Professor brasileiro Francisco Foot Hardman destaca receptividade e comprometimento dos estudantes chineses
Por Beatriz Cunha e Fátima Fu
O professor brasileiro Francisco ♠ Foot Hardman, autor de "Meu Diário da China: a China real aos olhos de um brasileiro", recently visited Beijing for ♠ university lectures and granted an exclusive interview to Diário do Povo Online.
Foot shared his first experience in China, when he ♠ received an invitation to teach in 2024 at Peking University, with the option to stay for six months or a ♠ year, he decided to stay for a year. He highlighted a significant difference between the first six months and the ♠ remaining period, when the Covid-19 pandemic occurred.
During his stay in China, Francisco traveled to several other cities and provinces in ♠ China. He noted that almost every student of his was from a different province, and all were very eager to ♠ receive him in their homes. In addition to the exceptional hospitality, Foot highlighted the commitment of Chinese students to their ♠ studies and was particularly impressed by their punctuality and completion of all assigned tasks.
This time, Professor Foot, who came for ♠ some academic activities at Peking University for a period of only two months, was surprised by the concentration of people ♠ in Beijing, a completely different view from the empty Beijing of 2024. He took the opportunity to make tourist visits ♠ to the city and was impressed with the Beijing metro. Of the tourist spots he visited, his favorite was the ♠ Museum of the Grand Canal.
The University of Peking itself has become a tourist attraction, with many people wanting to know ♠ it, he observed, noting an increase in the number of people visiting the campus.
Foot told Diário do Povo Online that ♠ his book "Meu Diário da China: a China real aos olhos de um brasileiro" emerged during the Covid-19 period, when ♠ Folha de São Paulo invited him to write an article about the new reality of daily life in China. The ♠ article was well received by other media, and was then published by the virtual newspaper of the Universidade Estadual de ♠ Campinas (Unicamp). Other articles were produced by him for the Unicamp, and later the Editora da Universidade de Pequim became ♠ interested in his articles, which were compiled resulting in the book.
The original title of his book was "Minha China Tropical", ♠ but it was changed to "Meu Diário da China" due to translation issues, to better understand and accept the Chinese ♠ public, explained the author. However, for the Brazilian version, which will be launched in Brazil, the original title was preserved.
"...my ♠ tropical China is not that Brazil is China, it's southern China, especially," said Foot comparing Brazil to Yunnan, "starting with ♠ the climate, the forests...I went to the Botanical Garden, it looked like a Brazilian landscape, very hot, very humid, and ♠ the people very happy, very musical, I found it incredibly interesting," explained Foot indicating the similarity as the reason for ♠ the original title of his work.
Foot perceives an advance in the movement of translation of lusophone literatures in China, which ♠ he does not see in other countries. In addition, the establishment of various Confucius Institutes in Brazil shows the openness ♠ of Brazilian educational authorities and the potential to expand exchanges between Brazilian and Chinese institutions, he said.
