A Chinese view of Arran
My name is Yajun Deng. Everybody calls me Ya, so when Scottish people say “Hiya” to each other, I think they are saying hello to me. I am from Sichuan (Szechuan), a province that is famous for its spicy Chinese food, so perhaps I‘m also a Spice Girl! I did my master‘s degree in Economics at Glasgow University, but I never liked finance and did not want to work in a bank. Talking to people and meeting new friends is much more fun, so I began to dream of becoming a journalist. I got a two-year post-study work visa, but could not find a job, so I set up an online magazine called ChinaGirlsAbroad and set out to discover more about Scotland that would interest Chinese people. Someone told me that Arran is Scotland in miniature, so it seemed a good place to start.
On the ferry, I met Susie Thompson, who makes dragons! Chinese people claim to be the descendants of dragons, so of course I was fascinated. I went to Susie‘s home the next day and was amazed by her dragon collection. Most of them are of Susie‘s own making. There are dragons in tins, a dragon clock, dragon embroidery and a dragon couple, as well as wedding cakes, love-birds, the Mad Hatter, and lots of mice. All of them are made in such detail.
I fell in love with Arran at once. The most magical thing about it is that you can be in the forest at one minute and the next, you are beside the sea. You can spend ages listening to the birds singing and smelling the wild flowers, cycling or jogging or climbing the mountain, playing with the colourful stones, looking around the castle. Everything is so beautiful and peaceful, and people are so friendly. So there was my first article for ChinaGirlsAbroad!
China‘s economy is developing dramatically, and so are people‘s minds. Changes that took the western countries hundreds of years to go through are happening in China within one generation. People are going abroad and finding out about other countries, and for girls particularly, there are new freedoms that used to be unthinkable. Most people from my parents‘ generation (especially girls‘ parents) would never think it‘s all right to have sex before marriage, but the truth is over 70% of young Chinese now do have sex before they get married. There are still many things that people don‘t talk about in China, like mental illness, sexual abuse and domestic violence, or being gay. But such issues are being increasingly discussed, so the purpose of ChinaGirlsAbroad is to encourage public debate about those sensitive but important issues and to look at alternative attitudes towards them that we may find in western countries. All that apart, the magazine wants to tell students how to have a good time abroad, so we will run features about good things to eat and good places to go. We will advise on how to find the best way around a new city and where to sample its music, films and festivals, how to enjoy its humour and meet interesting people.
Please click on the links below:
chinagirlsabroad.com – Isle of Arran
www.chinagirlsabroad.com – Susie Thompson
