Liang Xiao

Liang Xiao comes from Tian Jin, a large city in the north east of China. Having chosen a New Zealand education, he is now studying Political Science at Victoria University in Wellington.

Before coming to New Zealand I was in Sri Lanka studying Buddhism and English. Later my English was good enough so I decided to go on to further studies...My Sri Lanken friend had been to New Zealand and thought New Zealand was such a nice country. Good climate, good weather. Then later I checked New Zealand universities and I was quite interested in Victoria because my friends told me it was the place to go for a Bachelor of Arts

Liang enjoys learning how others live and despite cultural differences doesn't feel like a foreigner here. Everyone is treated equally. In China sometimes when you go to different cities you get different treatment because you speak a different dialect. My friends always ask if there is any discrimination here but I don't feel that. I heard about that in Australia, South Africa and even America, so I was a little bit worried, but when I came here people are so fantastic.

Having studied American English before coming to New Zealand, Liang found the Kiwi (New Zealand) accent hard to understand at first. I was a bit scared because my friend had told me that Kiwis speak fast English. He told me if you can understand Kiwi English then you can understand any English in the world. When I first came to the hostel, my flatmate was a very fast speaker - he told me he saves time by speaking fast! After three months living with him, English was much better. I can now understand almost every word the lecturer says.

Although Liang is now fairly comfortable with the English language, he says he needs more than the recommended study time to be able to understand the content. You need to study really hard. You may think your English is good enough but when you come to the university it's not that easy. To follow the thinking of the lecturers you must know what he is trying to teach you. You must follow his instructions and study hard.

Liang says that some people find it strange that he is studying political science in New Zealand and do not understand how it could be applied in China. But Liang believes that since China's borders have opened, understanding how other countries operate is critical. In political science they teach you how to think - to think radically, logically. I'm studying it to study a way of thinking. It's very complicated and sophisticated. You've got to study the economy and everything. If you don't understand world politics I don't think you can do good back home.

When Liang finishes up his degree, he would like to become a journalist somewhere around the world. I don't want to do a job just sitting in the office typing something. I want to run here and there to see what's going on and to experience excitement.

Whilst in New Zealand, Liang's had time to enjoy some Kiwi traditions and be involved with Moari culture. I went to Rotorua and saw the thermal springs and I did my first Hongi there - Maori touching noses together. Normally you touch once, a second time means I like you, but you don't touch three times.