies among all the other countries

across the globe?

What unique perspectives

or opportunities can being here offer you guys?

May I start back to Nicole?

Okay, so maybe I will start

with a very personal story of mine.

So I'm Chinese Indonesian,

like for generation Chinese Indonesian.

Yes, my ancestor coming from Siamen,

like Fujian province.

But the thing is in Indonesia,

I don't really understand my root as a Chinese.

I don't speak the language.

I barely know basically the language.

I just follow because it's my legacy,

because it's my parents.

It was up until 2023,

when I was invited by an international youth event

called Qinghua Global Youth Dialogue.

They invited me to come to China,

spend like 12 days in Xinjiang,

Chengdu, and Beijing.

And at that moment, I was like,

wow, China is really advanced.

Because outside like China,

I don't know about you guys,

but I barely know nothing.

And when I came to China,

I didn't know that the country is so advanced.

Like in Chengdu,

80% of the city was like

moved by sustainable energy.

It was amazing, right?

And then that's when I know,

oh my god, China is everywhere.

And I need to utilize this opportunity

to study in China,

to actually learn about China in China.

And I think it took me around only six months

to decide that I want to take my master

in China directly.

Wow.

So a master degree is a big step for you.

Yes.

And so about you, Prupa.

Yeah, so I grew up in New York,

like I mentioned,

and in particular,

I grew up in this neighborhood called Flushing,

which is one of the Chinatowns in New York.

Oh.

Yeah.

So it's actually a Chinatown,

but then there's also a big Hindu temple there,

so I would spend every weekend there,

and I grew up there.

So I had so many Chinese friends

and was very much immersed in the culture

from a very young age.

And then as I grew up,

and I started getting interested in urban studies,

these documentaries would come up on my page,

like I think Siri heard me talking,

and then was like,

China, urbanism, what can we give her?

And so I started to get all of these documentaries

about China's really rapid urbanization,

and that fascinated me,

because this rate of urbanization

and the amount that China has been able to urbanize

and accomplish in that sense

has really unprecedented and incomparable

across the world.

So yeah, I got really interested in that,

and then I heard about this opportunity,

so I was like, how cool would it be to study Chinese culture,

which I've been surrounded by,

but really been an outsider to in New York,

and combine it with my love of urban studies,

which is so cool to me,

particularly in the China context.

So yeah, that's why I decided to come here,

and it's been really fruitful.

Well, about you, Rory.

Yeah.

I mean, similar to Corpus experience in New York,

London also has a really, really rich Chinese culture.

We have a very cool Chinatown,

and in my school as well,

I remember the way that we celebrated Chinese New Year

was by making things like paper lanterns

and making paper cuttings,

and things like lion dancing as well,

was something that I remember from a very young age,

being a part of this sort of,

this image of China in my mind,

something that was very far away,

but also very culturally close and very present.

And as I grew older,

and I started to become really interested in different languages,

and especially languages outside of the European scripts,

especially outside of the kind of Latin alphabet,

China was perhaps the most different I could get with its hands,

and its tones,

and all of these kind of differences from what I was used to.

So that was the real entry point into China was this language,

and its real rich diversity.

I had the opportunity to work in Shanghai back in 2019

on a work exchange programme,

while I was doing my bachelor's at the University of Oxford,

and I worked there for a month,

and it just really captured me in the same way

that Nicole was saying to enter this city

that was like so far in the future,

and its public transport and infrastructure,

and how clean it was,

and how amazing the green spaces were,

how friendly the people were,

how great the food was.

I just knew that this was,

this was something that I really wanted to come back to

and explore more deeply,

and all of the different variations between the cities,

between Shanghai and Xi'an and Guangzhou and Beijing,

I think it's a fantastically varied and fascinating place

to come and see for yourself.

And I totally agree with you on the notion

where you mentioned that London,

where you grew up,

has a strong Chinese influence,

particularly at the central part

where the Chinese town is located.

I did my master's in London,

and when I first arrived at the Chinatown there,

I was astonished, like how come you guys just move

one of our streets in the center of London.

But yeah, that's how the Chinese influence is,

right now, globally speaking.

And for my next segment,

I'm going to dedicate it to Krupa as a start.

I understand that you did a very interesting study

on heritage preservation of South Chinese minority

architecture back when you were studying Cornell.

Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Yeah, so I was really interested in architecture in general

and I didn't know what era I wanted to focus on.

So I started as a very big Asian architecture overview.

But then I got really fascinated by South Chinese

ethnic minority groups and their architecture

just because of how diverse it was.

