BEIJING, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) – With very large eyes, blond and curly hair, Lucy Kalova, a young Slovak who has been living in China for two years to learn Mandarin, has now become a celebrity on Zhihu, China’s largest Q&A platform, and on Bilibili, a popular video-sharing site among Chinese youth.
On her personal Zhihu page, Lucy Kalova received 1.19 million “likes” for her responses to a variety of questions ranging from her personal experiences in China, to the differences between Western and Eastern customs, to a wide variety of topics. like COVID-19, Brexit, Slovakia, religion, fashion, etc.
“I started making videos soon after I arrived in China. My Chinese friends showed me Kuaishou and TikTok where people posted short videos about their lives. It inspired me and made me want to give it a try. Later I found out about Zhihu and started answering questions the Chinese asked about foreigners and then I started using Bilibili to bring up similar topics like on Zhihu, “he says. she, in a recent written interview with Xinhua.
Instead of trying to monetize herself like local influencers, Lucy Kalova says she mostly wants to communicate with Chinese people and share her personal experiences and opinions with them.
“I think there are a lot of different young people living in China and each of them have their own interests and favorite hobbies, so any topic can potentially get ‘hot’ and get a lot of comments. But when it comes to foreigners living in China, I think the Chinese are mostly interested in how they see China or how they spend their life in China, ”she said.
Graduated in political science from the University of Trnava in western Slovakia, Lucy Kalova decided to continue her studies in China because she thinks it is the best way to immerse herself in this language.
By the way, “I was also very curious about life in China. There were a lot of people who said that China was not a good place to live, but I found a lot of videos online saying that the China was amazing. I needed to find out the truth, “she explains.
“When I came here, I discovered that China is not a poor country. In fact, China is very modern and living here is much more convenient than living in Europe. Chinese people are also very warm and welcoming. and always ready to help you even if you don’t speak Chinese very well, ”continues Lucy Kalova.
In Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province (east) where she currently lives, the young woman says she is impressed by the excellent atmosphere and security. “In China, even when it is dark, the parks are crowded. The old people exercise there, the children run happily, the women dance together and everyone has fun. Going to the park at night is indeed my thing. favorite in China “.
“In China, I don’t travel much. I’ve only been to some cities in the southeast of the country. But all the cities I visited were amazing, with clean streets lined with flowers and beautiful parks. It is obvious that the Chinese are very concerned about the urban environment, which I did not expect before I arrived in China. “
Lucy Kalova still encounters a very small problem in her daily life in China, namely that “very few Chinese” know Slovakia … “So I tried to explain to them where I come from. made videos to introduce Slovakia to Chinese people and I often talk about my life in Slovakia. I also introduced China to Slovaks to tell them about real China “.
In a post on the internet, Lucy Kalova confides that after her return to Europe, she intends “to offer people to refute all their stereotypes and misunderstandings about China”. “In fact, Europeans have a lot of misunderstandings about China, because most of them have never been to this country. Now China is worth discovering personally, because it has advantages in so many ways.” .
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