Ms. ZHANG Yingxuan, born in 1975 in Dalian, China, graduated from Beijing University of Foreign Languages, where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in French language (1998), a master’s degree in French literature (2001) and a doctorate in co – supervision with the University of Paris IV in the field of contemporary literature and the rhetoric of romanticism (2008). Since 2017, Dr. Zhang has been co-director of the Confucius Institute of Liège, where she leads new methods of learning Mandarin, and with a lot of love for Belgian letters and Chinese literature.
LHCH was fortunate enough to interview Ms. Zhang, who was intellectually brilliant, pleasant and open-minded.
LHCH: How does one become a professor or co-director, in your case, of a Confucius Institute from China?
ZHANG Yingxuan: By a competitive examination, as always with us.
LHCH: Why this choice of Belgium?
ZHANG: My University of Foreign Languages in Beijing, “Bei Wai”, has not yet created a connection with universities in France, so I came to Liège which is very attached to the obviously French language and culture, but also specifically French.
LHCH: Personally, it was thanks to the Confucius Institute of Brussels, in Schaerbeek, that I was able to go to a “summer university” in « Bei Wai », Beijing, in 2011!
ZHANG Yingxuan: Yes. But in Brussels, you also speak English, not just French.
LHCH: How did you settle in Liège? Not too much of a change of scenery?
ZHANG: I had already spent several years in France because I graduated from Paris IV at the Sorbonne as part of my PHD.
LHCH: Awesome! So how did you feel the difference between Walloon Belgians and the French?
ZHANG: The people of Liège are very welcoming, very warm. In Paris, apart from my friends, I found the French a bit “distant” and very proud of themselves (laughs). Without doubt, this is linked to the diversity of cultures that have existed in Belgium for a long time. Here, we are very open. Ah yes the Belgians are quite punctual too.
LHCH: Did you know that in Liège they like to celebrate July 14?
ZHANG: Oh no, it’s fun!
LHCH: What are your Chinese friends saying about your life here?
ZHANG: Even though Belgium is a small country, it has an excellent reputation for the quality of its beers and chocolates. You can find them on all e-commerce sites in China!
LHCH: What are the profiles of students at Confucius Liège?
ZHANG: We teach classes in secondary education in the 1st and 2nd year. We also have university students from HEC or the Université Libre de Liège. Finally, we also have adult students who attend classes in the evening.
LHCH: As co-director do you also give Chinese lessons?
ZHANG: Yes I teach the advanced level, that is, for students who have reached HSK3.
LHCH: It used to be said that the teaching of Chinese in Confucius Institutes was quite academic, far from the common practice of the Chinese. I’m talking about ten years ago and from personal experience. Has it changed?
ZHANG: We insist on the essential fundamentals of the Chinese language to know above all, indeed. But, nowadays more is given to the practice through videos, movies, shows, etc. In this way grammar and vocabulary are contextualized to be better understood. There is talk of organizing “Conversation Tables”. I also experienced this difference between my “academic” French and the French spoken by students at the Sorbonne in Paris. You have to adapt by dialoguing, by exchanging with people whose mother tongue is French, of course.
LHCH: Nothing beats the language immersion in China, then?
ZHANG: Absolutely. To this end, we want to encourage our students to spend 6 months or 1 year at the University of Foreign Languages in Beijing. Each year, we help at least 2 scholarship holders!
LHCH: “Bei Wai” is an extraordinary university, located in a very lively and typical district of the capital. Even students who have only done one month of summer college come back delighted!
ZHANG: Yes, it’s a very big university and very open to the world!
LHCH: Confucius has changed but also the levels of HSK, “Hanyu Shuiping Kao Shi”, a little Chinese TOEFEL, but more advanced.
ZHANG: Yeah, there are more levels, indeed. But there are only from HSK 3 that there are differences. The new HSK goes up to 9 while the old one maxed out at 6 levels. The total number of words to know goes from 5000 to 11000. Once you reach level 8 or 9, you can become a Chinese language interpreter.
LHCH: The level of demand is only growing in China unlike Europe, unfortunately. So, at Institut Confucius de Liège, there are beginner, intermediate and advanced levels?
ZHANG: Yeah, basically from HSK1 to HSK 3-4.
LHCH: Despite the thousands of courses on YouTube today, is the Confucius Institute still the benchmark?
ZHANG: I believe so deeply, because the students love the presence of teachers and other students in class above all. In addition, these are all graduates of Chinese universities. Of course, with COVID, we had to adapt our video-conference courses.
LHCH: What are you planning to make your institute known in Wallonia?
ZHANG: We already have a good reputation thanks to our alumni who talk a lot about us. But we also organize Open Doors every year, concerts for the Chinese New Year, university meetings because we are attached to the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the ULG through the exclusive partnership with “Bei Wai”.
LHCH: What are you going to organize as part of the 50th anniversary of Belgium-China diplomatic relations, this year 2021?
ZHANG: We are going to organize a big “virtual” concert on the net with musicians from the Royal Conservatory of Liège and Chinese musicians. We will make the video montages of their services. My wish is that the Chinese know better Belgian scholarly music. For example, the work of André Grétry. We are also going to organize a symposium on Chinese and Belgian theater from the beginning of the 20th century. For example, compare the work of Laoshe and the work of Verhaeren. Finally, I write articles in Chinese about Belgian writers that I would like to promote in China.
