Canadian expat praises charm of Chinese culture |

STORY: Canadian expat praises charm of Chinese cultureDATELINE: Oct. 7, 2023LENGTH: 00:02:56LOCATION: HAIKOU, ChinaCATEGORY: CULTURESHOTLIST:1. SOUNDBITE (English): JAN KEREKES, Canadian expatSTORYLINE:SOUNDBITE (English): JAN KEREKES, Canadian expat”My name is Jan Kerekes. People call me Jay. It’s more simple. And I’m a Canadian citizen, with European origin.I do love traveling. It’s one of my big passions. So I wanted to see the world. And I was always wondering if it’s ever going to stop, and where it’s going to be. And then eventually, before my first happening in China, in Guangdong, I ended up here in Hainan, and somehow I stayed.I’ve been to so many places. But in Hainan, there are still things that are my first time, and that is just kind of awesome. I went camping, I went hitchhiking around Hainan a couple of times, met some really nice people. Even just picking coconuts in a drenching rain. There’s a lot of stuff to do that can make life interesting here.See, I always had a dream to run a marathon, and it came through here in Haikou, and it was beautiful, it’s just absolutely great. So this place gives me chances to fulfill my dreams.If you look in the long term, thousands of years, millennia, China is one of the longest-living cultures in the world. And now learning a bit more and more of the language, it gives me a better opportunity to understand it.One thing that I do love, in Europe would be the same, people kind of cling to traditions, right? And I like that. Sometimes in the Western world, you have these modern festivals, more of consumers’ festivals. But for me, I like traditions, I like something that lasts and just keeps going. And to be here and to experience it is a really important part for me. The more I’m learning about it, the more I like it. As I said before, I had a chance to celebrate the Chinese New Year in China on several occasions. That was a blast.One time I did it in the mountains of Shaanxi. That was just amazing. I felt like, wow, this is it. I was there in the countryside. It is, I guess every foreigner would say that, but it is a part that makes us quite amazed here, and we enjoy it. I guess that’s the reason why people travel, right? We don’t just do it for business or taking pictures, we want to experience the culture, and China is a great place to do that.I always feel really welcome here, people invite you, and they want to show you the different elements of the customs and things they do, whether it’s a Mid-autumn Festival, or a Tomb-Sweeping Festival, it is quite interesting.And, yep, I don’t feel like anybody is giving me any attitude or something like you must not come. On the contrary, people are really nice, And the fact that I’m able to experience this just makes the experience here for me even much more profound.”Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Haikou, China.(XHTV)