'Convergence of Cultures': HSE University-St Petersburg Graduate on Asian and African Studies, Internship in PRC and Winning the Contest of Sinologists
In 2026, Polina Lanskaya graduated from the Bachelor's programme 'Asian and African Studies' at HSE University-St Petersburg. Over five university years, she mastered the Chinese language, studied Asian culture and socio-political life, and undertook an internship at Xiamen University in the PRC. Thanks to her high level of knowledge, effort, and talent, Polina took a prize-winning place at the national stage of the 'Chinese Bridge' contest, and now she is preparing for the contest alongside participants from more than 150 countries. Read more about these and many other things in the article.
Choice in Favour of Opportunities
Since school, I liked history and foreign languages. As graduation approached, I became curious about East Asian culture: music, cinema, and animation. But the most charming was the Chinese language—it sounded beautiful and melodious to me. Then, I decided that I wanted to learn to speak it and find out more about Chinese culture.
After school, I was choosing between programmes in Asian and African Studies at HSE University in Moscow and St Petersburg as well as SPbU. I opted for HSE University-St Petersburg. The Bachelor's programme 'Asian and African Studies' looked interesting and intense; besides, here, you can choose a track and learn a second foreign language.
Peculiarities of Asian and African Studies
The main advantage of such education is the comprehensive studies of the region. Here, students do not simply master languages but immerse themselves deeply in history, culture, political and economic situation in the country.
In the first two years, we studied history and got basic knowledge in all the spheres related to the East. In the third year, when all the students had shaped their understanding of the area in which they would like to develop, the programme offered us the opportunity to choose a track.
I chose the socio-cultural track and have never regretted my choice. This helped me to deepen my knowledge about the society, culture and art of the region, which is extremely important for any specialist working with foreign languages, in the humanitarian sphere in particular.
Pursuit of Knowledge
Of course, it was difficult at first. In the first year, I had to absorb a lot of information, learn a completely new language, get used to a new environment, schedule and rules. Nevertheless, it was interesting. It became much easier in my senior years when my language proficiency increased, and I shaped my research interests. Everyone became more confident in themselves and their knowledge.
I believe that the main goal of higher education is to teach a person to think critically and pursue knowledge, and our programme 'Asian and African Studies' copes perfectly with this task. The curriculum here is intense and diverse; all professors have their own concentration, research interests and approach to education. Thanks to that, students of Asian and African studies not just become specialists in the chosen region but also learn to reason about various topics, analyse information, master unusual things, communicate and work with students of other language tracks.
Internship in China
In the fourth year, I went for a year internship at Xiamen University under the scholarship of the PRC government, for which any sinologist student from our university can apply in the third year. Of course, a year of living in the language environment and studying in Chinese improved my language proficiency, especially speaking skills.
This is an incredibly useful experience: you learn to communicate with native speakers without any fear, start thinking in the studied language and bit by bit memorise the information faster. Besides, it is a great opportunity to get useful contacts, access the academic literature unavailable in Russia, see the cultural monuments with your own eyes and just travel around the country.
Road to Victory
During my studies, I did a lot of things I am proud of: participated in interesting projects, went on a year-long internship in China, and won second place in the contest of literary translation of children's literature 'Literature Without Borders'. But the greatest achievement of these five years is the first place in the municipal and the second place in the national stage of the contest 'Chinese Bridge'.
The municipal stage usually includes a prepared speech, a creative performance and an improvised speech on the set topic. At the national stage, the finalists take part in a quiz about China.
In the first place, I decided to participate to express my love for the Chinese language and culture. It was exciting to prepare a speech, make up a creative performance and put together a beautiful outfit. Besides, of course, I wanted to test myself in the competition with other sinologists.
While preparing, I worked a lot on my speech because conventional spoken language and stage speech are two different things. For me, it was also important because I chose reciting poetry as a creative performance. I got a lot of assistance from my professor of literary translation from Chinese, Tatyana Karpova. Together, we discussed all the ideas and tried to make the speech perfect; it was she who offered me the poem for the performance. When I was preparing for the world stage of the contest, Professor Tatyana introduced me to the Chinese students-actors from the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts who helped me with pronunciation and work on my voice.
The victory, obviously, brought me great joy. Of course, the participation and preparation are interesting and fun, but seeing the results of your work, both during the preparation for the contest and all the years of studying the language, is twice as pleasant!
New Stage
The winners go to the world stage of the contest in China. We don't know the exact dates yet, but it should be somewhere in the middle of August for three weeks. This is a world competition gathering participants from more than 150 countries. We all will have to demonstrate our knowledge of the Chinese language and culture.
I don't want to make any guesses about the results, so I am focusing on showing myself in the best light during the contest. Now, I'm still polishing my speech and rehearsing the creative performance, practising to improvise in Chinese, and trying to read more on different topics, also in Chinese, of course.
Anyway, 'Chinese Bridge' is a wonderful opportunity to show yourself, meet people who do the same thing as you, improve your language skills and catch the attention of future employers. The victory on the world stage gives scholarships for studying in China and other prizes.
Endless Opportunities
I feel that I've grown during my studies at HSE University-St Petersburg: reached a good level of Chinese language proficiency (last autumn, I passed HSK6, the sixth level of the qualifying examination in Chinese), broadened my horizons and understood the East much deeper. Despite all the difficulties, the university studies were an interesting experience for me, which I will always remember with warmth.
I am not sure about my further academic career yet. I've decided to spend some time working, gaining experience and thinking about what area to choose for a master's degree. Now, I'd like to try my hand at literary translation from Chinese and projects related to the cultural sphere.
I believe that HSE University-St Petersburg is an amazing place for people who love studying and learning something new. Here is a great number of opportunities for development both in academic and creative spheres. Thus, if you want more knowledge, interesting events and extracurricular clubs, HSE University-St Petersburg is a perfect place for you!
