I came to Hangzhou to learn Chinese for a year. However, I was fortunate to go to law school to study for a master’s degree in Chinese law, which has definitely changed my life. All I can say is that my life after coming to China and attending one of its prestigious universities was quite different from before. China is now the fastest-growing country in the world. Whether in economics or in political and legal research, China has accumulated a wealth of experience in international law relations. During my studies in law school, I have gradually learned to carry out work in this field in China, and gained a deeper understanding of the differences between the Russian and the Chinese legal systems.

Truth be told, at the beginning, I found it quite difficult to learn Chinese. While looking for various ways to speed up my Chinese learning, I struck lucky again. For starters, I have always been a keen participant in public welfare activities. In fact, I have already donated blood nine times since arriving in China nine years ago. When in Hangzhou, I joined the Citizen Police Academy International Station organized by Hangzhou Public Security Bureau, and I’m proud to say that I’m a member of the “young volunteer service team” at Hangzhou’s Qinghefang community as well.

It is during volunteering that I found my Chinese significantly improved. The reason why it is one of the best ways to practice Chinese or any other foreign language for that matter is that the fear of communicating with strangers quickly disappears as you try to do your best to help others. Besides, as I found out in Hangzhou, it also proved to be a good opportunity to fast adapt to the local society.

A glimpse of Shaoxing, Lu Xun’s hometown

When COVID-19 broke out in early 2020, I was studying Chinese law and international law at Zhejiang University, one of China’s best. I also happened to be on an internship at a local law firm, where a lawyer named Zhang Wei was helping out the Overseas Chinese Charity Foundation seeking masks. He asked me to contact Russian mask companies. I readily agreed.

For me, as a foreigner living in China, I always see the troubles the Chinese people encounter as my troubles, and the difficulties the Chinese people face as my difficulties. China has provided us with a lot of help and convenience, and naturally I want to help the Chinese. Indeed, when I saw the severity of the epidemic and the strength of the Chinese people in dealing with the challenge, I just felt I could not stand by and looked for any opportunity to help others.

In fact, I was only one member of a team looking for masks. I was put in charge of contacting factories, negotiating prices with the managers, and resolving legal issues. In order to raise the masks as soon as possible, I needed to identify companies that produced masks one by one, sort them by time zone, and contact the companies closest to China one by one. Some fake companies were mixed in, and I needed to carefully check the quality certificate to eliminate these fraudulent companies.

This seemingly simple process entailed a huge workload. At four o'clock in the morning, when people were sound asleep, everything was still immersed in the thick of the night, and a lone street lamp was shining stubbornly nearby, I was still working nervously in my room. Because of the time difference, I had to contact the Russian company from the afternoon until two or three o’clock in the morning, or even four o’clock, and then communicate the collected information with the Chinese team at about eight am. Often there were only four hours left for me to sleep.

Fortunately, I wasn’t alone. Thanks to the hard work of the whole team, with some responsible for logistics and some for customs clearance, among other responsibilities, we succeeded in locating quite a number of mask-producing companies and factories. In addition to Russia, nearly forty mask companies in Thailand, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Ukraine and the United States were contacted, and millions of masks were raised for the foundation.

Vasilii Moshchelkov, known as Wang Xiaodong by his Chinese name, volunteers as a traffic assistant on Hubin Pedestrian Street in Hangzhou during the National Day holidays

When the virus was contained and life returned to normal, I went back to my regular volunteer work — a traffic assistant — in the Qinghefang community again. At one o’clock in the afternoon, I appear at the green guard box in Qinghefang community and around six o’clock in the afternoon take the last bus back to my place. The roundtrip takes more than two hours.

As to the future, I hope to stay in Hangzhou, a most picturesque city, after graduation. To achieve this goal, I still have a lot to do. For the next winter holiday, I plan to stay in China, as there is no time for me to return to Russia and rest! Working my doctoral thesis, studying Chinese, practicing in a law firm, reading professional books …

Indeed, I have long regarded China as my second hometown. For me, to be patriotic is not only to love one’s birth country but also to love the country in which one lives.

Vasilii Moshchelkov is a Russian student currently studying at the Guanghua Law School of Zhejiang University, pursuing a doctorate degree in Chinese law under the tutelage of Professor Qian Hongdao.  

Editor:Huang Yan