我是一名在中国学习汉语的留学生。我来这里已经两年了，现在和丈夫莫哈恩（Mohaan）住在中国义乌。
我曾去过中国的很多城市，也借游览的机会尝试了很多中国菜。我最喜欢的是中国的辣子鸡和酸菜鱼。中国太大了，我觉得中国的很多城市都有自己的历史和特色，中国各地的美食都有其独特的风味。
我曾经访问过中国两个美丽的繁华城市——上海和广州。这两个城市有个共同的特点，就是都拥有令人叹为观止的高大建筑。站在高楼上，可以将城市的美景尽收眼底。后来当我们还带家人再次去了上海时，他们也都非常喜欢这个城市，并且为高大的建筑物和城市的活力着迷。我喜欢人们如何利用公园和开放空间来保持健康，并通过跳舞、运动、文化活动等来娱乐，丰富生活。我们和家人一起在上海的一个公园游玩时，我们看到了有很多人在不同的地方跳团体舞，我觉得好神奇。我还看到有一些人在跳萨尔萨舞，有一些老太太在喜庆的文化氛围下表演优美的舞蹈。我看到他们的脸上洋溢着幸福和快乐，他们还鼓励其他人也加入他们的行列。这真的使我和家人感到感动，因为这是在我们的国家所看不见的，我从没在家乡的公园里看到人们做这种活动。后来我问了老师，老师告诉我这已经变成了一种文化特色，这样的舞蹈被称作“广场舞”，不只在中国有，好像是“中国大妈”在的地方，都有流行，这真的是太神奇了！
最近，我和我的丈夫一起参观了苏州，这座美丽的城市到处都是风景秀丽的古迹和美丽的建筑。我们喜欢这座城市，因为这座城市既融合了古老的历史氛围，又融合了现代城市的发展活力。然而很遗憾，我们只在那里呆了3天，所以只参观了几个地方。尽管如此，我们参观的几个地方都让我印象深刻。
到达的那天，我已经无法抑制心里的激动。我们直奔了山塘街，这是一处非常著名的历史古迹，街上装饰着中国灯笼，中国茶和食物的香气在空中弥漫。一路上我们听到了中国传统的音乐，我们和其他许多中国人一起坐船。沿河的房屋可能已有数百年的历史，这些房屋都有小阳台还有漂亮的小木窗。我们看到许多老人在阳台上一边锻炼身体，一边看着河景和船只经过，非常悠闲。河沿岸还有一些小餐馆，人们可以在这美丽的风景中用餐。乘船真的让我觉得内心平静，这是很特别的一次体验。
其实，在尼泊尔也有文化街，但与中国看到的完全不同。不一样的国家，不一样的街道，这些街道反应的是所在国家的文化和传统魅力。
我们的下一个目的地是拙政园，据说这被联合国教科文组织列为世界遗产，同时这也是苏州最著名的花园之一。“一个美丽的花园！”当我到的时候，我忍不住发出惊叹！这里到处都是风景，池塘，美丽的植物和树木，当然有很多中国游客和一些外国游客，我看到有可爱的中国姑娘穿着传统服装认真拍照，和花园风景融合在一块，变成了一副漂亮的画面。这是我们漫长一天的美好结局。中国朋友告诉我们，拙政园曾经是私人财产，我们惊讶地看到这座巨大的花园到现在为止还被保护得很好。
最后，我们在当地一家餐厅吃饭，品尝地道的苏州美食，结果发现苏州的味道和味道很甜。虽然食物味道很好，但我并不习惯于甜食。但苏州美食的味道为我们带来了全新愉悦。
我们住在苏州市中心商场附近的一家酒店，这是一个非常热闹的地方，与山堂街完全相反。在河景区附近的餐馆中，随着响亮的现代音乐的演奏，现场的氛围完全不同。此外，我们很幸运能够看到当晚的水舞表演。显然，由于Covid-19影响，表演已经关闭了很长时间。水上舞表演非常有特色，灯光和音乐的组合使整个气氛变得如此热闹，以至于不到2分钟的时间便聚集了一大群人。表演了大约半个小时，我们一直被吸引，看得非常投入，差点儿忘记了时间。虽然我也在电视上看过这种水舞表演，但不得不说，现场观看实在是一种完全令人惊叹且难忘的体验。据说我们赶上了这个月唯一一次的表演，确实很幸运第一次来苏州就有这种经历。
第二天，我们去了中国第一水乡“周庄”，这是另一个历史悠久的美丽城市。风景秀丽，文化底蕴深厚，据说拥有近1000年的历史。周庄有各种各样的水乡景点，例如迷你博物馆、纪念品商店，我看到带有古董物品和家具的“ Zhang House”等小型房屋。它还提供了像山塘街这样的乘船游览，经过许多石桥时还可以欣赏到非凡的风景。房子虽然很旧，但狭窄的街道和小巷都非常有传统特色。
最后，我们的一天以令人难忘的“酸菜鱼”结束。我们在购物中心的一家餐厅排队等候了2个小时，终于品尝到了这道名菜，真的绝对值得等待，因为它是我们吃过的最美味的中国菜。
作为外国人，我对中国的看法肯定随时间而改变。来中国之前，我不知道会发生什么，我会考虑它是否是一个安全的国家。现在，我一直在中国生活，我可以自豪地说，这是一个拥有各种机会的安全国家。此外，中国从未因语言和文化的丰富性和多样性以及基础设施的迅速发展而使我感到不适应。尽管中国城市正在转变为现代化发展迅速的城市，但他们并没有忘记历史和传统文化。
借着游览中国江南的机会，我对中国的了解变深了，对中国的感情也变得更深。中国，已经成为我的“第二故乡”。（作者：娜纱 义乌工商职业技术学院）
China as an outsider
Neha Bhandari 娜纱
I am a foreign student in China studying Mandarin. I have been here for 2 years and I live in Yiwu with my husband, Mohaan.
