I can’t help learning Hindi and getting to know more about India the moment I fell in love with this amazing language,” said Lin Wenzhi, a sophomore majoring in Hindi language and literature in Shanghai International Studies University (SISU).

During Indian Prime Minister, Modi’s visit to China, a report of SISU’s Hindi program was broadcast last Thursday on BBC’s World Business Report titled “Modi in China”.

According to the news report, despite the existing differences between China and India, learning each other’s language is deemed as a good way to bridge the divide. SISU’s Hindi program is just acting as a diplomatic bridge to transmit Hindi and Indian culture to Chinese people.

“It is great to let more people know the Hindi language and culture, and encourage more students to study Hindi through this academic program,” said Lin.

Having been studying Hindi for two years, Lin has a different perspective of India from others.

“Before the study of Hindi, I have a partial or even an extreme view of India like others,” said Lin. “India is one of the culture melting pots in the world and I really want to travel there some time in the future.”

When talking about Lin’s study experience, he said at first he was diffident about herself. “I was totally shocked at the admission letter that I was enrolled by the Department of Hindi in SISU,” he said, “At the start of my study, those Hindi letters seemed odd to me.”

“As time goes on，I feel confident to study Hindi and am proud of my major,” said Lin, all share the same feeling with him.

As a student being recorded on 8th May, Gu Qingzi, a Hindi sophomore in SISU, tried to study hard on camera but she was a little bit nervous. “I was afraid to do something wrong and or say something improper in front of the camera ready to broadcast live throughout the world. Anyway, it is really a fantastic experience.” Gu writes so in her Moments.

The Department of Hindi in SISU was established in 2013 and the enrollment is once every four years. The postgraduate program of Hindi has been established, too. The curriculum includes Hindi Language, Hindi Literature, Hindi Culture, Selected Readings from Hindi Press and others.

Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, is a standardized and Sanskritized register of the Hindustani language. Hindustani is the native language of most people living in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, and Rajasthan. Modern Standard Hindi is one of the official languages of India.

India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Burma (Myanmar) and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; in addition, India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.