The Confucius Institute through the Eyes of an American Student

Story by Colton Spencer Bane Text by Liu Dongli

The Confucius Institute through the Eyes of an American Student

Story by Colton Spencer Bane Text by Liu Dongli

Colton Spencer Bane, 25, from Dyersburg, Tennessee on his experience with the Confucius Institute

More than ten years ago, I fell in love with China and her culture. I still remember vividly the first Chinese book I read. It was an English version of theYi Ching, AKAThe Book of Changes. At that time, I was just a 15 year-old high school student. Since then, I have became enamored with Chinese culture and ancient Chinese wisdom, you might say I am involved in a romance with China and literally head-over-heels about all things China.

▲Colton Spenser Bane performing Chinese dragon dance

In my senior year, the Confucius Institute established a teaching center and sent a Chinese teacher to my high school in Dyersburg. Prior to this, my knowledge of Chinese was limited to TV shows or books, but this was the first time I’d ever seen a Chinese person“l(fā)ive and up-close.” Call me impetuous, but at that moment I felt compelled to learn Chinese from this teacher and I acted on it.

▲Confucius Instritute at University of Memphis

▲The students at Confucius Institute are learning Chinese paper-cutting

▲The faculty members of Confucious Insititut

However, it wasn’t all roses. I ran headlong into a ton of opposition to my idea of learning Chinese. People criticized me, thinking that Chinese was too hard, since my graduation credits had been fulfilled, and so Chinese classes seemed to them to be a wasted effort. But I didn’t think so. To me, the chance to learn Chinese was a rare opportunity that could help me to know more about China, broadening my horizons in the process. So it was settled, I would start learning Chinese, and the Confucius Institute, China and I were linked by destiny.

Later, I was admitted into the University of Memphis, and continued my learning at the University’s Confucius Institute, a joint venture between Memphis University and Hubei University. Probably the best thing about it was all the support I got from the teachers who helped me gain a deeper understanding of Chinese culture.

I’ve read all of China’s four great classical novels in whole, or at least in part; and one of my favorite books isRomance of the Three Kingdoms.I was most impressed by the famous character Zhuge Liang’s wits, which helped save Liu Bei and made Zhou Yu angry. I never seem to get tired of it.

▲Learning Paper-cutting

From them, I’ve learned a lot about life and wisdom, and of course, there have been tons of interesting and often funny things happening to me as a result. For example, when I was readingRomance of the Three Kingdoms, I found that the characters in the story would always say “gao ci” before they parted company, a phrase I thought equated to “goodbye” in English. I memorized the phrase, and later on one occasion, when I was sending off a Chinese friend, I said politely in perfect Chinese, “gao ci.” My friend responded with a weird look. It was then I realize that “gao ci” is actually an ancient phrase meaning “fare thee well,” which nobody in modern China still uses. The most common way now to bid farewell in China is to say “zai jian,” or even “byebye.”

▲Tourists and the dragon dance team

In China, the dragon dance is a sacred tradition, which adds a festive holiday atmosphere to the Chinese New Year. Dragon and lion dance teams from Hubei University are famous in China and abroad, and have won many international awards. To promote Chinese traditions and customs to the United States, in early 2016, the teachers from the Confucius Institute brought back an 18-meter-long dragon prop from China.

By and large, the teachers at the Confucius Institute are female, so I got the honor of performing the dragon’s head, which, quite honestly, made me shy away a little bit. I mean, what if I messed the whole thing up and ruined the performance? After all, I’d never done it before. But my teachers at the Confucius Institute encouraged me both verbally and nonverbally, which gave me the confidence to get through it.

The rehearsal process wasn’t easy. The dragon’s head was much heavier than the body, after just a few minutes, I was exhausted. Also, the one inside the dragon’s head has the biggest job, not only does he or she have to act with vigor and vim, but also has to remember the formation of the team to keep the team coordinated inside the dragon’s body. To help me keep it all straight, I had to go to a bunch of rehearsals, and then practiced at home again and again to perfect the choreography of the formations. Basically, I just had to keep on practicing.

On May 20th, 2016, we gave our first performance at the Hilton Hotel (Hilton World Wide Asian Pacific Island Program). Although I was very nervous, the show went great, and we really won over the audience. When I heard all the cheering and clapping, I knew we had them. I really loved doing the show, not only for the way that we captivated the audience, but moreover for the way it built up a cooperative spirit between all the participants.

China’s rich culture and wisdom are things that I have benefited from greatly. In 2016, I graduated from the University of Memphis and then joined the Confucius Institute in a teaching position. Although my teachers have become my coworkers, I’m still hungry and driven to learn all I can from them. In the future, I would like to go to China to experience China’s culture, to take in its rich history and see its beautiful scenery with my own eyes. (Translation: Chase Coulson)

▼Students in Chinese traditional garments