And it was very different than other type forms

of architecture that I had studied before.

And it was super interesting because not only did I learn

about certain techniques or materials

that they used to create very land-specific

locality-based architecture that is very energy-efficient

and has this unique understanding of how to harness

the way the wind blows, the way the water flows

to make these efficient energy-efficient,

as we would call it in our modern terms,

and sustainable homes.

But I also got to learn about this mindset

of reciprocity with the land

and a very specific nature-based relationship.

At the same time, I was actually taking an Indigenous studies course

and this kind of showed me that this concept of reciprocity

towards the land and that sort of attitude that informs

this advanced architecture is kind of universal.

And so that really brought me into this whole Indigenous architecture

including Indigenous voices, whether from China

or across the world into sustainability dialogues.

So yeah, that independent study was kind of the start

of my career after computer science,

which is what I majored in undergrad.

And also here in Enching Academy,

you focus on sustainability and the wisdom of Chinese ethnic groups

as main research interests, which is very fascinating, by the way.

So looking at the bigger picture here,

where do you see your work making the real

tangible differences?

Is it back in your home country or perhaps

in the way that we approach cross-cultural collaboration

in designing architectures?

I think likely cross-cultural collaboration,

just because like this concept of understanding the land

and this concept of Indigenous communities stewarding

the land they live on for centuries,

not only protecting it and preserving it,

but regenerative design, right, contributing back to it.

That sort of wisdom is in China, it's in the US,

it's in India, and so including those voices

into conversations about sustainability,

I think is what I want to really contribute to

because I truly believe that this is like a universal concept

and that learning from these communities

and changing our mindset in terms of development

to center those voices and learn from the ways

that they have been preserving and regenerating land

across the world is really important.

Yeah, and I've also heard that you've been

to an eco village in Guangdong,

which means that you've been traveling around,

you've been here in Beijing and perhaps

in other major Chinese cities,

and then the eco village with a main focus on sustainability

and very intimate relationship with the local environment.

So how do you see these two aspects

reconcile with each other?

Can the city learn from the eco village or vice versa?

Yeah, that's a great question.

The eco village is a really interesting concept

because it's not like a traditional village

where there have been some locals

who've been living there for centuries,

but the vast majority of the residents of the eco village

are actually urban to rural migrants.

So this is like a new phenomenon in China

where like for a long time,

and even now there are a lot of rural

to urban migrants for work and whatnot,

but as time progresses,

there has been this increasing rush of people

leaving the city to find peace

and to reclaim their time and connect with nature.

So that was a really interesting part of like Chinese society

that was cool to learn from.

And in terms of things that we can learn from that village,

this was the main topic that we were talking about

during that eco fellowship.

A really big one is this idea of community.

How do we bring back community-based governance,

resource sharing,

and just a feeling that people

have the capability and agency

to make places their own

and to preserve their culture

rather than cities becoming a place of just market orientation

or product or just work, you know,

bringing back life and culture

and community into cities.

I think that's a really big thing that this eco village

and villages in general kind of do

is this feeling that you can rely on one another.

And so how can we bring people

as agentive forces back into the city

to reclaim kind of space and time?

I think that's a really big topic

very many ways to approach it

and not one solution, but I think really important

for creating happier and more socially

and ecologically sustainable lives in the city.

And now that you're in the Inching Academy,

there's even more local Chinese ethnic groups

for you to study and walk around.

I highly recommend Southwest China's Gweja Province,

by the way.

A lot of the Southern Chinese ethnic groups

dwell there and their architecture are amazing.

I will definitely check it out.

Thank you.

And thank you so much for sharing.

And now let's move on to Niko.

So I understand that Niko,

you are the lead of the Student Association

of Belt and Road Initiative Indonesia,

S-A-B-R-I.

And speaking of the B-R-I,

we have to mention the whoosh, right?

The Indonesia's first high-speed rail

that's traveling from Jakarta to Bendown.

So for those of you who don't know what that is,

that's a railway, high-speed railway

of 142.3 kilometers long.

And it's in operation since 2023

and it was built in cooperation with China

under the Belt and Road Initiative.

So Niko,

what do you think that the high-speed railway

has brought to the local communities along its routes?

I understand that that's one of your research interests, too, right?

Yes, oh my god.

It did a research on me.

It was very interesting, actually,

because when it comes to Indonesia and China discussion,

people will keep saying about the high-speed railway.

Like, sometimes if I talk to Chinese people,

they will ask me,

what do you think about the cult here?

