With her yearning for the Chinese culture, Podareva Anastasia came to pursue further study in China seven years ago. In Hangzhou, she took a fancy to the Chinese poetry and gave herself a Chinese name TangXilan, with Xi and Lan extracted from The Book of Songs. The beautiful scenery of Hangzhou, the Chinese culture, and Chinese poetry changed her life path and made her fall in love with Jiangnan in China.

In addition to writing, she was recommended by her fellow poets and travelers to Liangzhu in Hangzhou to find the inspiration for poetry and the source of Chinese civilization.

“It’s magnificent here!” Anastasia gave heartfelt praise to the Liangzhu Museum. What truly related to her in the museum were the present-day Liangzhu Site, relics, and collections about 5,000 years ago. “You can see how people built cities and dams, lumbered and hunted 5,000 years ago, and explore the far distance.”

As a poet, Anastasia is surely most concerned about the culture of ancient Liangzhu. Liangzhu scholars told her that ancient Liangzhu people could paint and carve sculptures. They had invented their own words and recorded events with their words. They could sing rhythmically and possibly write poems. 

With the beautiful imaginations of ancient Liangzhu, Anastasia walked on the streets of present-day Hangzhou and found that the roots of Chinese culture and those excellent qualities have been passed down to this day despite the elapse of thousands of years. She hopes to work in the cultural exchange between China and Russia in the future, to explore China, and to spread the Chinese culture to further places through her own power.

The “Discover Hangzhou” series of short videos, part of the Hangzhou Stories told by Foreigners Program jointly undertaken by the Office of Cyberspace Affairs Commission of Hangzhou and “In Zhejiang” has been launched on www.inzhejiang.com. The 8 episodes will tell you the fascinating stories of Hangzhou from a fresh perspective. 

Producer: Zhang Yuyi, Zhou Yi, Xue Yi

Video: Fang Pengchao, Pan Ning

Translation: Ye Ke