Pakistani student promotes Pak-China friendship through vlogs

A young Pakistani student has been promoting friendship between Pakistan and China by showing Chinese culture, food and daily life through her vlogs.

Mahzaib Abbasi, who is studying at the Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU), has been in China for almost seven years.

"Through my vlogs, our people in Pakistan, and also in the USA, Europe and Middle Eastern countries can get a glimpse of culture, people and daily life in China," she said.

Abbasi came to China in 2016 to study Chinese under the Confucius Institute Scholarship Programme. While studying in the Chinese capital, she got several opportunities to visit almost 50 cities in the neighbouring country.

"Every city in China gives me a different feeling. I stayed in Yunnan, where I went to Lijiang, Dali, Xishuangbanna, Kunming, Shangri-La etc. You can feel the ancient culture in these cities," she added.

She also showed modern cities and high-rise buildings everywhere in China in her vlogs. "Travelling in these places in China feels great."

The young Pakistani vlogger also made videos on the life of Muslims, mosques, religious freedom and availability of halal food in China.

She said there are many Muslims in China and halal food is available everywhere. "There are many Muslims in Lanzhou and Xi'an. Muslims exist in almost every city in China. I went to Muslim Street in Xi'an. Halal food is available to eat.

"Lanzhou noodles, fried noodles, pilaf, and fried rice are available in most of the cities in China."

In Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province, Abbasi made a video of Muslims gathered in a mosque to offer prayers on Eid.

"Many people have heard that Muslims in China have no freedom, cannot go to mosques and pray, but as you can see in my video, people are free to do religious activities," she added.

Abbasi said that many people have never been to China, so they do not know much about it. There are many Pakistani restaurants in China, she added.

"Many people don’t know what China is like. After watching the videos, many people realise [what] China is [truly like]. It turns out that China is so beautiful and so convenient," she added.

"Many people want to come to China to study and work. Many foreigners are working here."

Abbasi plans to teach Chinese in Pakistan or any country in the Middle East after completing her postgraduate studies.