[InKunming--Kunming] “The birds on the trees are in pairs. Green hills and clear waters all wear smiles...” Huangmei Opera Husband and Wife Returning Home performed by overseas students Maidu and Zhuna from Bangladesh, winning rapturous applause from the audience at the Art Festival held by International Institute of Yunnan University. Looking at the sweet fruit thanks to their diligence and hard-working, Qiu Jie, as their drama teacher, is much more steadfast that she wants to teach foreign students in the near future.

Miss Qiu has been devoting herself to teaching drama for more than thirty years, having hundreds of thousands of young or old students. However, she never taught foreign students before. She coincidently met three students from Bangladesh, Maidu, Zhu’na and Ke’nan. “They really want to learn Chinese culture, like Huangmei Opera, Taiji Boxing, Chinese Guqin and so on. The good news is that I am doing these things in my training institutions named Guoyun Agency (Chinese: 国韵社),” Qiu explained why they become her students.

“I established Guoyun Agency with my daughter, aiming at teaching students Chinese culture.” Miss Qiu pointed out that it is the best thing in life to learn drama and appreciate painting together there.

In the process of 30 years teaching career, Miss Qiu did not encounter any problems, but she dropped in a dilemma when she faced foreign students. “They could only speak poor Chinese, so as my English. It turns out that we met various problems when communicating with each other.” Qiu frowned and said.

Miss Qiu and her overseas students.

As the old saying goes, nothing is impossible to a willing heart! With the help of Miss Qiu, the overseas students gradually acquired some recitation skills. For instance, she asked them to emotionally recite Li Bai’s poem. Where there is a tiny problem about the pronunciation or gesture, there is some corrections from Miss Qiu.

“Performing and camouflaging your voice are the challenging parts of drama. I chose the story Wolf & Lamb from Aesop's Fable as teaching material, requiring them to imitate the voice of this two animals with different tones. The wolf’s voice should be ferocious and violent while the lamb’s is supposed to sound gentle and lovable,” Miss Qiu recalled those happy memories.

There is a hug gap between Chinese and Bengali. Seeing three overseas students practicing Chinese day and night, Miss Qiu was touched and she made efforts to help them to defeat “enemy” like teaching them some tongue twisters.

It seems like that time flies quickly when people are immersed in learning knowledge. The Art Festival of International Institute was held and overseas students planned to perform drama on the stage. After discussing, they decided to show talents with the program Huangmei Opera Husband and Wife Returning Home.

Maidu and Zhu’na performed on the stage.

Time goes back to the night. Zhu’na dressed in costume and said excitingly, “thank you, my dear teacher. I am so glad to perform Chinese drama. I want to be a teacher in my country and let them know about profound Chinese culture.” Miss Qiu clearly remembered the joy on her face.

In fact, Miss Qiu was worried that they could not perform well because their foundation was not very solid and the preparing time was too short. Referring to one of the most impressive parts of practicing, Miss Qiu laughed and said, “ Maidu asked me the meaning of “把家还”. I pointed my finger at my home, but he shook his head. Suddenly I thought of "go home" and he nodded.”

For overseas students, Miss Qiu is not only the teacher in the classroom, but also the elder in life. In spare time, Miss Qiu always invites them over and lets them make themselves at home. As a result, they ate the delicious local cuisine. Miss Qiu smiled and said,”they are like my children. It is a pleasant thing to know them.”

In Miss Qiu’s eyes, Chinese traditional culture has a long history and is deeply loved by foreign friends, especially Beijing Opera. She hopes that a growing number of foreigners can join Guoyun Agency to learn Chinese culture, and to build the bridges between Chinese culture and foreign art.

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(Editors: Rachel, Christine)