Chinese arrival finds warm welcome in Rio

Wang Yili chats with Brazilian actor Paulo Jose at the premiere of the film Made in China in Rio de Janeiro on Nov 3. Wang was invited to appear in the movie by Brazilian director Estevao Ciavatta. XU ZIJIAN / XINHUA

When Wang Yili arrived in Rio de Janeiro eight years ago, she found that unlike many other international cities, it had no Chinatown.

"That's because the Brazilian people are so friendly and enthusiastic that they will not alienate or separate people from other countries," Wang said, adding that about 20,000 Chinese live in Rio.

Wang, born in 1990 in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, moved to Brazil with her mother when she was 16, and studied at a high school in Rio. She is now chief executive officer of a Rio-based center that provides language training, interpreting and cultural exchange services.

Although at first she had trouble with Portuguese, Wang found it was not difficult to get along with her South American peers.

"My classmates invited me to their homes for dinner a week after they met me. I even attended a birthday party two weeks after I arrived in Brazil and it made me feel at home," she said last month while meeting with students at Peking University in Beijing.

Wang's experiences were echoed by Hu Xudong, a professor of Latin American research at the university, who has visited South America many times.

"Brazilians are always ready to help those in need even though they might not know them very well," he said. "If you have made some friends in Brazil, you will be reluctant to leave the country."

Wang said it took her some time to get accustomed to life in Brazil because of linguistic and cultural barriers.

After years of learning, she gradually managed to master Portuguese. She enrolled at the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (the State University of Rio de Janeiro) in 2010, after three years in high school.

During her university days, she worked part time as an interpreter. In July last year, she was invited by the Brazilian Foreign Ministry to provide interpreting services for leaders attending the BRICS summit.

"When I entered the meeting room, it was really quiet. I found my place, sat down, put on the earphones, took a deep breath and found that President Xi Jinping was sitting about four meters away from me," she said.

Wang was also invited by Brazilian movie director Estevao Ciavatta to act in the film Made in China.

Released in November, it tells how a Chinese businessman in Rio gets along with his competitor, an Arab trader.

anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn