Tuesday, March 1, Sunny
I participated in the T2KN Campus Asia Plus Online Winter Camp in the past winter holiday. Time flies. The closing ceremony held yesterday morning put an end to the winter camp.
CAMPUS Asia, short for Collective Action of Mobility Program of University Students in Asia, is led and implemented by the governments of China, Japan and the ROK and co-developed by the three countries’ education authorities. It aims to promote academic communications, cooperation, and student exchanges among the three countries. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, School of Qilu Transportation, and School of Civil Engineering from Shandong University have jointly applied for the five-year China-Japan-ROK Intercollegiate Cooperative Project for Nurturing Leading Infrastructure Engineers, together with Nagasaki University and Sungkyunkwan University. The winter camp is part of the project’s short-term online winter exchanges, and I’m honored to be a member of it.
The 11-day winter camp includes lectures given by each partner university about the language, culture, and infrastructure (such as water resources, architecture, and smart technologies) of its own country, presentation of students’ team projects at the end of camp, and a closing ceremony. When learning the languages and cultures of China, Japan, and the ROK, I gradually realize the different national status and lifestyles. Since East Asian countries boast a long history and shared ancestors, we have a lot in common despite a few differences. For example, some Korean and Japanese words have a similar pronunciation to Chinese because the two languages originate from Chinese, thus making it easier for people to understand. We also share the taste in food, exemplified by Japanese sushi, Korean fried chicken, Chinese zhajiang noodles, or noodles with soybean paste. In the lectures, professors introduced the technologies adopted in their respective countries regarding post-disaster waste disposal and recycling, urban planning, smart architecture, chips, and X-ray CT detection. They discussed the similarities and differences in scientific and technological development among the three countries. Students had multiple group discussions and divided their work, during which I further communicated with participants from Japan and the ROK to better understand their cultures and technologies.
My major is environmental engineering, so I paid more attention to lectures about water, air, solid waste, and soil. I can better understand them based on the knowledge I have acquired before. The lecture given by Professor Kiyoshi OMINE greatly interested me with his introduction to the management of post-disaster waste. The fact that Japan is located in the earthquake zone makes it natural for local people to gather rich experience in preventing and treating disasters and disposing of and recycling post-disaster waste.
Happy moments always seem short, but we all have learned a lot during this period. I will never forget this valuable experience. I will pursue academic success in the future and devote myself to the infrastructure construction and sustainable development of East Asia.
(Author: Bao Linyun, Class of 2019 undergraduate, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University. Editor: Zhu Weiming and Jiang Xiaohan)
