Renzo Burotto Pinochet: my first impressions of China

After a long, 30-hour journey to China from Chile, I finally arrived in Beijing, at the Daxing Airport. As soon as you get off the plane, large corridors exhibit huge displays on the wall of the main sights of Beijing, until you get to the customs desk. Everything looked remarkably clean and orderly, and it surprised me that, being the Mid-Autumn Festival, the airport wasn’t overcrowded at all. Only the passengers of my plane and an Aeroflot flight from Russia were present at the customs clearance, so I could see better and fully comprehend the sheer size of Daxing Airport.

On my way to Tsinghua, the first thing that struck me most about Beijing was the vast amount of trees and other plantations, including an extensive amount of flowers, making the city a huge “green lung” of China, and, in my opinion, an astonishingly beautiful garden-city. The smooth taxi ride to the campus gave me the first sights of the urban characteristics of the city, harmoniously combining large, monumental buildings, with short-story buildings, but never overwhelming the skyline, thus allowing me to see Beijing as a comfortably spacious city, not saturated by gray cement as you can see in Santiago.

Being the Historian I am, studying Chinese history and culture, I have observed that the Chinese people are extremely kind and polite with their friends, remarkably selfless, and permanently willing to offer a helping hand. As I arrived on campus, my two generous friends helped me get settled, and if it wasn’t for them, it would have been significantly more difficult for me to do it. They took me to lunch, helped me with my luggage, helped to acquire a Chinese mobile phone number, set up the essential mobile applications needed for daily life on campus (and China as well!), and explained many things about Tsinghua, giving me valuable tips and advice for my stay.

When I finished my undergraduate studies in History, at the University of Chile, I began preparing for the Diplomatic Academy admission tests, to which I had to read Henry Kissinger’s On China. Little did I know that this book would become my breakthrough, a turning point in my life, the book that started my long journey into Chinese Studies, and ultimately brought me here to China three years later. Thanks to this book I became heavily interested in Chinese subjects, especially History, and from then I kept reading further about the People’s Republic of China, where I found many interesting subjects related to this great country. Studying China has absolutely opened so many doors for me, both professionally and personally, providing me countless opportunities to learn more about China and also to present and develop my research.

After graduating from History, I enrolled in the master’s in international studies at the Institute of International Studies, University of Chile, with China already on my mind. I knew from the first day of the program that I wanted to deepen my knowledge of China and I strongly wished to become an expert on that country, and that is what I have done ever since. Why International Studies? International relations have always played a key part in my family’s life. My maternal grandfather, Oscar Pinochet de la Barra, was a career diplomat who served almost 30 years in the Chilean Foreign Service. He was sent to places like Paris, Buenos Aires, New York, La Paz, Bruxelles, and as the Chilean ambassador to the Soviet Union in Moscow, and Chilean ambassador to Japan in Tokyo. While he was Head of Mission in Tokyo, he traveled to China as a private visitor with my grandmother in May 1972.

“There are cities that captivate at first sight; the capital of China captivates little by little when you begin to discover the marvelous places she preserves”, was one of the impressions that Beijing left on my grandparents. I am absolutely sure that I will confirm this when I get to discover more of the wonderful secrets this city keeps, even though the ones I know today have already left me astonished, beginning with the Tsinghua University campus,  and also the Beijing Central Business District with its big skyscrapers and light shows.

Just before the so-called Golden Week, I went to visit Tiananmen Square to see the daily Flag Raising Ceremony, from the Tiananmen Gate of the Forbidden City, at around 06:06 hours, which, I was told, is done precisely at sunrise every day. I felt it was a special moment of my stay so far, as I always wanted to visit the Square, especially closer to an important date as the National Day. Many Chinese citizens and foreign visitors had come from different places, some of them even a day before, which amazed me and showed the deep affection of many citizens towards their country. As a foreigner, I feel astonished at what China has accomplished in so little time,  for world-class leadership in research, development, and innovation.

Just like my grandparents came to China in May 1972, now, in September 2024, I also have the privilege of visiting this beautiful country for 3 months. Tsinghua has also proved that, as one of the most internationalized universities in China, internationalization of higher education has a lot to offer, in this case, to further strengthen the relations and friendship between China and Chile, to research how both countries see each other in the media, the perceptions of their peoples, and also to think of better ways to promote exchange and mutual understanding between both nations.

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My China Story | Renzo Burotto Pinochet: my first impressions of China

Writer: Renzo Burotto Pinochet

Editors: Gillian Tang, Fang Si

Designer: Fang Si

Reviewers: Chen Ken, Lin Yuan