In the Panda Pavilions
By Ian Hank Rushabiro
After months of waiting, hoping and dreaming, a young creative mind filled with passion and anxiety had his life changed after leaving family and friends behind to pursue a dream career as an architect in the world’s greatest innovative country, China, a land far away from home in Uganda, scary as it seemed I barely slept on the journey as I was curious about everything it being my first flight, upon making it to China everything around looked new and felt like a breath of fresh air.
I was fortunate to be accepted by Zhejiang University of Science and Technology (ZUST) where I was warmly welcomed by the society of international students and fully guided on how to get settled in to begin my journey into becoming a great architect.
Zhejiang University of Science and Technology (ZUST) is found in Hangzhou, a peaceful city with great scenery and green development for sustainable living.
I was like a child just learning a lot of things, more so the advanced forms of technology used to simplify day- to-day lives of people, from payment methods, transportation, organisation and strict rules followed by citizens to maintain peace and harmony.
I faced a couple of challenges more so the language barrier, making Google Translator my best friend at all times, since the age of 10 I have been creating drawing and painting and being involved in all sorts of creative activities that made me naturally develop a passionate sense of appreciation for art and creativity and that was when I fell in love with the Chinese characters (Han zi) the stories behind some characters and the artistic nature in the stroke work fuelled my curiosity to learn more about the culture and language of the Chinese people. Despite the few challenges, my determination to make the most out of this great opportunity keeps me going.
If there is one thing I totally appreciate about the Chinese is that they care so much about their students. I was fortunate to be handed over to a student advisor who is supposed to guide you through your academic journey to completion and with her, I have navigated through so many things smoothly and the continuous check-ups to make sure that students are progressing not only academically but emotionally, physically and psychologically.
After a few weeks of classes, I was lucky to be among the students who were chosen to visit Anji County, one of the great, beautiful ecological county with strong development features in Northern Zhejiang.
Anji is rated as a National Civilised County and National Hygiene County. The beautiful countryside has had a profound impact.
Since 2008, Anji has been carrying out the construction of "Beautiful Countryside in China", striving to create a demonstration area for the construction of new rural areas in the Yangtze River Delta, and exploring characteristic models for rural ecological civilisation construction, presenting a grand pattern of one village, one product, one charm, and one scenery.
ZUST International students tour at the panda pavilion in Chengdu China
After 15 years, President Xi Jinping visited Anji again in person on March 30, 2020, fully affirming its development of Anji, giving important instructions for the county to accelerate high-quality green development and promote the modernisation of grassroots governance.
When Xi Jinping inspected Yucun, Tianhuangping Town, Anji, he proposed for the first time that,‘‘ lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets’’. The advantages of the ecological environment are transformed into the advantages of the ecological economy such as ecological agriculture, ecological industry, and ecological tourism, then ‘ clear waters and lush mountains will become gold and silver mountains.’
This was a mind-blowing experience given my African background. This was a place they called a village which I found hard to believe because it felt like a city but with a countryside scenery filled with beautiful mountains and green around and the famous Yangtze River flowing through it.
The talented and innovative nature of the natives and youth supported by the government, ideas were developed and brought to life.
A detailed insight into my amazing experience in Anji County visiting the following areas.
The youth hub
It was a great innovative space for the youth to come together and come up with different ideas to develop the county. Providing all the facilities they need to get creative such as library space, WiFi provision, reading space, cafeteria among many others. The design of the space is brightly coloured with a calm environment inducive for learning.
Main landscapes
Tropical rainforest: With a total area of 2,200 square meters and a maximum height of 15 metres, it aims to collect, preserve, study, and display bamboo species resources in tropical and alpine bamboo areas. It is an important place for carrying out ex-situ protection of bamboo plant diversity and popular science education. It preserves and displays 61 bamboo varieties and more than 140 kinds of tropical plants.
Macau Panda Pavilion
It is currently a world-class professional ecological exhibition hall for giant pandas, with an area of about 7000 square meters. In 2008, giant pandas were introduced from the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base in Sichuan. Here, all functions are complete, providing a comfortable living environment for pandas. It was my first time seeing Pandas and they are very beautiful peaceful creatures.
I thank the teachers of Zhejiang University of Science and Technology(ZUST) for organizing this trip to Anji County and giving us the chance us to explore China and its great places to understand the culture and people much better.
It was an amazing experience to visit Anji County, so eye-opening for me great exposure to the innovation and development concepts of such a rural place being transformed into an urban settlement with uprising industrialisation, giving opportunity to the people in the community to sustain their lives and have a great livelihood, I have learnt a lot and hope to transfer these ideas to my home country Uganda in East Africa sharing the same enthusiasm.
I hope for more opportunities like this to explore and learn a lot more as I continue to pursue my creative journey to becoming an architect.
The writer is a student at Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, China
