My First 48 hours at Xiamen University, China (not what I expected)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ส.ค. 2024
- Hey, everyone! It's Jake here aka 森山. In this episode I park the Prius and begin a new journey #travelling east to study Chinese language at Xiamen University in #China. This is the first in my China series and it covers my first 48 hours in Xiamen.
Support me directly: www.patreon.com/TheJourneyOfJake
0:00 Intro
1:46 Heading to China
3:18 Arriving in Xiamen
8:46 Xiamen University
14:01 Drone Footage
14:54 Final swan song
15:36 Bloops
huge respect to people like you who don't get brainwashed by the political bs. enjoy your time in China.
Knowing the language helps.
@@user-dc1ud6px3s open mind, indipendent and critical thinking are much more important, 调查研究就有发言权 be able to collect data yourself by doing the field study on the ground instead of uncritcally swollowing Anglo Saxons media's one sided rthoric or narratives is the key against brainwashing.
This guy will be 100% monitored and eventually expelled from the country, wanna bet.
Freedom in the West is straightforward. It's only freedom as long as it is precisely how the Majority of its people and the government see it. 😂
Xiamen University is renowned for its beautiful campus
Hey Jake, welcome to China from a fellow Aussie!! First time I've stumbled across your channel, and I look forward to seeing more videos about your time here!! I hope you enjoy being here as much as I have over the last seven years. If you find yourself heading to Zhaoqing in Guangdong anytime, look me up, and I'll show you around!! Good luck with your studies!!
Subscribed!!
A fellow Aussie! We are few and far between here it seems...I reckon I might just take you up on that haha
@@thejourneyofjakethat super typhoon is China's fault. It has huge machines to create typhoons to destroy neighbouring countries. Please don't get brainwashed by the CCP!
Huge Thumbs up for you 👍
Congratulations, I was born in HK, immigrated to Canada when I was 11, I am now 60, I wish I can learn more Chinese and Hakka (my ethnicity). My two adult children can barely speak my native language! Really happy for your decision to specialize in Chinese Language and Culture, you will be able to put in good use, and your career will go leaps and bounds!❤️from🇨🇦🇨🇳🇭🇰
Dude, Hakka is not another ethnicity than Han Chinese, Uyghur or Tibetan is.
The funny thing I found about Hong Kongers is that they think they are half-white English, but white fellas think they are Chinese LOL
You should! It is never too late to start!! There are now lots of free resources on TH-cam as well.
Lol you left HK to move to Canada that is a major downgrade...Canada is expensive, cold, dangerous, difficult to get a job and racist. Just compare Canada's subway with HK's. HK is miles ahead of Canada lol you screwed up
Hakka is Han Chinese.
Xi was the Deputy Mayor of Xiamen and, later, the Governor of Fujian Province. So he is everywhere in Xiamen.
I believe he served all over the places in China. CPC prepares their cadets by sending them all over the nation to learn from the experience.
@@user-dc1ud6px3sDo you mean the Organization Department. China has a well-designed bureaucratic system.
I learned that soon after I arrived :) thanks for the comment
I also heard he became the head of a village in a not so developed northern province HeBei(?) as a 20 something youngest after working there since age 16 and before going to QingHua university.
Wow, that's a beautiful university. I love the water in front of the building the most, and of course the huge, manicured garden. I hope to visit Guilin next year... Been planning for it for months now. Just need to make it happen...
I also have plans to visit Guilin, I've heard it's beautiful can't wait
Yayyyy!! Love this intro to China & the drone footage was epic 👏🏼👏🏼 Keep ‘em coming x
😊😊 naw thanks leese, will do!
Hope you enjoy your time in China! Looking forward to more videos from China!
That's a very beautiful university campus 👍
Huge respect to you my friend! Travelling alone to a foreign country is nothing short of courage and resilience. Even more so for choosing Xiamen instead of Shanghai or Beijing, where most first time visitors go.
Congrats Jake for gaining a scholarship to study Chinese at Xiamen U. Nice ride to Melbourne airport in the family Commodore estate. You will miss her but you have so much to explore for the coming year. Look forward to future clips
Congratulations Jake on your being accepted to study Chinese language and culture. I am jealous :) Xiamen is actually not far from Meizhou, where there might be a lot of Meizhou Hakka people and not far from Shenzhen and Hong Kong. If you find yourself down there during your holidays, make sure you try authentic dim sum dishes. I just subscribed to your channel. Thank you for taking us on your very personal journey of learning Chinese and living out a new culture and traditions. Good Travels and Safe Journey ahead...
I heard shunde cuisine is the best?!
