That question made both Xia Jinyuan and Qin Xiu raise their brows. They stared at Ye Jian, the student who asked the question only fell short on saying ‘they revere foreign things’ in Mandarin.
How would she answer the question? What way would she use to retort the student until she was speechless?
The accompanying Pakistani worker also realized that the question that was raised was too incisive when he was about to skip over the problem and allow the next student to ask their question, Ye Jian suddenly spoke in Urdu, “It’s okay.”
Her sudden Urdu caused Xia Jinyuan’s lips to hook up slightly. The little fox is small. After all, with her smarts, she must be able to calmly and composedly answer questions that were somewhat sharp like this.
Although she might be able to answer the question, since the Pakistani student had (tossed a brick for attracting jade/spearheaded the conversation), the following questions might become much more incisive.
But Xia Jinyuan believed that this was just an unnecessary waste of time, he turned towards Qin Xiu: “We need to restrict the Q&A time, we must leave the school before 4:30p.m., it’s already 4 o’clock.”
He and Qin Xiu happened to hold the same view, Qin Xiu nodded his head and lowered his voice: “This will be the last question, I’ll notify the teacher in a moment. Miss Petty is also communicating with the staff member beside her; when Ye Jian finished her answer, she’ll take a group photograph with the students in the class, then we can leave.”
“We cannot leave behind photographs.” Xia Jinyuan pressed his lips tightly together, a cold expression surfaced on his handsome face, “Ye Jian shouldn’t leave behind photographic evidence of her in a country of war. We have already discussed this with Translator Qin and the Pakistani staff members beforehand. The event two evenings ago, Ye Jian had already encountered the Al Qaeda members, if we leave behind a photograph, be wary that something’s gonna happen.”
That really reminded Qin Xiu, hearing that, his expression turned solemn: “My consideration was lacking, let’s cancel the group photograph, and make her sing a Pakistani nursery rhyme with them instead, she’s prepared.”
Standing on the podium, Ye Jian wore an elegant yet straightforward navy blue slim-fit uniform, as the representative of China’s millions of students, she wore a smile on her naturally beautiful face. Her obsidian pupils shone a bright light, her inner mind was calm and collected, “If a holiday can act as the representative of culture, then our country is undoubtedly a country that can accept all the differences in foreign cultures, like the sea that can hold a hundred rivers.”
“Being enthusiastic and hospitable is our country’s noble tradition. If a holiday arrived in our country after voyaging through the seas, and we can welcome it, that is the open-mindedness a great country has towards foreign culture, more so the magnanimity of a country.”
“From my understanding, these two cultures had never incited conflict; neither will they pass into oblivion, like our country’s Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) is famously known overseas.”
“Is this the sign of a culture dissipating into the wind? No, this is a type of dissemination, to make more people know so that more people will be able to embrace it, and bring joy to more people.”
She paused momentarily, under the gaze of the students and teachers, she stood up there like a pine tree in a snowfield, her smile was wide and shallow. With the grandeur of a great country, she continued: “Like this student over here, Pakistan’s official language is Urdu, but from the start till the end, you used English to raise your question, does that mean you have tossed away your tradition and embraced another culture?”
“That is not the case, it’s not that you have abandoned tradition. Instead, you have accepted the tradition of foreign countries, similar to how Christmas had been welcomed into our country.”
Everything before that was just exposition, that sentence was the main point.
The girl who had raised the question turned from having a smug look on her face to an awkward expression near the end. After she was done, she still had to sincerely say ‘Thank you,’ and she sat down, embarrassed under Miss Petty’s cold gaze.
That Q&A session was quickly made known to the leaders of China, and the head leader laughed heartily, “That’s why I always said as long as the youngsters are strong, the country will be strong. Young student Ye, not bad ah, to give shape to the intangible, she’s still so young, but she’d already understood that, praiseworthy, praiseworthy.”
