Fucai Cheng

The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Exchange to University of Queensland, Australia

My travel to the University of Queensland, sponsored by the Endeavour Cheung Kong Award, has provided me with a great opportunity to experience Australian life and to touch the Western Australian culture.

When I first stepped out of the door of Brisbane International Airport, I was fully attracted to the purely blue sky, the widelydistributed green grassland and trees, and the completely clean air. All these things are a kind of luxury for people like me who come from the highly populated area of metropolitan Hong Kong. Later I even saw varieties of animals around the house I live in, not in the zoo. I experienced how friendly my house host was towards the possums, foxes, pigeons, scrub turkeys, and all the other animals that ran into our garden to look for food. It’s a beautiful picture of Australian people harmoniously living with nature.

The longer I stay here, the clearer I understand that I live in a society organized in a different – but not bad – way from Hong Kong, or other cities of China. The pace of life here is much slower than Hong Kong. Most of the shops, whether in the city or suburbs, are closed early in the evening and on public holidays and it is not easy to meet people in the public streets. The society is peaceful and human-based, not dominated by commodities. Most people select to stay at home with their family members after they finish their jobs. A local person told me: “family life is much more important than career life.”

However, relaxing does not mean undisciplined. I’m deeply impressed by the good academic atmosphere of the University of Queensland. Every day when I am in my office, I find most of the staff concentrate on their work in a dedicated manner. Most of the teachers have a good list of their own publications, yet they are very nice to their students and patiently support their journeys of PhD study. I received much warm and useful support from my supervisor in Queensland University too. She patiently helped me to apply for the ethical clearance for my study conducted here and strictly required me to do my study. I enjoyed this beneficial supervision.

Australia is a beautiful country. On the weekends and public holidays, I visited some towns in Queensland. I went to the world-famous Gold Coast and had fantastic fun surfing. I traveled to Sydney and saw evidence of this prosperous city. I visited many fantastic places, and met many friendly Australian people. Yes, the longer I stay here, the more I love it. I am sure my travel to Australia will be a wonderful and important experience in my life course.

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