@@peanut0brain
Blondie has done an episode on this
@@peanut0brain is the best, but Xiamen being the Hokkien center has great food on its own right.
@@peanut0brain聽聞順德是出㕑師的地方，食物真的很好食，有時間去中國各地遊玩吧！
As an retire Chinese Aussie .. welcome to my mother land , you will enjoy the stay , looking forward more upload video in the future ...
Thank you 😊
Xiamen is one of those hidden gems of China-a clean, livable city with a relaxed atmosphere. (I was there several times about a decade ago.) Go visit Gulangyu Island, just an eight-minute ferry ride from Xiamen-it has a strange, foreign vibe because lots of Western countries built consulates, schools, etc. there in the early part of the 20th century. You can also try the local delicacy, sea worm jelly [土笋冻], which I won’t say is my favorite dish, although I _did_ try it. The seafood in Xiamen is quite delicious, generally.
And, since you mentioned Chengdu, that city also has a very relaxed atmosphere and the food is great. I’d recommend a trip outside the city to the nearby Dujiangyan irrigation system, which is a marvel of 3rd century BCE engineering and flood control and shaped Chinese history _and_ is still in use today. It’s not much to see, in a way, unless you know what you’re looking at, so read a little about it before you go.
Thanks so much for the recommendations
@@thejourneyofjake My pleasure! I forgot to mention-the other thing I would do in Chengdu is go to the traditional Chinese opera. It’s absolutely _nothing_ like Western opera-it’s more like a vaudeville show of various acts and _very_ entertaining-which is why I mention it. I don’t think it’s too touristy-the 10-year-old son of my friend in Chengdu wanted to see it so it’s a local thing as well. (There are several-maybe _Shufeng Yayun_ is the best but that’s a just guess and you probably can’t go too wrong with any of them.)
Awesome! I've added it to the list. I'm actually currently in Fuzhou - if you have any recommendations for here I'd also be interested 🙂
@@thejourneyofjake Sorry, haven’t been there! But if I’m stuck for things to do in a particular place, I usually check *Tripadvisor* if I don’t have any other leads. It’s better than nothing and ranks everything (restaurants, attractions). The Chinese equivalent of Yelp, Dianping, isn’t bad either.
@@thejourneyofjake 福州是福建的省会城市，实话来讲并没有多少值得游览的地方，也许市中心的”三坊七巷“是最知名的景点。如果您对于爬山有些兴趣，附近的鼓山也是一个选择，虽然我认为其中并没有很出众的景色
Best of luck on your adventure in China. You are so lucky! Amazing looking university.
Thanks for the kind words!
Great plan. Great program for you. And great city like Xiamen.
Been in Xiamen for 12 years...and I ain't leaving ;)
Very interesting! Didn’t think you could use a drone in China. 🤔I started watching you because I have a Prius and my dream is to travel Australia in it. I will continue to watch as I’m so intrigued with China and other countries. 😊 Looking forward to more videos 👍🐨🇦🇺
We share the same dream 😁 4 months travelling Australia in the Prius was nowhere near enough, I'll come back and continue at some point. Glad you found the vid interesting 😀, yep you can fly drones here, just need to make sure you abide by all the rules and regs. It's a bit of a hassle in the beginning to register everything but worth it for some of the shots you can get.
Double the price but also double the pleasure.
No one in this world use DRONE MORE THAN CHINA
Just this alone you’re fails at how US & Western brainwashed you!!
Their country is dam well developed, drones get used most in China more than US & others Country.
That’s why they can manufacture drones more than anyone & keep developing fast
I’m not Chinese but as neighbors country of China we know them better than anyone.
China nowadays is safety & unbelievable safety.
US, UK & alots Western country cant even compare!!
Only Singapore, Japan & Korea can compare about safety level with China.
While adult man cant even walking in late night in Sweden or New Zealand - both countries consider as safest less crimes!!
But in China you can walk in mid night or in parks.
This is not me or Chinese saying but Kiwis & alots Westerners ppl who’s expat & living in China 7y all of them say this
@@thejourneyofjakeis Australia safe? I mean I'm from USA you know what I mean?!
DJI is a company from CHINA, LOL
I guess the algorithm gods blessed you on this video. Looking forward to more of your videos in China ❤
Thanks for adding the subtitles. I am not used to the Australian accent and I had a little difficulty making out the words you said. The subtitle helps a ton!
You’re welcome 😊
Look forward to following u on your new journey. Congratulations on the scholarship. Subscribed!
Thank you 😊
Good luck on your journey Jake. I just subscribed to your channel too, and look forward to your adventures in China. I'm sure you will have a wonderful experience. Your intro with your Chinese name was so sweet. Good pronunciation. All the best to you and look after yourself.
