Masha, a 24-year-old TV hostess on the local TV station in Hunchun, Northeast China’s Jilin province, caught the attention of the audience recently.

She came to Jilin’s Yanbian Korean autonomous prefecture in 2009 after high school in her hometown — Russia’s Far East port city of Vladivostok, and was enrolled by Yanbian University to study the Chinese language.

This is Masha’s second job in China. She once worked as an interpreter in a cross-border trade center to handle Russian customers’ complaints in Hunchun after she graduated from Yanbian University six months ago.

The work experience as a cross-cultural coordinator gave her a better understanding of the importance of intercommunication and mutual trust between the Chinese and Russian people.

One day, Masha jumped at the chance of using her bilingual skills in a more influential platform — Hunchun Television Station.

She stood out from many competitors with fluent Chinese and became another Russian hostess in Hunchun.

Though she is a hostess on a Chinese TV program, Masha could not forget those embarrassing moments when she arrived in China and knew very little Chinese.

Even the current Chinese name Masha was transliterated by her Chinese teacher.

Now, she can communicate in fluent Chinese in daily life like a native speaker, thanks to her hard work in the past four years in university and practice with her Chinese friends, who not only improved her vocabulary and grammar, but also her understanding of Chinese history and culture.

Therefore, Masha made a stunning debut on her first major assignment to cover an international forum of Chinese and Russian mayors in Hunchun, gaining so much popularity with the audience.

However, Masha said she was so nervous that she forgot her lines in shooting because of her lack of professional background in journalism and TV news reporting.

Masha conquered the difficulties with full preparation and an extremely serious attitude.

"In Russian culture, the word ‘friend’ is usually used to describe a long time intimate relationship, which is different from Chinese culture, so I often use friendly relationship to replace it, or Russians would feel confused," she said.

Masha’s parents feel very proud of her and they will come to China and settle down in Hunchun after retirement.

Masha got more chances to learn traditional Chinese culture after being a TV hostess. Now she has fallen in love with Chinese tea culture and performs the tea ceremony in her spare time.

She thought the tea is a window for foreigners like her to view Chinese history and culture.

Masha has a dream that she will have a typical Chinese wedding ceremony in traditional Chinese wedding dress and ornaments.

"There is a big difference in wedding ceremonies between the two countries. In China, family members and friends have a big dinner together while new Russian couples host gala parties," she said.

"It would be awesome if my Russian friends could come to China and take part in my Chinese wedding ceremony," Masha added.

Among all the places Masha has traveled during her stay in China, Hunchun is her favorite city for its pleasant environment and desirable living conditions, such as cheap housing and low living expenses. But the most important reason is the local people’s magnanimity and hospitality.

"What I am doing now is to publicize the information of exchange between China and Russia, and it is quite meaningful. And I wish my job could act as a bridge of friendship connecting Russia with China," she said.

She added that she hoped that Hunchun would be not simply a shopping and tourist destination for Russian people but have more exchanges in various?fields with Russia?in the future.