brazilian lecturer says university study in shanghai 'changed everything' -凯发国际娱乐试玩

to victoria almeida from brazil, coming to china to live seemed predestined when she was very young.

a lecturer at shanghai international studies university teaching portuguese and brazilian culture, almeida has started a family with a chinese man and, after five years in shanghai, her parents thought she was "different."

"i didn't feel the changes during this process because it was like a little by little. but when my parents visited me last december, they looked at me and said, 'you're so different,'" she said. "they said that i talked in a different way, gestured in a different way, and even ate in a different way. and they think these are very positive changes."

almeida remembers that when she was young, her father was an engineer working in asia, firstly in taiwan and then in some cities on the chinese mainland. he often brought back presents to brazil from where he worked, as well as many stories.

probably inspired by her father's experiences, almeida started studying china in her sophomore year, and she found china an interesting topic to research. her undergraduate thesis was about the new china's impact on the world, especially because of the 2008 beijing olympics.

she kept researching for a master's degree, during which she stayed in shanghai for a month at fudan university.

"in brazil, when you studied about china, you're in your room reading books, mostly written by american or british authors, many translated only in english but not portuguese," she said. "that vision is very limited, and when i came here to fudan and had classes with chinese professors, seeing the country with my own eyes changed everything. i decided back then that if i had a chance i would be back."

almeida began to save for a china trip after she returned to brazil to finish her master's degree and, in 2019, she came back to china. she said she had not expected how much she would enjoy living in shanghai, and she never left.

"as a teenager i lived in curitiba, which is not a big city, a bit like the small city where my husband was born," she said. "and then i lived in the capital brasilia, which is considered a big city but i was still shocked when i visited shanghai for the first time, and i was like 'how can the city be this big and have so many people?'

"and then after i tried to understand everything i encountered, i started to realize that life in china is not what we see on western media. it's quite amazing and nice. i took many pictures to show my friends and they had no idea [what life here is really like]."

after learning chinese for a while, almeida soon found a job at the shanghai international studies university.

working with young students is fun for her despite chinese students often being shy in the beginning, which is very different from brazilian students.

"it took some time to warm up with them, but when i did, they became so open and honest," she said. "and within four years' time they not only managed to acquire the language [portuguese] but also learned the history and culture of the countries using it, not to mention that they are able to write their theses in portuguese."

"and it amazed me that they even watched brazilian soap operas to learn the culture of the country," she added. "in brazil, soap operas are actually not that popular among young people and my students are even younger than me."

in addition to teaching at the university, almeida also serves as the president of the brazilian citizens' council in shanghai. the council aims to nurture connections between brazilian people living in the area, to help them better understand policy, and with any challenges or difficulties they might meet in daily life.

"with this type of community work, people reach you every day," she said. "now, with the pandemic being over, we see a lot of new families coming – people coming here to work and then bringing their spouse and children.

"we'll help them settle, such as how to purchase online, how to see doctors at public hospitals. medical care is especially our concern because our people here are not all wealthy with private insurance, and those with middle and lower incomes may meet challenges when they go to public hospitals."

almeida said that language barriers could be a problem for some brazilians who don't speak much english.

"and we always suggest that if you want to truly integrate and a more local lifestyle you'd better start to lean chinese," she said.

almeida said she hadn't been back to brazil since the covid-19 outbreak and in the beginning she questioned whether she should return to her hometown to be closer to her parents, but eventually she decided to stay because she still had a dream here, and because she felt safe in shanghai.

"i still want to contribute towards a better connection between brazil and china," she said. "the relationship of the two countries has flourished but, at the same time, it still has more to be advanced.

"i think if we can help brazilian people get more information about china in portuguese, and also bring better quality information to chinese people about brazil, we can have better communication and cooperation."