Thank you for the kind words 🙏
Very clean and beautiful place. No need to lock bikes up. Can fly drones on site. Affordable hotels.
My daughter went to study in America. Occasionally get messages to stay out of an area because of gun violence.
Thanks for sharing. I never went there. It will be interesting to follow you around.
Thanks for watching!
Hi Jake from a new subscriber! Good luck with your study in China. I shall be following with interest your experience. With your positive attitude I’m sure you’ll soon make friends and have many subscribers!
Xiamen literally right across Taiwan over the straits.
Just Googled Xiamen on the map. Yep, it's in Fijian province, across the strait from Taiwan. Next door to Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
I spent 4 years as an undergraduate student on Siming campus until 2016, can't believe my first tour to Xiangan campus from your video
This is really cool! I'm hoping to go to Xiamen during qing ming but it's cool that you've gone from a great open road adventure to China! You packed so little!!
Wecome in China! Enjoy your stay and all best💕💕💕
Thank youuu
Envious, wish I could do it. Enjoy your time and discover!
Fantastic, we need more of these scholarship programmes to sponsor people from all over the world for higher education, thumbs up for our government to takes a few steps forward
Good luck mate! Enjoy your time here in China.
Thanks! 😃
Welcome to Xiamen and wish your studies in Xia Da a great success and enjoyable.👌👍🏻
I am immediately drawn to your vblog, because you started your China trip speaking decent Chinese already. So great you even got a scholarship…how fabulous! Congrats.
So far so good but at 1:28, the music although lovely, i could barely hear you. But so glad that the music disappeared and background sound was just normal background sound! i am specifically interested in Fujiang, because i grew up in a “Fukien” Chinese community in the Philippines, but I am Cantonese.And we learned Mandarin at a young age to communicate with each other. I am discovering via TH-cam CGTN travelogues, and other travelers’ experiences. Fukien traditional culture seems so rich and strong. There is city town that specializes in puppet art! There is the car less town of Gulangyu. Looking forward to follow you!☮️
Thank you for the feedback about the sound, I'll try to balance it better next time. Are Fukien and 福建 the same? There is so much culture and history here to learn
Fukien is the dialect pronunciation for Fujian in Mandarin ( Bu Tong Hua). Please double check with local language teachers as well.👍☮️
@@thejourneyofjakeHi 福建is Fujian in Mandarin . In the local dialect, it is pronounced Hokkien. . You will get to hear Xiamen Dialect often there. I am a Malaysian Chinese n my ancestors came from Xiamen. Enjoy your time in Xiamen University. All the best. I hv subscribed 😊.
Beeautiful campus!
Thanks a lot for this video, thinking of going to Xiamen as well😄
China welcomes every friendly friend and hopes you have a pleasant life in Xiamen.😀
Thank you 😊
cute Jake, welcome to China
I hope that more people like you will come to Xiamen to enjoy its beauty and experience the local culture. I am a Chinese language teacher in Xiamen, my students are from Thailand and Vietnam. If possible, I hope you can communicate more with them. They also want to apply to Xiamen University, but they are afraid that they won't be able to get the offer.
Hello from a Chinese in Sydney. glad u have learned some mandarin before u arrived otherwise it could be a challenge for foreigner in Xiamen.
New campus looks good, good luck here, peace from Fuzhou.
I'm actually in Fuzhou right now just finished up filming an upcoming video about to head back to Xiamen. Beautiful city!
Cool man! Hope you are welll!@@thejourneyofjake
The black swans in Xiamen Uni were actually gifts from Perth one decade ago.
Really? Wow
Gud on ya, mate!
Bruh this guy is so wholesome 😭
Mahalos! I was in Xia Da back in... 1989.... ish? ... .... I know times have changed, BUT... wow... Thank you!
Wow cool! Were you at Si Ming Campus? I'm studying at Xiang An campus, which could be why it looks so different
Welcome to CN! Having more international exchanges is always a good thing. Hope to see more videos fr you.
Love and respect from Shenzhen, China. I was just like you - back in 2015 I got a full scholarship plus living stipend to study law in the US. Got my master degree in law there and passed the NY bar exam and now back working in China. It's always good to see for yourself and experience something different.
Are you on New Colombo Plan? That brings back memories. Good luck and have fun!
Xiamen people are mostly Hokkien speakers. My grand father was from that region.
You're right! A few of the locals here are helping me learn some 闽南话. Another fun challenge to throw into the mix
@@thejourneyofjakein Taiwan province, they don’t call it 闽南话， they call it “台语” under the corrupted education of politicians,it’s like call English as Australian , ridiculous
Looking forward to following your new and exciting journey! All the best!
