【新華網】China Focus: A Pakistani family's decades' bond with China
發布日期：2017-05-12 供稿：新華網 編輯：楊晶 審核：王征 閱讀次數：
原文標題：China Focus: A Pakistani family's decades' bond with China
原文鏈接：http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-05/09/c_136269264.htm?from=groupmessage&isappinstalled=0
BEIJING, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Before Javaria Ikram even arrived in China, the Pakistani woman had heard a lot about the country from her father.
"China is my father's second home," she said. "We grew up seeing photos and hearing stories about it."
Ul Haq Ikram was among the first group of Pakistanis to study in China in the 1970s.
From 1974 to 1979, he studied Chinese and radio communications at Beijing Language and Culture University and Tianjin University. He then returned home and became an engineer in the military. In 2005, he came to China again, this time earning his doctorate at Beijing Institute of Technology.
Ul Haq Ikram has travelled around the country with his family, and encouraged his six children to study there.
"The peaceful environment and friendship between our two countries are the main reasons why we like China," said Ul Haq Ikram. "I enjoyed the academic atmosphere here, the teachers made our studies and daily life easy."
Javaria Ikram, 30, and her siblings all followed in the footsteps of their father. Elder sister Maria Ikram came first, earning her doctorate at Beijing Institute of Technology.
"Before arriving, I had been told Chinese are quite industrious," Maria Ikram said. "It is true. They work very, very hard."
When she arrived in 2005, Beijing had only several metro lines. "Now underground covers the whole city," she said.
Javaria Ikram came in 2008, and will complete her doctorate this June.
She told Xinhua that when she arrived, she could barely understand Chinese. "Sitting in class, I had no idea what the teacher was talking about," she said.
When Javaria Ikram told her teacher that she could not read Chinese characters, the teacher gave her an English version the next day.
"I gradually gained confidence," she said. "I will never forget this experience."
The sisters' husbands also studied in China. Both Maria Ikram and her husband Abdul Waheed are now professors at Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication. Javaria Ikram's husband Syed Hammad Hussain Shan Bokhari works for a Beijing company developing automotive electronic equipment. Javaria Ikram hopes to find a job as well.
"We would like to be a bridge for exchange between China and Pakistan," she said.
"In the past, young Pakistanis liked to study Arabic, French and German. Learning Chinese is a new trend," she said.
Chinese language courses for foreigners are now available in many colleges and even primary schools in China. The booming economy has attracted an increasing number of foreign students, and like the Ikram family, many have benefited from Chinese government scholarships.
In 2016, more than 440,000 foreign students from 205 countries and regions studied in China, according to statistics with the Ministry of Education.
According to plan, China will set up a Silk Road scholarship, allowing 10,000 foreign students from countries along the Belt and Road to study in China each year.
With the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will be developed, creating a lot of job opportunities for technicians, especially those who have studied in China, Javaria Ikram said.
She hopes the corridor will improve the economic and living conditions in Pakistan.
"Blackouts often occur in Islamabad due to power supply shortages," she said.
The cooperation mechanism will carry out many infrastructure and cultural projects, which will improve the quality of life in her hometown, Javaria Ikram said.
北京，5月9日（新華）—— 早在扎維利亞·伊克拉姆（Javaria Ikram）來到中國之前，這位巴基斯坦的女性就已經從她的父親口中了解了中國的許多事情。
“中國是我父親的第二個家，”她說，“我們是看著中國的照片，聽著中國的故事長大的。”
烏爾哈克·伊克拉姆（Ul Haq Ikram）是上世紀70年代最早來華學習的巴基斯坦人中的一員。1974至1979年，他在北京語言大學、天津大學學習漢語以及無線電通信。之后，他返回家鄉，成為了一名軍隊工程師。2005年，他又來到中國，在北京理工大學攻讀博士學位。烏爾哈克·伊克拉姆帶著他的家人游遍中國，并鼓勵他的六個孩子來中國學習。
“平和的環境以及中巴的深厚友誼是我們喜愛中國的主要原因，”烏爾哈克說道，“我享受這里的學術氛圍，這里的老師讓我們的學業、生活都變得更加輕松。”
30歲的扎維利亞·伊克拉姆和她的兄弟姐妹們都和她們的父親走了一樣的路。大姐瑪利亞·伊克拉姆最早來中國，她在北京理工大學攻讀博士學位。
“在來之前，我就聽說中國人民十分勤勞，”瑪利亞·伊克拉姆說，“確實如此，他們工作非常非常認真。”
伊克拉姆說當她于2005年剛到中國時，北京只有幾條地鐵線路。“現在地鐵覆蓋了整個城市。”
扎維利亞于2008來到中國，今年6月，她將完成她的博士學位。她告訴新華網，當她剛到中國時，幾乎無法理解漢語。“我坐在教室里，卻完全不知道老師在說什么。” 當扎維利亞告訴她的老師她不識漢字時，她的老師在次日便給了她一份英文版的材料。“我漸漸獲得了自信，”對此她說道，“我永遠不會忘記這段經歷的。”
扎維利亞和她姐妹的丈夫也曾在中國學習。而現在，瑪利亞·伊克拉姆和她的丈夫阿布杜拉·瓦黑德（Abdul Waheed）均是北京印刷學院的教授。扎維利亞的丈夫，希德·哈馬德·侯賽因·尚·博客里（Syed Hammad Hussain Shan Bokhari）在一家北京的公司從事汽車電子設備開發工作。扎維利亞也希望找一份工作。
扎維利亞說道，“我們很愿意成為中巴交流的橋梁。在過去，巴基斯坦的年輕人喜歡學習阿拉伯語、法語、德語。現在，學習漢語則成為了新的趨勢。”
如今，針對外國人的漢語語言課程出現在中國的許多高校甚至是小學中。不斷繁榮的經濟吸引了越來越多的外國學生。此外，像伊克拉姆家族一樣，許多外國學生享受到了中國政府獎學金的優惠。
在2016年，根據教育部統計，共有來自205個國家和地區的超過440000外國學生在中國學習。根據計劃，中國將會建立絲綢之路獎學金。獎學金每年可資助來自一帶一路沿途國家的10000名外國學生來華學習。
扎維利亞·伊克拉姆認為，隨著一帶一路計劃的實施，中巴經濟長廊將會繼續發展，并為技術人員，特別是在中國學習過的人們提供了許多工作機會。
她希望中巴經濟長廊能夠改進巴基斯坦的經濟和生活狀況。“由于能源供應不足，伊斯蘭堡地區經常斷電。”扎維利亞·伊克拉姆認為，中巴合作機制將啟動許多基礎設施建設以及文化項目，這將會改善她家鄉人民的生活質量。
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