About the whoosh,

about the Jakarta Bandung railway?

And to be honest for me,

even for as an Indonesian myself,

I have never ride the railway.

So here's the thing.

So when it was officiated in 2023,

I was already graduating from college

and I already prepared to study in China.

So I didn't really have the time to really take the train.

So fun fact, my very first-ever high-speed railway

was actually in China,

going to Inner Mongolia.

Awesome, yes.

How long was it?

I think it was around only two hours from Beijing.

It was very quick.

It was also like,

yanching field trip.

So thanks yanching for that.

And then I shared that in my story,

in my social media.

And then when I share about the inside,

and then the outside,

all my Indonesian friends say,

it's just the same as in the Indonesia one.

Lovely, right?

And then I say,

of course it makes sense.

It was created by the Chinese company in Qingdao.

That's why it was literally exported from China.

And then based on the technology,

China I think did a good job in transferring the knowledge,

transferring how to say the material

from China to Indonesia.

But sometimes the thing that I want to explore more

about this mega project that costs

upon like $7.5 billion US dollar

is the fact that

development is always targeted to the people.

Yep, the people is always the overlooked aspect

when it comes to development.

So right now,

the perception on the people of like the high-speed railway,

especially in Indonesia,

is kind of mixed.

Sometimes they have the concern about like the debt

where their Indonesia can actually pay the debt to China.

Right.

And also there are people who actually supported it

because here's the thing.

Jakarta to Bandung,

a personal story of me,

I was born and raised in Bandung.

But I had to move to Jakarta, Tangran.

And at that time,

it took me six hours car ride to move.

Six hours.

Six hours.

It was crazy.

At that time, I feel like,

oh, my life in Bandung already over.

I could not meet my friend anymore.

I cried my heart out.

Because it's six hours.

There's more I can visit them in weekend.

And then around like 10 years later,

it was like the 2023,

they told me, oh,

we already have the high-speed railway.

It only takes 55 minutes

to go from Jakarta to Bandung.

And also like,

if these were there 10 years ago,

I would not cry.

I would just visit my friends in the weekend.

And I think that's the most amazing part

of high-speed railway

that it cuts distant.

It creates efficiency.

And it creates like,

the possibility out of the impossible.

Because we could never imagine

that Jakarta Bandung only 55 minutes away.

So I think that's kind of like a personal effect

that I feel.

And that's why I did my research

on the perception of the people

towards the high-speed railway.

Because I want to know,

if let's say people support the railway.

And then if people has concern,

why is that?

And then it's not only about whether

it's good or bad,

but whether I want to explore

what shapes their perception.

Is it their gender,

their age,

their education?

And either how to say their knowledge

on BRI or their knowledge

about the whoosh itself

actually affects their perception.

And I'm doing my research on that.

And I'm writing my thesis on that as well.

So yeah, we should look on that.

Yeah.

Based on your research interest

and also based on your initial findings,

how do you think the Chinese model of development

can be especially in infrastructure building

such as the high-speed rail

is transferable to other countries

such as back home?

So back in Indonesia,

actually high-speed railway,

it's not really a new concept for us.

We already want to have this high-speed railway

back in 2008 to 2012.

The concept of this,

I think it's applicable

because first,

Indonesia has a lot of land.

I mean, compared to China,

it's different,

but we want efficiency.

We want accessibility.

And that's what China can provide.

And the thing about China for me,

they always build like infrastructure efficiently

and then they can cut the costs.

And I think that's what the Indonesian government want.

And I do believe that the business proposal that China give,

a little bit more attracted

that's why Indonesia choose China as the tender.

I think the other thing that really interests me

to really study about high-speed railways,

that BRI and then this high-speed railway infrastructure,

it's about the people to people diplomacy.

Yes, it's about people to people

when it comes to development,

you should always connect the people.

You should always give it to the people.

And that's what I think.

So international relations,

sometimes it's not about materiality.

Sometimes it's not about economic.

Sometimes it's also talking about the effect of development

towards the people,

how this kind of high-level development actually affects people

swiftly within every day.

And that's why I decided that,

it's really applicable because Indonesia wants high-speed railway.

Right now the high-speed railway is ready there.

Why don't we talk more about what are the people thinking about?

So I don't want to answer your question.

Yeah, yeah, you totally do.

And I really like the idea that part of your study

is focusing on the bottom-up perspective,

which is for me the first time I heard about it.

And then I looked it up like what it is.

Apparently it means to go from the people

and then up towards how policy-wise

or economic-wise,

we can make the society better for everyone in it.

