Interviewing TNU classmates/staff (Bronwyn)
This month I’ve been tasked with doing interviews with some friends at TNU, so I decided to ask some of the Chinese students that I have made friends with to get an idea of their opinion of campus life and living in Tianjin.
The first person I asked was my friend 敬照鹏 (Jing Zhaopeng), 照鹏 is a second year graduate student at TNU for history. He studied history at undergraduate at TNU. He is from 四川 (Sichuan) but has been living in Tianjin since he was 14 years old. I first met him at the winter performance that was held by the international students in December, and we sometimes meet to practice English and Mandarin.
My first question was, “What do you think about campus life?”
“I think the campus is very beautiful and ecological, with the amount of nature within campus making me very happy. In addition, there are lots of animals on campus. The food in the canteens is comparatively cheap, especially the first canteen. The library is somewhere I go to often and the fact that it has so many floors means there’s always space for me to study.”
The nature that 照鹏 was referring to is the pond area of campus which is near the centre of campus. There are ducks, swans, peacocks, and fish there. You can also see a lot of birds if you walk slightly further down which you often see people feeding.
Next, I asked him about Tianjin as a whole. Since he has both lived in a province further south as well as Tianjin, I thought his opinion would be well rounded.
“I think Tianjin is a very inclusive city. It has modern skyscrapers, western-style villas, and Chinese style buildings with obvious Chinese characteristics. These diverse elements are rarely seen elsewhere.”
The western style villas that 照鹏 discusses can mainly be found in the city centre, specifically 五大道 (Five Great Avenues) area and the Italian district, while the Chinese style buildings are particularly obvious in the ancient cultural street of Tianjin.
I also asked my friend 武鸿羽 (Wu Hongyu) who was born and raised in Tianjin. She is currently in her second year of university at TNU and is studying English. This means when we meet up we usually help each other with homework and such. She is also the person who has shown me a lot of Tianjin, such as the ancient cultural street and the nearby park 水上公园 (Tianjin Water Park). I asked her the same questions as 照鹏, and got similar answers.
“Our school’s greenery is very good, there are many cute animals to see. Our school also has a strong learning environment, the teachers in particular are professional and patient. I enjoy the cheap and delicious food that can be found on campus.”
“The people of Tianjin have a strong sense of relaxation, with a common saying of “Money or not, just have fun”. Tianjin people are outgoing and cheery. Whether you know them or not, they will drag you over to have a chat. Tianjin is a great place to see China’s rapid development over the past century, with the mix of traditional and modern buildings.”
Overall, I think my two friend’s opinions show a baseline of how TNU and Tianjin are seen by the students at the university. Tianjin is a good city to live in with most of the city being made accessible by the subway or the bus, and both being convenient ways to travel to the centre.