In the international seminar room of Jinzhao College at Hainan University, Zhang Tianying, a 2023-entry undergraduate in Hospitality Management, is organizing photos from last year’s China-Arab Youth Development Forum. One photo captures her heartfelt connection with an Egyptian delegate, while another shows a Palestinian youth recounting his struggles of pursuing education amid war. The forum’s atmosphere of peaceful exchanges puts her at ease as she shares her own story. As both a student delegate and volunteer photographer, Zhang embodies Hainan University’s educational mission: nurturing a new generation of the Hainan Free Trade Port builders with both international perspective and national commitment.

Top-Level Design Blueprints a Global Education Framework

Since the implementation of residential college system reform, colleges of HNU have actively responded by leveraging students’ disciplinary characteristics to promote their all-round development. Jinzhao College has built an international education system that “guides with values, educates through practice, and develops with culture.”

The college integrates Party-building with internationalization practice. Under the leadership of the Party Committee secretary who personally delivers ideological and political theory courses, the college has established a comprehensive mechanism, including functional Party branches, Party member pioneer posts, and the Party member class advisor system. A collaborative model of “university coordination, college leadership, school partnership, international resource integration, and student participation” has been established. Annually, over 200 students volunteer in the international events like Boao Forum for Asia and China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE), engaging directly with global scholars through“High Table Dinners” and “Dialogue with Masters”.

Faculty composition is quite distinctive. 332 full-time teachers serve as academic advisors, over 10 representatives from enterprises and public institutions act as off-campus mentors, and all counselors reside in student communities. “Ideological and political education shouldn’t be confined to classrooms. It permeates dorms and practice fields,” states Yun Dayue, the deputy secretary of the Party Committee. Students’ attentive engagement in ideological and political theory courses and outstanding performance as volunteers at international events are concrete reflections of Jinzhao College’s international educational framework.

Practice Refines the Unity of Knowledge and Action

At this year’s CICPE, Zhao Yiting, a 2023-entry undergraduate in MICE Economy and Management, encountered a sudden emergency while explaining Chongqing hotpot ingredients to a Nepalese family in fluent English: a Malaysian exhibitor collapsed from low blood sugar. While calming the family in English and coordinating with medical staff, she simultaneously handed out sugar-rich snacks. This “unexpected incident” has made her realize the unity of knowledge and action means extending textbook learning to real world practice. Once praised by Anhui Provincial Department of Commerce in an official letter, she now applies tourism consumer behavior theory to the analysis of exhibitor psychology—transforming academic concepts into practical expertise.

Such “practical classroom” has become routine at Jinzhao College. Students act as diplomats debating global issues in lectures, seminars and role-playing at the thrice-held Hainan International Model UN Conference; Zhang Meixuan, a 2024-entry doctoral student in Business Administration (Tourism Management), has founded a Chinese chanting training club, building a Sino-foreign cultural bridge through the poems of Su Shi and Wen Tianxiang; Li Yuejiao, a 2022-entry undergraduate in MICE Economy and Management, has led the development of the “Blue Carbon Smart Calculation Platform”, quantifying ocean carbon sinks with universities from Malaysia and Hong Kong, and winning silver at the 2024 China International College Innovation Competition (International Track).

Students are always the backbone of volunteer services at major international events. Lin Zhiyu, a 2023-entry undergraduate in Human Geography and Urban-Rural Planning (Sino-foreign Joint Program) who has participated in CICPE, remarked, “Sharing China’s, Hainan’s, and Hainan University’s stories with global guests is our duty and badge of growth.”

Cultural Roots Empower Global Voice

In a Jinzhao College’s peer mentorship class, Mei Jiaqi, a 2023-entry postgraduate in Public Administration, explains Sino-Western etiquette differences from “avoiding posing with a ‘V-sign’” to “not pointing with a single finger”, guiding students on how to navigate international settings with both etiquette and cultural confidence. In Zhang Meixuan’s chanting class, hip-hop enthusiasts delve into Wen Tianxiang’s patriotic poem Sailing on Lonely Ocean. These seemingly contrasting scenes embody Jinzhao College’s educational philosophy: empowering global communication through Chinese culture.

From the “Scholarly Jinzhao” reading month to bilingual book corners, from hundreds of classical literature seminars to pioneer lectures, the college fosters cultural awareness with a vibrant humanistic atmosphere. Xue Jin, a 2022-entry postgraduate in Tourism Management, was inspired to reflect how traditional Chinese frameworks can enhance global discourse, after Professor Feng Daxuan, Chairman of the International Advisory Committee, illustrated scientific spirit through Chinese and Western cases during a “Dialogue with Masters” event.

This cultural awareness has enabled more students to shift from listeners to storytellers on the global stage. Zhang Tianying guided international delegates through Hainan’s intangible cultural heritage, such as the bamboo pole dance, during the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum; Zhao Yiting treated an Irish professor to local hotpot in Qilou Old Street, explaining Hainan’s culture through its architecture; Shan Yuanhang, a 2022-entry undergraduate in MICE Economy and Management (Sino-foreign Joint Program) transformed his iCANX Davos Summit Entrepreneurship Award-winning project into a company and displayed its core product at Asia’s premier tech expo “Beyond Expo”, attracting international attention and investment; Gan Miaorong, a 2022-entry undergraduate in Human Geography and Urban-Rural Planning (Sino-foreign Joint Program), actively shared China’s stories with peers during her US exchange program.

“Your vision shapes how the world is seen; your cultural confidence tells China’s story.” These words of Liu Lili, the secretary of the Party Committee, echo in the seminar room dappled with shadows of flame trees. As Zhang Meixuan prepares her next peer mentorship course, she smiles, “Our mission is clear—to become bridge builders connecting China and the world.”

Translated by Ning Keer

Proofread by Pan Junfeng