Imagine the shock face of your parents when you’ve studied for three years at Law school and came home one day to tell them: “I have made the decision to move to China!”

Imagine the reaction when telling your friends later that you will be moving to Suzhou and they say: “Su-what? Never heard of it!“

Guys, it’s a Chinese “small” town, I happily replied, only 10 million people! 

This is me: my name is Arne, I grew up in a small, traditional town in Germany, raised by conservative parents who were so concerned that they even tried to put me in a dormitory affiliated to the local church when I went out to university in Frankfurt. 

As a child, programmes about China in National Geographic always fascinated me. One picture had been especially ironed into my childhood’s memory: the view of long canals surrounded by small white houses with black pitched roofs. Years later, I of course wouldn’t remember the narrator’s voice and certainly wouldn’t know which place he had been talking about – but I was determined to find it. After reading hundreds of articles, watching a dozen documentaries and hearing all this news, the long history and rapid development of China inspired me more and more. The idea of going abroad to China eventually became an inner desire for me and made it little by little more impossible for me to stay at home. Filled with lots of expectations, equipped with a poorly pronounced 你好 and little to no knowledge about what might expect me here I started my journey. My first trip to China then brought me to 上海 and subsequently of course to 苏州. It was at this point, when seeing 同里, that I knew that I came to the right destination.  

Soon I realised – and I can only say it over and over again – that coming here was one of the best choices I ever made. Within the past 13 months it became clear to me that Jiangsu was the best place for a real deep-dive into Chinese culture. From 苏州 the land of rice and fish, to 南京 the capital of six dynasties, and the coastal open city where the 连云港 begins, these cities are not only successful economically, but also rich in cultural diversity: 江苏 is for me a reflection of what policy-makers often refer to as “harmonious society”. Certainly, the flux of ideas and inspirations we receive here is the main reason why I still cannot imagine to return to Germany. 

One opportunity for this has been the Model United Nations Club at XJTLU for me, where we twice a year gather students from all over Jiangsu at our university. Debating global(ized) issues and problems and attempting to find suitable solutions, sharing opinions with people of such different backgrounds has really changed my horizon and ultimately transformed my perception of the world. Additionally, it increased my belief that cultural exchange should be a centrepiece of any education system. Beside the ideas and inspirations, my time in Jiangsu provided me with great friendships: with some of my best friends being Chinese nowadays, some of these friendships hopefully will last for a life-time – a certain influence in my future actions. People have been calling me naïve for this, but I truly believe that conflict and cultural misunderstandings would decrease significantly with more exchange, creating a more united and just world. After being part of a country’s society for several months or years and creating deep friendships, how could I ever desire anything negative for this nation? Sometime I think that exchanges maybe should become mandatory for all of our global decision-makers. 

Another issue that has been catching my attention lately is the inclusion of people with disabilities – and here I am proud to see that Jiangsu is a leading province for disable-friendly education and society programs. Together with my great friends, we wanted to contribute to this movement and funded an organization in our university. With the resources that Suzhou provides us and the ideas that its people share with us, we will attempt to make education and life in our local society even more accessible for everyone. Jiangsu has been giving us - whether international or local students - lots of opportunities and we will always try to give some back. 

Of course, life in a big city from time to time can be quite troublesome, which ultimately brought me to my favourite place in Jiangsu: I personally really like to enjoy the peacefulness of the socialist countryside at the villages near 太湖.

Besides wishing the PR China a very happy 70th anniversary, I would like to congratulate Jiangsu on being this awesome place to be, live and study! Thanks for giving me a second home.