Thanks so much!
It’s a beautiful campus
china is beautiful clean safe. The people are great. we need more people to people exchange. The politics is bs. people are people.
XiaMen! From my hone province. I went there this summer, too.
Visiting china for the first time in 2 months!!! I cannot wait to go. I used to have a bias against china but now i am properly deprogrammed and more open minded. Cant wait!
Always good to have an open mind when travelling I reckon 😊
My uncle is a chemistry teacher at Xiamen University. Ronggui Du.
I like their cafeteria. ZHa Jiang Mian was really good at the cafeteria.
Youth today have so much fun……new place new friends….
Pls show us ur room. It is so interesting and helpful for future students
Wow- an adventure! Beautiful campus.
Well and truly out of my comfort zone
@@thejourneyofjake Growth! Ha ha.
*TRUE* Aussies🇦🇺 Xploring the beauty of China🇨🇳 unlike Wannabe Aussies going to America🇺🇸 to be another Paris Hilton ，or Justin Bieber!!
😂😅😊
I lived in the US for a few years, both beautiful places in their own right 👍
😆🤣😂😂........👍👍🤝, don't you Know the Aussies- AUSTRALIANS, consider themselves as part of America! Australia is the 51st states of United states of America!!
@thejourneyofjake 😅🤣😂😂 ........ there's NOTHING Beautiful about US, NOTHING but a country of Beggies &Druggies :)
Welcome to Xiamen.
Welcome to my adopted home city.
Hope you have an awesome stay here. Enjoy!
Thanks so much, it really is quite a cool city
hii Jake, go visit Siming 思明! It's even more beautiful and quaint there! From someone who spent an unforgettable four years at Siming campus.😎😭
Every country injects patriotism from childhood. But in some way China has built and is building amazing infrastructure and took millions of people out of poverty. I have been to Guangzhou 10 years ago. I'm sure i won't recognize the place if I go there now.
stunning buildings and beautiful campus, love that view from up top.
Really cool hey? They look even cooler at night when the buildings light up, I captured a few more drone shots which I'll put in the video coming out this Friday 😃
What a stunning university campus!
It takes awhile to adjust to something completely new. I'm American and if I moved to Australia, I would need time to adjust to the new environment. Granted, America is similar to Australia in a way, so it's not completely foreign. I actually did go to Australia once as a kid I found it to be a nice experience. I ate Emu, Crocodile and I think Kangaroo. People in Sydney were nice, but the people Ayers rock were a bit rude(same with Paris when I visited as a kid), that's the vibe I was getting from people. All in all I like Australia and I want to visit again in the future. Oh, this was like 2002.
Massive University wow
Hi Jake,
I am from Melbourne and Malaysia where I live in both countries.
It is great that you will experience a very very culture and lifestyle as compared to that in Melbourne.
Hopefully you will be a peace ambassador for both countries and culture.
Have a wonderful stay in Xiamen which is a great place to be in.
It's certainly very different, so much to take in but I'm loving it so far. Thanks for the comment :)
Lee Kuan Yew, the former PM said in his memoirs, to form a good first impression to first time visitor to your country, a first class airport with best services are essential. The airport environment must be kept immaculately clean and the roads lining up the airport to the city must be planted with greenery and beautiful groom trees. In fact, Mr Lee was the chief architect of Singapore garden city concept.
The Chinese are great admirer of Mr Lee. Maybe the leaders learn the idea from reading his memoirs.
His memoirs were much later in China's transformation.
Charlie Munger China learned from Singapore that LKY is the man who helped China.
@@liongjiahwong5478 China learned from many places, not only Singapore. LKY is just one brick in China's development design. In everyone's success journey, there are many benefactors who came by at the right time and many good leaders who made the right decisions. So no need to get too big headed about it and keep harping about it.
Singapore is not going to get another LKY.
@@jivvyjack7723 LKY said after learning from Singapore, China will better than Singapore. Our DPM was seconded to Shenzhen for a few years to draft China into the world of trading and policy. LKY were among the ten people to be awarded the Gold medal for assisting China by President Xi.
@@liongjiahwong5478 Not discrediting LKYs contribution. As I said, it's one of the many contributions from many people. I don't hear the countries of the other 9 recipients forever harping about it, except Singaporeans, as if China owes them.
And it was not a Gold Medal. It was a China Reform Friendship Medal - a specific medal created in 2018 to commemorate individuals (not countries) who helped in specific ways with China's vision and roadmap to opening up during this specific period of time.
