Tran Bao Vy, a Vietnamese student at Shanghai University’s College of International Education, has built her life in China around one thing: a deep and growing passion for the Chinese language. She finds it in social media buzzwords, in street-corner conversations, in the city streets she wanders on weekends. She brings it to competitions and, eventually, to the classroom where she hopes to teach. Hers is a journey of curiosity, persistence, and a willingness to step into the unknown.

Awards and Honors

l  First Prize, "Language Bridge Cup" International Chinese Education Digital Teaching Skills Competition (2024)

l  Second Prize, 6th International Chinese Education Micro-Lecture Competition – Outstanding Digital Course Award (2025)

l  Second Prize, International Bilingual Talent Chinese-English Speech Contest (2025)

l  Academic Excellence Award for International Students, Shanghai University (2025–2026)

l  Special Recognition Award, "Chinese Bridge" Global Chinese Language Contest – Storytelling Session (Shanghai-Jiangsu-Zhejiang Preliminary Round, 2026)

l  Third Prize, "Silk Road E-Commerce Cup" International Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, Shanghai University (2026)

l  HSK Level 9 Certification (2026)

l  Outstanding International Graduate, Class of 2026, Shanghai University (2026)

 

A Cross-Border Heritage: Planting the First Seed

Tran Bao Vy's story with Chinese begins with her grandfather. A Chinese-Vietnamese, he grew up in Cambodia, learned Chinese there, later moved to Vietnam for business, and eventually settled down.

“He never asked us to learn Chinese,” Bao Vy recalls. “But he always kept the traditions—celebrating Chinese New Year, observing the festivals. That was just how we grew up.” That family atmosphere gave her a deep, unspoken attachment to Chinese culture. In her grandfather, she saw what it meant to live across cultures—and something about the language itself felt strangely close to home.

Her interest in Chinese only grew from there. At 18, she chose Chinese Language as her major at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education. That was seven years ago.

After graduation, she took a job as a Chinese-speaking customer service representative at a French company. On paper, it was a good job—steady pay, an international environment, a culture that was open and professional. It also gave her a first real taste of how multinational companies work.

But over time, she began to feel the gap between what the job offered and what she actually wanted. The work was mostly routine support. She was using Chinese every day, but she wanted to go further—to turn her language skills into something more: teaching, cultural exchange, a real bridge between people. That realization led her to rethink her path. She took some time to reflect, then made the call: she left her job, said goodbye to the routine, and came to China to study again—this time, for real.

Breaking Boundaries: Learning Through Competition

For Bao Vy, studying at Shanghai University has been about constantly pushing her own limits. She's taken on all kinds of challenges—and one of the most ambitious was stepping outside her field to compete in the "Silk Road E-Commerce" Cup, hosted by Shanghai University.

She recruited two friends she'd met at an earlier competition—one from Vietnam, one from Indonesia, both from Sun Yat-sen University, studying economics and finance respectively. They traveled from Guangzhou to Shanghai to join her. That's how a cross-university, cross-national, cross-disciplinary team came together, with Bao Vy as the leader.

The problem? She knew almost nothing about business planning. The pressure was real, especially early on. But she found a way. A Chinese friend suggested she browse rednote, a popular lifestyle platform, to see what a good business plan looked like. That gave her a framework. She then broke the work into pieces and assigned each to her teammates based on their strengths. "They had the economics and finance backgrounds," she said. "I was a total outsider, but that was exactly the point—I learned so much from them that I would never have come across otherwise."

On competition day, the atmosphere at Shanghai University's Jiading Campus left a strong impression on all of them. "My friends from Sun Yat-sen were amazed by how international the environment was," Bao Vy recalls. She was also struck by something else: two teams competing that day were led by non-Vietnamese students, yet both chose to focus on China-Vietnam economic development. "Even in a small competition like this," she said, "you could already see the potential that people see in the economic future of our two countries."

For her, the experience reinforced something she already believed. "As a student of international Chinese education, stepping into a tech and business competition made me realize it more clearly than ever: language is a bridge. It's what brings people together to do bigger, more meaningful things."

A Different Path to Fluency: Talk Shows, Trending Words, and City Walks

The transition wasn't seamless. Bao Vy had a solid foundation in Chinese when she arrived, but being in China was different. People spoke fast. They used slang and local expressions. Because she looked local too, many assumed she was Chinese and spoke to her that way—which meant she had to listen extra carefully. Handwriting was another hurdle, and academic texts didn't help.

She found her own solutions. AI tools became her study partners—for practicing speaking, organizing research, preparing presentations, comparing languages. Not as a shortcut, but as a way to think better and work smarter.

Beyond screens, she turned daily life into a classroom. She watched debate shows like I Can I BB to sharpen her thinking and speaking. She followed trending dramas and scrolled through short videos to pick up slang. She walked the streets of Shanghai, shopped at local markets, chatted with vendors, and learned the names of vegetables and meats that never appeared in textbooks. She traveled to places she had only read about, seeing them with her own eyes.

Over time, she came to see that learning a language isn't just about grammar and vocabulary. It's about understanding a way of life, a way of thinking, a way of seeing the world. And that understanding—she hopes—will one day shape how she teaches her own students.

Beyond the classroom and competitions, Bao Vy threw herself into campus life—joining choir performances, tai chi contests, cultural workshops, and Chinese corner events. Through these activities, she found more than just new experiences; she found warmth and a sense of belonging at Shanghai University. She also came to appreciate the Chinese cultural values of harmony, balance, and collective effort—and learned how to listen, collaborate, and persevere as part of a team.

"Shanghai University means more to me than just studying and competing," she says. "It's where I made friends, found warmth, and grew as a person." She met people from all over the world, brought together by a shared love of Chinese. Through them, she discovered perspectives she had never considered before. She learned to listen more openly, empathize more sincerely, and become—step by step—a more confident and courageous version of herself.

Being invited to the World Chinese Language Conference for two years in a row gave her a broader view of the field and reinforced her commitment to international Chinese education.

Looking ahead, Bao Vy hopes to return to Vietnam and teach Chinese at the university level. She wants to bring back more than just the knowledge she's gained—she wants to share the full picture: the lessons from competitions, the friendships across cultures, and the everyday life she's lived in China. Most of all, she wants her students to see China as she's come to know it—not just what's in the textbooks, but a place that's real, lively, and full of stories waiting to be told.

"Start with passion. Find your answer in persistence."

That's what Bao Vy wrote in her notebook.

Looking back on her decision to come to China, she has no regrets. "I've had opportunities I never could have imagined—standing on bigger stages, meeting people from all over the world, and growing through every competition, every practice, every experience." For those who want to learn Chinese, her advice is simple: "It's not about speaking perfectly from day one. It's about having the courage to say what you think. Don't be afraid of making mistakes. Don't wait until you feel ready. Speak the language, and it will slowly become yours."

As she looks back on her time at Shanghai University, what fills her most is gratitude. To the students who will follow in her footsteps, she leaves this message:

"The years you spend here are precious. Try everything. Don't let temporary difficulties hold you back. Take your time, keep going, and the answers will show up along the way."

Source: Shanghai University