More international students come to China to learn Chinese

'Learning Chinese becomes my lifestyle'

Like de Borbon, Darrell Day, a 23-year-old American, first began learning Chinese as a way of challenging himself. "I like challenges, so when my friend told me not to study Chinese as it is too difficult, I insisted," Day said.

After four years of learning Chinese as a dual major at Brigham Young University, he came to China to continue learning Chinese at Nanjing University.

Now, after graduation, Day is interning at a workshop of a calligraphy master in Nanjing. He came to Beijing recently to record a TV show about Chinese poems.

Chinese poems, both ancient and modern, are Day's favorite. "Xin Yuan Di Zi Pian," a line by an ancient Chinese poet Tao Yuanming, which talks about the importance of having a stable and unique personal mindset, has always inspired him.

"It teaches me that it is important to hold true to your own principles in life even if you think differently from other people," he said. "As long as you know who you are, you will be happy. Sometimes I find what I think and choose is different from those around me in one way or another, but this poem always reminds me to stay real to myself."

Day said learning Chinese has become a lifestyle. "I cannot imagine there is one day in my life that I do not study Chinese. It has become a habit of mine."

Day is an avid user of Chinese social media platform WeChat, where he keeps posting about his life in China, and sometimes he would post Chinese essays he writes that read like they are written by a native Chinese. He plans to continue studying Chinese literature at Peking University next year.