And I love that idea.

That's what China is trying to,

is aim at doing and then planning our future here too.

Thank you very much for your sharing, Nicole.

You're welcome.

And now we move on to Rory.

I understand that you are very passionate

with educational leadership.

Yeah, I've always been really interested

about the provision of education

and how it's effectively managed at different levels.

I've worked a lot as a teacher

across different age groups, different abilities,

both working in London,

but then also as a teacher to English second language students.

And so education has always been really central to my life,

also my father was a teacher for about 27 years

before he retired.

And so education has always been something that my family

and myself as well has always valued very close to my heart.

Lovely.

And your research covers vast areas like history,

philosophy and linguistics and also dialects,

which was beyond my expectation too.

So how do you see these different fields connecting?

For instance, can you share one thing about Chinese dialects

that you really like or got you really curious?

Yeah, I mean, it's a great question in two halves.

I'll get the second half first about Chinese dialects.

Sure.

Yeah, I think that the difference between a language and a dialect

is always a really hard differentiation

because when you compare Mandarin and Cantonese,

they are in many ways as dissimilar as English and French are.

So you have this incredibly wide web and network

of different regional dialects of different languages,

one might call them as well, of Chinese vernaculars.

And for example, when you talk about Cantonese,

actually preserves a lot of the end-stop consonants

that exist in classical Chinese.

And so an interesting fact is that if you're reading,

for example, Tung Dynasty poetry,

Cantonese speakers can actually hear a lot more

of the original rhymes because they preserve these,

some of the end-stop consonants.

So for example, E-R-San in Cantonese is Y-E-San.

And so you have these kind of closed mouth consonants at the end

that were dropped in Mandarin over the last several centuries.

And so yeah, and you have lots of regional kind of flavors

of Chinese as well.

And I think really when it comes back to what interests me

about this is that growing up in the UK,

you have a very similar landscape.

So when I'm traveling and I meet someone from the UK,

often we can tell where each other might be from

before we even say just because of how there are certain words

that are pronounced in a certain way or certain slang

that might be used.

And so in such a kind of growing up in such a vastly rich

linguistic environment, I think I really found that same kind

of appeal in the spread of Chinese as well.

That's really fascinating.

And you also mentioned an interesting learning Mandarin Chinese

and linguistics and by the way you demonstrate that you are Cantonese.

I'm already very impressed.

I only know Leihau.

That means hello, by the way.

That's my only Cantonese.

So China, you know that we have a logo graphics system.

We have strokes for the Chinese characters

while many Western languages use Elphabets.

So this is a really curious one.

How do you think the fundamental structure of a language?

You know, the way it's formed and used actually shape

how people think depending on which culture

and language background they're from.

This is a very big question.

I know.

And I think that there are so many different theories and approaches.

This is such a massive field of linguistics and sociology as well.

You know, how does language impact how people experience the world around them?

Personally, for my experience of studying Chinese,

I think it's opened up an entirely new way of viewing the world.

I think that English is a language that has a massive vocabulary

by virtue of both being colonized and being a colonizer.

You know, after the Norman invasion by France 1066,

English absorbed loads and loads of administrative vocabulary from French.

We also had Vikings coming in to the British Isles as well,

and so bringing a lot of old Norse as well.

And then over the centuries as Britain became a colonial power

and also imported a lot from the areas that it was colonizing.

And so English has become this real mix of different influences

and it creates a language that can be very, very precise.

English has very precise terminology because it is very wide,

but with Chinese, what I think is really, really beautiful,

especially someone who loves poetry,

is that Chinese has this fantastically rich metaphorical scope

in, I'll give you an example from last semester,

I was writing on the Dronzer.

And one of my arguments was that, I think,

translations of the Dronzer often miss the point

when you try to take a term like Ziran, or Wuwei,

or Dao, or Dao, in the Douditing.

When you try and find an English equivalent,

a single English phrase to translate one of these Chinese words to,

you sacrifice so much of the vast, vast nuance of these original terms.

Especially when it comes to the Dronzer,

this text is supposed to be difficult, it's supposed to be frustrating

and it's supposed to be to a degree inaccessible

and force the reader to make their own process of reading it.

And I think that when translations,

as is an inevitability of translation,

isolate or pin down some meaning

and therefore lose some of the nuance,

especially with going from Chinese to English to languages

that incredibly, incredibly different,

you lose some of that richness.

