China seen through a Ukrainian lens

TAIYUAN — With her hair styled up and dressed in traditional attire, Ukrainian Karyna Kovalevska strolled through the 2,800-year-old town of Pingyao, a UNESCO World Heritage site in North China's Shanxi province, documenting the ancient architecture and chatting with shop owners and residents.

Speaking fluent Chinese, the 24-year-old is an online influencer with more than 700,000 followers on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. During the past six years, she has traveled to over 70 cities across China, creating short videos on ethnic culture, traditional snacks and cutting-edge technology.

"China is such a vast country. Wherever I go, there's always something new to discover," she says.

As China's global influence continues to grow, an increasing number of foreigners like Kovalevska are arriving to document the nation's history, culture, technology and daily life.

This influx is mirrored online — where the ChinaTravel hashtag on TikTok has amassed more than 700 million views, as a growing number of travelers share their experiences.

Kovalevska's fascination with China began at her university in Kharkiv, Ukraine, where she first encountered the language at the Confucius Institute. "I heard Chinese was super hard," she says. "I just wanted to learn a little so I could brag about it to my friends."

Her first month was fraught with frustration, as she was brought to tears by the language's intricate characters and elusive four tones. "I couldn't even keep up with the teacher's handwriting," Kovalevska recalls. "I just wanted to quit."

Driven by a determination to conquer the challenge, she gave herself one more month. This resolve proved pivotal, as her studies soon became markedly easier — unlocking not just the language but also a profound bond with the country.

In 2019, she visited China for the first time at a summer camp organized by the Confucius Institute. A year later, she managed to pass the HSK, a Chinese proficiency test, and secured a scholarship to study at Anhui University in East China's Anhui province.

It was also during this period that Kovalevska bumped into her future husband, a Chinese man from the city of Yuncheng in Shanxi, who worked at a Chinese factory in Ukraine at the time.

Their romance began in a Ukrainian park, where he asked her for directions to a restroom.

"I intended to block him on WeChat after the encounter, but he insisted on asking me to teach him Russian. What began as a language exchange soon blossomed into love," she recalls.

In 2022, Kovalevska moved to China with her husband, completing her courses online and settling in her husband's hometown.

Kovalevska initially took up video shooting to document her life, but it has gradually evolved into her professional career — and a window to learning more about the "ancient-yet-modern" country.

She recalls that when she traveled to Southwest China's Guizhou province to experience the vibrant Village Super League (Cun Chao) with her mother, husband and brother-in-law, the soccer event's unexpected popularity left them with no place to stay or even park. It was the local villagers who arranged accommodation for them and even offered them homemade food for free.

"What touched me most was how genuine and down-to-earth the people of Guizhou were," she says. "They helped us in the most practical, hands-on way."

Kovalevska also found it interesting that Chinese people usually dine around round tables, something rarely seen in Ukraine, where people are more used to eating at square or rectangular tables with their own portions separated. She sees this "roundtable culture", with its tradition of sharing dishes, as a symbol of harmony, equality and solidarity.

"My Chinese friends are so generous. Even when I say I'm full, they think I'm just being polite and keep bringing more dishes," she jokes.

Kovalevska's decision to build a life in China reflects a broader trend. In the first half of 2024, Chinese immigration authorities handled 388,000 residence and stay permit applications for foreigners, a 2.4-percent increase from the previous year — indicating a growing community of expats settling in the country.

Currently, Kovalevska is preparing to apply for a master's degree and hopes to continue her studies in China.

"The country is very welcoming to foreigners, especially with the visa-free policies introduced in recent years," she says while waving at the camera, inviting people from all over the world to come and experience China's charm.

Xinhua