If, 40 years ago, China did not have the vision of where they wanted to be, do you think they would have reached out to seek advice, input and help from various places and people? China is grateful and China remembers those who helped them along the way with only goodwill in mind, even 2 Japanese, who were supposed to be China's bitter enemies.
But at the end of the day, they still had to walk that difficult road by themselves.
Thank you for this video that gives a good feeling of what Xiamen is like.
Oh man, it is a resort!
You seem already fluent in mandrin before coming to China ? How many yrs does it take for you to have this level of proficiency?
Good luck mate
Cheers mate!
It’s such a huge and beautiful campus.
You'll be dearly surprised to know that this Uni has a branch Uni in msia cos this Uni had a far deeper connection to Msia than you think. This UNI is deeply, deeply intertwined with msia. Suggest you find out yrself. My 2 cents worth and good luck, bro
It is a beautiful university.
My sister was having her education there.
我第一次从无人机视角看学校！太美啦
You are a lucky man. What are the requirements to get accepted into the scholarship?
I've had a lot of people ask me about the scholarship so I plan to make a video about my experience applying very soon. The requirements for my program were - be 35 or under, be non-chinese, be in good health, Pass HSK 3.
I noticed the font you are using is not exactly Simplified Chinese version (SC). Some characters like (门 and 与) looked very different. I came across this issue previously when doing poster design. You might want to double-check next time.
Thank you for pointing that out!
Dude I think I stayed at the same hostel in the same room when I left China in August! Funny to see it on YT. Relatively underdeveloped area away from the city center but great street food everywhere. Welcome to China!
everything is for youths anything for old people - we all getting there
Lucky man! I worked there between 1998-2001. Very different now with all the modern developments but that was probably the one of the best times to be there.
If you use international numbers as in roaming, you don't need to use VPN.
That... I realized it when sending my parents visiting my sister.
But yeah... you might need local numbers for banking and stuffs.
And please use VPN in discrete since using VPN itself is illegal.
VPN will down a lot, the easiest solution is asking friend to make local VPN just for you.
Whenever it is blocked, changed the port and it will be bypassed, most of the time.
Plus... I don't think it is legal to fly the drone.
I am not sure but please ask locals.
China is nice to stay if you are staying within the rules.
Using vpn to bypass firewall is illegal. I don't think vpn itself is illegal. Jennifer Zang uploaded a video of an official talking about using vpn to bypass firewall.
Oops I mean Jennifer Zeng.
@@taliskujim4736 ah... nice to know.
But still.... if I were him, the only time I am using VPN is to bypass the firewall so I can access google stuffs such as youtube.
It's cool
Xiamen university campus is well known beautiful
Bars on the window are from when there was more crime around and people would climb in windows to rob the places
If you like hiking, I‘d recommend going to Hong Kong. They have some very nice trails.
are you kidding ? China has no hiking trails ? 😂😂😂😂😂
China hiking trails are excellent. Hong Kong ones are not at par with mainland China. Will be in 2047.
Funny you say that I had an opportunity to go to Hong Kong recently and I filmed a hike I did, it was beautiful. Vid coming soon
Southern China is just beautiful with all the mountains and lush green.
12:26this is china after all 😊
Xiamen❤
u got yourself a subscriber.
Thank you!
Remember to check the original campus.
Friend, you can create another Chinese subtitle so that both Chinese and English friends can enjoy it together
just a Downunder country boy😌
Looks like a wonderful country.
Hi Jake, may I ask what VPN you use that actually works in China? I went in October but the one i had did not work for some reason.
The one I use is called Let's VPN the app is pink, all the foreigners use it here it works really well
Thank you!@@thejourneyofjake
Shadowrocket App works well
Wow next to my city, fuzhou
Welcome to China Jake. And you need a new hap maybe, haha!
Haha funny you say that I recently bought a new one, this time with my Chinese name on it 🙂
Great, you look more handsome with the new hap I am sure 森山。 I am saying hello from Cairns, Australia. I am from China and have lived for 15 years in Melbourne and 6 years in Cairns. Hope China will enrich your life and make you feel happy. Take care, Jake.@@thejourneyofjake
What is the age limit for applicants trying to get into the Xiamen Univ Chinese language program?
It's 35 for the Confucius institute one. Others may be different
I never have the courage to go hiking in Xiamen and nearby areas. There are lots of venomous snakes in Fujian.
So I've heard! Similar to Australia in that regard. If you take normal safety precautions, perhaps wear some Gators, you should be fine :)
That hotel doesn’t look like 3 stars, it’s like a no star hotel😂
Different ratings have different meanings in different places, all part of the fun 😊
31C? Was this in August or September?
September. It stayed quite hot all the way through November actually - starting to cool down now - today is a top of 24 low of 14