And so that's why also my process of learning Chinese

is just why did my world view

because it's created new vocabularies and ways of experiencing the world

as is the case, I'm sure, of everyone who can speak more than one language.

You also develop different personalities

when you're speaking different languages.

And I growing up was always, really,

I was really admired by my friends.

I grew up in a very diverse part of London very linguistically diverse

and I was always in such awe of my friends who could speak Polish or Punjabi

or just of Romanian or French or anything.

It was just so, I always wanted to be like them.

And so I'm kind of through this process,

it's been almost like a pilgrimage of learning more about myself

and learning languages has been absolutely the way that I've been able to do that.

That's so nice.

You know what, this is a perfect time for you to mention,

because during the Spring Festival holiday,

we just aired a series under Roundtable that we recorded called Sage

and youth debating drones as Dal,

just with different hosts debating where drones are.

And should we do this or should we follow the other way?

What is the Dal and how do we find balance among the Ging and the Young and everything?

So yeah, we're very welcome to take a listen to that as well.

So we know that every country defines development differently.

As Beijing is hosting the annual two sessions right now,

we'll get a glimpse of how China develops as a country.

And we know that China's development philosophy consistently follows the principle of inclusive benefit.

That's something that we really value as a country.

So from this perspective, the approaches we choose to address problems

or to actually solve things that's noticeable in our society

will kind of differ from those of Western societies.

So each of your research projects touches on the concept of development in different ways.

And as we just rest on that keyword just a little bit,

what has inspired you the most about the Chinese approach to development?

Can you give a small comparison with how the root of thoughts might be different back home?

Nicole kind of mentioned this already, but I think coming to China first hand

you can really see how efficient decisions are made.

Yeah, so decisions are made extremely efficiently

and implemented extremely efficiently.

And that leads to a lot of change in a very short period of time.

So the development of the high speed rail, the rapid rate of urbanization,

and that has such significant pros when you see how to,

like the large degree to which China has been able to elevate a lot of people out of poverty.

Yeah, I think that rapid pace has been the thing that has blown my mind.

And in terms of comparison with back home, the US is kind of going through it right now.

And I think at this point in our national government,

we are struggling with kind of like a personal agenda,

rather than an agenda focused on what will benefit the people.

So I think that's our main issue.

However, I will say that because I'm from New York,

I have gotten a lot of hope recently because we have this new mayor,

named Zoran Mamdani.

And he, I think, kind of echo is a lot of this notion of developing for the people

inclusive development in New York City at least.

And he's really trying to listen to people and hear their voices

and develop in a way that benefits as many people as possible.

So yeah, in that case, we can see some similarities.

And I hope that that trend continues in the West.

Interesting.

Well, Krupa, I actually already mentioned what I want to say,

but maybe I just want to compliment what she said before.

So when it comes to development, the concept is always to defle of something.

You always move forward and there will always be changes.

And I feel like China really knows how to embrace the changes

and how to make sure that the people are satisfied with the changes.

And back in Indonesia, we also have the similar concept with what China is doing.

It's the development for the people because in our constitution,

we believe that people's welfare should be affirmed.

Should always be prioritized.

And that's what the government has been trying to do.

But of course, it's not perfect.

There's always another side of it.

Even the high-speed railway development,

a lot of people are very sad, especially those who live nearby the site

because they have to move.

And even the companies don't really pay them according to the compensation agreement.

And that's another side.

But I believe that the government should be able to how to say compensate

or even notice that there is an side effect

and how to actually embrace it and make the people on their site again.

Maybe in another side it's like,

of course, when it comes to mega-project infrastructure development,

there will always be a negative effect.

But I believe that if the government could give another benefits,

let's say cutting the travel time or even giving them something that they could be,

oh, so the development is not that bad.

So I think that will be lovely.

And I do believe that Indonesia can learn so much from China

when it comes to government efficiency and even decision-making

or even how to say good governance.

I do believe that if Indonesia could learn from China,

we could totally make a great output like what China has been doing

with their own development.

Yeah, I definitely share the same ideas as my classmates as well.

I think as well something that really inspires me about China's approach to development

is just how seriously it is taking a green transition.

And China produces 92% of the world's solar panels, 82% of the world's wind turbines.

And what I like is that this isn't a political question

in the same way that it is in other countries.

It is just common sense.

And I think it has been...

And you know, for example, just walking around, you see so many electric vehicles

and it makes also just contributes to a much quieter city than normal petrol powered cars.

So you do have, I think, this kind of cleaner edge when it comes to questions of development

like in the field of green transition.

And that brings me to my next next question,

because all of you are here in the Yenching Academy.

