Sowing the seeds of hope and friendship

The Philippines and China are traditionally good neighbors with a long history of exchanges and friendship. Ilocanos and the people of North Luzon are friendly, and usually greet Chinese people with 'Ni Hao'.

With the deepening of China-Philippine communication and cooperation, the enthusiasm of Filipinos to learn Chinese is increasing. However, there has been a shortage of native Chinese language teachers for years in the northern part.

In order to cultivate a group of talents proficient in both languages and cultures of two countries, the Chinese Consulate in Laoag set up a scholarship to support local students to study in China since 2016. The consulate and local government jointly selected outstanding candidates. Melody Allado, a student from Paoay National High School, is one of the winners.

In June 2020, Melody successfully graduated from Minnan Normal University in Fujian Province.

Recalling the amazing experience in China, Melody said, "I am very grateful to the Chinese Consulate for granting me the scholarship. My life studying abroad has been joyful with a lot of unforgettable moments. Besides having knowledge of the Chinese language, I have also learned paper-cutting, tea art and traditional dances. I hope to teach all of it to my students.”

After her graduation, she went back to Philippines, and committed to be a Chinese language teacher and an envoy of Chinese culture and China-Philippine friendship.

Chinese Consul& Head of Post Zhou Youbin encouraged her to further strengthen professional learning on her major.

This August, Melody successfully joined the faculty team of Mariano Marcos State University and became the first native Chinese language teacher of the university.

MMSU President Dr. Shirley Agrupis said, "Her hiring spells my administration's commitment to sustain the offering of Mandarin language in the university and my pledge to further Chinese studies and culture as well. My vision for the next years is for MMSU to become a fountain of Chinese knowledge and tradition in this part of the country."

As the Chinese proverb says, "It takes ten years to grow a tree, but a hundred years to bring up a generation of good men." We wish Melody success in her teaching career, and sow new seeds of hope and friendship between China and the Philippines.

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