I have been to a few places and eaten plenty of Chinese cuisine. My favorite has to be 辣鸡鸡 and 酸菜鱼. All the cities in China has its own history and essence and the foods of different places has its unique taste and flavor.
The 2 beautiful bustling cities I visited a while back, Shanghai and Guangzhou, have amazing city views with breathtaking architectural buildings. We also took our family to Shanghai when they visited us in October, 2019. They absolutely loved it and were fascinated by the tall buildings and the liveliness of the city. I loved it how people utilized the parks and open spaces to keep themselves fit plus entertained by dancing, doing sports, cultural activities, etc. While we were in one of the parks in Shanghai with our family, there were lots of people dancing in different groups, different music. Some couples were doing salsa dance whereas some old ladies were performing a beautiful dance in their cultural attire. The happiness was shining through their faces and they were encouraging other people to join them too. This really made our day and our family members were in awe because they had not seen this type of activities in a public park in Nepal, our home country.
Recently I visited Suzhou with my husband, a beautiful city full of scenic historic sites as well as beautiful architectural buildings. We loved this city as this city offers a mixture of both ancient homely feel plus the modern city ambience. We were only there for 3 days so we were only able to visit few places. However, the few places we visited were full of scenic beauties and fun.
The day we reached, we were unable to contain our excitement and we headed straight to Shantang Street, a very famous historic place which holds and illustrates a lot of cultural importance. The streets were all decorated with Chinese lanterns and the aroma of Chinese tea and foods were roaming the streets. The ancient music was also playing in the background. We rode a boat with lots of other Chinese people who were singing along the journey. The houses along the river were probably hundreds of years old with small balconies, narrow streets and small wooden doors and windows. We saw a lot of elderly people relaxing on their balconies watching the river view and the boats passing through. There were also mini restaurants along the riverside where people were enjoying their meals with the beautiful scenery. The boat ride was really peaceful, refreshing and an unforgettable moment.
Shantang Street
There is cultural streets in Nepal too but it is completely different than here. Well the main essence of these streets is to express the culture and tradition of a place or a country which they all do in their own specific ways
Our next destination was a Humble Administrator’s Garden, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most famous gardens in Suzhou. It was again a beautiful garden full of scenic views, ponds, beautiful plants and trees. There were a lot of Chinese tourists and a few foreign tourists. There were lovely Chinese ladies dressed in traditional attire taking pictures. It was a lovely happy ending to our long day. Our Chinese friend told us that it used to be a private property and we were amazed to see how well maintained this huge garden was till date.
At the end of the day, we ate at a local restaurant as we wanted to try authentic Suzhou cuisine and we discovered that the taste and flavor of Suzhou was sweet. There was sweetness in literally every food that we ate in that restaurant. Although the food tasted good but we are not used to eating everything sweet so were craving to have something salty. The taste of Suzhou’s food was a complete new pleasure to our taste buds
We stayed in a hotel near Suzhou Central Mall, which was a very lively place, totally in contrast to Shantang Street. The ambience was completely different with loud modern music playing in the restaurants/pubs near the river view area. Furthermore, we were very lucky that we were able to witness the water dancing show that night. Apparently, it had been shut for a long time due to the Covid-19 situation. The water dancing show was one of a kind and was very eye pleasing. The stunning combination of lights and music made the whole atmosphere place so lively that there was a huge crowd gathered in less than 2 minutes. The show went on for about half an hour and we did not move even an inch. Although, I have watched these water dancing shows in TV, watching it live was a completely amazing and unforgettable experience. We hoped the show would happen again the next night but it did not. So, we were indeed very lucky to have had this experience the first time we visited Suzhou.
The next day, we headed to China’s No. 1 Water Town – Zhouzhuang, yet again another historically beautiful city full of scenic views and rich cultural history. This place holds almost 1000 years of history.Zhouzhuang consists of varieties of places to visit within the water town like mini museums, souvenir shops, mini houses like ‘Zhang House’ with antic items and furniture. It also offers boat ride like Shantang Street with many stone bridges giving extraordinary views. The houses were old and the narrow streets and lanes carry homely and traditional ambience.
Our day ended with an unforgettable wonderful Chinese dish酸菜鱼. We waited for 2 hours in the queue at a restaurant in the Central Mall to eat this very famous fish dish. It was absolutely worth the wait as it was the most delicious one we have had.
As a foreigner, my views regarding China has definitely changed over the time. Before coming to China, I did not know what to expect, I would dwell whether it is a safe country. Now that I have been living in China, I can proudly say it is a safe country with various opportunities. Moreover, China has never failed to amaze me through its language and cultural richness and diversity and the rapid infrastructure development. Although, Chinese cities are turning into modern cities, they have not forgotten their cultural aspect. China has become a second home to me.
