A Japanese delegation of 7 scholars, led by Maruyama Hiroa, a professor in the Department of International Culture at the Prefectural University of Hiroshima, visited the Department of Japanese at the School of Foreign Languages from December 5th to 8th, 2013.
 

Tang Yueqin, Vice-dean, Ren Xinhong, Deputy Secretary, Li Haizhen, Dean of the Department of Japanese, and Dr. Lv Zhaoxin, had a friendly chat with the students and teachers from Japan. Professor Maruyama expressed his good wishes and hoped for further cooperation and mutual development with our school based on a more profound and diverse scale.

 

During the visit, the delegation: visited a Japanese class to observe some authentic teaching; had lunch with some staff and students from the Department of Japanese in the fourth dining hall; and were shown around the Xipu campus. They did manage to experience some of the normal campus life of a Chinese university during their visit.
 

During the exchange meeting, Professor Maruyama said that due to the long-standing and well-established cultural communication between China and Japan, Chinese culture has always influenced, and been respected by, the Japanese people. To help Chinese students have a better understanding of how Japanese people study Chinese ancient poems, he taught students how to read poems aloud in Japanese, whilst explaining the meaning of the poems at the same time.

The six Japanese students took turns in introducing the Hiroshima Prefecture, including its location, food, animals and its world-class cultural heritages. They gave these speeches earnestly in Chinese, although they are not yet fluent in Chinese. The Chinese students from our department also took turns in actively sharing their experiences of studying Japanese, and raised many questions relating to Japanese culture and daily life. The humorous answers of the Japanese scholars' and the lively atmosphere, brought lots of cheerful applause and fits of laughter.

 

The delegation also talked to some postgraduates from the Department of Japanese on the Jiuli campus. They exchanged views on learning, and reading Chinese and Japanese poems aloud. The Japanese students were deeply impressed by the proficiency of the postgraduates' Japanese, and determined to study Chinese harder.

Though the activity came to an end, the power of language and the fruitful exchange between the cultures has planted beautiful seeds of friendship in the hearts of both Chinese and Japanese students. This visit has enhanced mutual understanding and improved relations between both sides.