This week, a team of faculty and pre-faculty students from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) participated in an immersion study tour to get to know the Chinese culture, innovation, and the operation of enterprises in Dubai.
The program, organized by the China Merchants Foundation and Sinotrans, with the assistance of the Chinese Consulate General in Dubai, under the name of Merchants Group C ME FLY: International Logistics Study Tour, was to enhance the educational and cultural relationships between China and the UAE.
The program united approximately 80 students of the University of Sharjah and the University of Birmingham Dubai and integrated both academic education and practical cultural experience and field trips.
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Blending Culture and Technology
Through the tour, the students were taken to the China-UAE Economy and Trade Exchange Centre in Dubai, where they were subjected to traditional Chinese tea ceremonies and handicrafts, and even got the opportunity to wear traditional Chinese clothes.
Participants also had the chance to visit Sinotrans 5G Smart Warehouse and Port Abu Dhabi Terminal at COSCO SHIPPING to obtain firsthand experience of the Chinese achievements in the area of logistics and smart technologies—the spheres that are critical to the development of global trade.
Ou Boqian met the students on Friday and provided details on the ancient time system in Chinese, the shichen system, an ancient concept of dividing segments of the day into one dozen double-hour segments, where he related this concept to the present Chinese way of thinking about time, innovation, and progress.
A Cultural Dialogue Between Generations
On Friday, Chinese Consul General in Dubai, Ou Boqian, sat down before the participants and delivered a lecture relating the ancient Chinese time system known as shichen to the modern developmental course of the country. The discussion with the interactive approach demonstrated the role of traditional philosophies in the further development of innovation-driven China.
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It has been a fantastic experience. It has been an excellent experience to study Chinese culture and logistics technology, noted Awab Abdulsattar Awad, who is a student at the University of Sharjah. We also learned about the history of China and how it is evolving in its relationship with the UAE through these events. Memories that we can never forget are on our phones, he added.
Strengthening Bilateral Academic and Cultural Ties
Educators and the students commended the program for helping students work together outside the classroom. Director of the Language Institute of the University of Sharjah, Asmaa Awad, highlighted the importance of such programs in improving academic and cultural knowledge between the two countries.
The programs contribute to encouraging exchanges between students, collaboration between faculty, and enhanced cultural understanding between China and the UAE, she added. We are looking forward to the possibility of building stronger connections with the help of language and experiences.
A Growing Partnership between China and the UAE
The study tour is the new step in further strengthening the relations between China and the UAE, especially in the fields of education, trade, and cultural diplomacy. With such programs, the two countries are trying to foster young leaders who can appreciate the need to communicate interculturally and work together globally. At the end of the tour, the participants were not only able to appreciate Chinese culture and innovation much better but also felt a new closeness between the two countries—a symptom of the well-established and developing friendship between China and the UAE.