RI students learn Chinese at Xiamen University

RI students learn Chinese at Xiamen University

This is the seventh article of a series based on a visit to
China by six Indonesian journalists, including The Jakarta Post's
Harry Bhaskara, courtesy of the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Indonesian students studying at Xiamen University, in the
southern Chinese province of Fujian, have found academic life
here challenging.

"The lecturers are good and the libraries have good
collections," says Cecilia Sebastian, 23, who hails from the East
Java town of Sidoarjo, near Surabaya.

Cecilia is one of some 140 Indonesian students, mostly Chinese
Indonesians, who are studying in Xia Ta, as the Xiamen University
is locally known. Most of the students are taking Chinese
language courses, she said.

The course usually takes two years to complete, but students
with some proficiency in the language may take less time. This
also applies for those who want to pursue study in other courses
such as business or engineering. However, students here said that
only a few Indonesians are planning to take further study.

"With a mastery of Chinese language, it will be easier for us
to find jobs in Indonesia," said Ling Ling, 27, who comes from
Jakarta.

Tuition fees for the course are US$850 per semester. The
regular fee is $900, but Indonesian students have been given a
$50 discount ever since the anti-Chinese riots of May 1998 in
Jakarta.

"The policy has not changed," she said.

The Chinese language has some 66,000 characters but people in
general have a mastery of only a few thousand.

In two years, students are expected to master some 3,000
characters, an adequate number to survive in Chinese society.
Students learn 300 to 400 characters per semester.

Xiamen University was founded in 1921 by an prominent overseas
Chinese by the name of Tan Kah Kee. It was the first university
in China to be founded by an overseas Chinese. To date, over 50
academicians of the prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences and
Chinese Academy of Engineering undertook all or part of their
study at this university.

Vice President of the university, Prof. Ying Zhang, said that
Xiamen had a cooperative agreement with a university in
Indonesia.

"At present, we have one professor who is teaching Chinese at
the University of Hasanuddin in Makassar," he said.

The university also has a regular program to invite
businessmen to teach at the university to keep the business
faculty abreast of the latest developments, Ying said.

Most of the Indonesian students who come to Xiamen University
do so on the recommendation of their relatives who have lived in
China and who are familiar with the university. Others
deliberately choose to study there.

"In Beijing, there are too many Indo's," says Cecilia,
referring to Indonesian students. "I think we can master Chinese
here faster because we don't have as much opportunity to speak
Indonesian as there are not too many Indonesian students."

Xiamen University's total student population is more than
29,000.

The 500-hectare campus offers a very international setting.

"Besides Chinese, we also practice English with other foreign
students," Cecilia said.

The students said in addition to a high level of safety in the
city, living costs are about half those of Beijing or Shanghai. A
low-cost apartment is about $25 a month, although there are
apartments that may cost six times as much. Student dormitories
are available from $100 a month. Books cost $10 per semester. In
general, living cost for a student in this city is about $200 a
month.

"That is if you are a spend-free type of person. Otherwise it
could be lower than that," Cecilia said.

Xiamen is a quiet and safe city, the students said.

"Although petty theft, like losing your handphone to
pickpockets, does occasionally occur," Ling Ling said.

Not all the students are high school graduates. Some have
finished their undergraduate studies elsewhere. Cecilia, for
example, graduated from an Australian university in Perth
majoring in computer science.

Asked what they missed the most about Indonesia, the students
replied, almost in unison, "The food!". They said Chinese food
uses different kinds of spices compared to Indonesian food,
citing kluek, a large, hard seedling with a black flesh inside,
as an example. Kluek is the main spice ingredient for rawon, a
popular dish from East Java.