So building on what you share just now,

what is the most important takeaway?

It can be a concept or rather a skill, a value,

or a specific piece of knowledge.

What do you hope to bring with you after your studies are completed here?

For me, someone said this to me in the eco village that I went to

and this may have been said by a famous person, I don't know.

But it's this quote that goes,

seek first to understand and then to be understood.

And I think that that has been really central to my experience with China

because in the US, we hear a lot about China

and are very quick to judge and put our own opinions out there.

But being here, just experiencing a completely different way of thinking,

a system born out of a completely different way of thinking,

approaching with a sense of respect,

and the intention to understand and really empathize

and understand that we are all coming from the same place as humans first.

And to then, only after, we've really made that effort to put forward

our own points of view, I think is something that is so simple,

but somehow so difficult to practice in the international context

and in larger scale context.

But being here, I can say that it has really helped me understand

not only China, but myself to really hear different points of view

and think about it and sit with it and then put my own views forward.

Wow, and what about you, Nicole?

I think because maybe I want to share something.

So I did my Bachelor in Anthropology, right?

And we understand this concept of studying culture as an insider and outsider.

So before the Enting Academy, all I know about China is as an outsider.

Even though I'm Chinese Indonesian,

I only know China, a country, good, panda, lovely, yay!

Like a very stereotypical knowledge.

But when I come to Yenqing, they really provide me this kind of direct hands-on knowledge

on studying China in China.

And then I love this kind of keyword.

They say that when it comes to Chinese study, it's like China is your classroom.

And that's true.

Because we also have this course in Yenqing, China in transition,

Chinese contemporary society.

I study so much about what made China China.

And it's not only about the panda and the food.

It's about how to say hukou, like the registration system.

Oh, wow.

Yes, or even the Kaika Kaifeng.

The helps everyone in China really open the door.

The reform and opening up.

Exactly.

And I was like, why?

It's interesting that if you want to become China,

you really need to really invest on the people, especially on the education.

I feel like after Yenqing, I kind of be more knowledgeable about China.

And another thing that I want to say, especially after like living two years in China,

I don't know a lot of things about China.

I don't even study the language.

I start everything scarily.

I'm so scared of like studying new things.

And the most thing that I'm really scared is like to sons to fit.

But the thing that I learn is like, it's okay if it's sound dumb.

It's fine because like you are learning your student.

You should not be really like smart every time.

And the most beautiful thing after being in China is like,

you come as an empty glass and there's so much water that will fill your glass.

Yeah, I think that China has pushed me in so many ways.

You know, I think it's a country that is so, so varied and so different.

You really have to throw yourself in at the deep end and take China on its own terms.

And I think that comes with really making the most of it in the way that you want

because China offers modernity and urbanity and it also offers tradition and history

and it offers great food and pandas and culture and natural environments and everything.

So I think that that's been my process of studying here.

And that has also made me more adaptable.

I think this is something that when we were talking earlier about,

in my experience as a teacher, you have to really be able to work in so many different circumstances

and in so many different types of people.

And that's something about my experience of being in China that has really, really pushed me further

is not only being in China and surrounded by this really, really fascinating and engaging culture,

but also living with people who are from so many who have so many different perspectives

that I never would have ever been able to talk to.

You know, I love debating and I love challenging and being challenged

and you can come away from these conversations and just have such a new take on new things.

And it's something that, you know, I think it's one of the real virtues of studying again

and doing a programme like this that I'm excited to go home and to be able to argue more

and about more things just by having these kinds of new perspectives that I only would have gained here.

Hopefully in the future we perhaps can expect a podcast every run

like debating over a jungle style in the nature among the young.

I would love that, that sounds exactly like my type of thing.

Which nicely wraps up our dialogue today.

Nico, Crouple and Rory, each of you came to China with a different question.

And together you've shown us that there is always more than one way to understand this country.

To each of you, thank you for sharing not just your research but also your personal journeys

and thank you for being so open about what brought you here, what you've discovered

and what you hope to carry back home has been a genuine pleasure, chatting with all of you.

And to you, our listeners, thank you for spending this time with us. I'm Yushan.

Don't go away just yet. Stay tuned for more discussions on Roundtable.

That was Yushan talking to Crouple, Rory and Nico.

From observations about China's rapid modernisation to reflections on infrastructure projects

like the Jakarta Bondan Thai speed rail, to the cultural depth found in Chinese language and poetry.

Their perspectives offer a reminder that global understanding is often built through personal encounters.