Francis Tchiegue and his son

When he performed as a special guest in a recent episode of Chinese Culture, a variety show on television, Francis Tchiegue wowed the audience with his fluent Chinese. The Cameroonian also showed himself to be an expert on Chinese culture and history, and amused people with his Chinese sense of humor.

Tchiegue is something of a legend in China. He came to the country in late 2003 for doctoral studies and is now known to Chinese television audiences as Jie Gai, a Chinese language and crosstalk enthusiast.

Call of China

Two things aroused Tchiegue's early interest in China. The first was kungfu. When he was a child, he used to watch his father often perform the Chinese martial art. His father also took him to watch Chinese films starring Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. "So I was always the winner when 'fighting' with other children in the playground," Tchiegue said.

The second element to captivate him was the Chinese language when he watched Chinese films, even though he didn't understand a word of what the actors were saying. Tchiegue found Chinese completely different from Western languages. "Chinese tones are similar to African dialects," he explained. "I heard them speak Chinese [and it sounded] just like singing. It gave me a strong sense of intimacy." 

Unlike English, which is written using letters from a 26-letter alphabet, Chinese is written by using square characters, each of which has a unique sound and meaning. Tchiegue, a polyglot who knows English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and a few other languages, couldn't believe that someone could master such a complex language. "What on earth does that stand for?" was the question that haunted him till he arrived in China.  

"There are so many people in China and all of them can speak Chinese," he reasoned with himself. "So why can't I?"

In 2002, Tchiegue had received a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Yaoundé. He also used to host a classical music program on Cameroon's national television.

So he faced a huge dilemma: he could either apply to take part in a student exchange program between the Chinese and Cameroonian governments, or intern for three months in Australia for a more prosperous career with the United Nations.

He finally decided to give up a potential good career with a good pay and instead apply for the student exchange program. For this, his family had an objection but Tchiegue managed to persuade them.

"I was fortunate enough to realize my childhood dream," he told ChinAfrica. "I chose China because it was a priceless opportunity to study Chinese."

Joy and woe

From a novice with zero knowledge of the language to a fluent speaker of standard Chinese, Tchiegue recalls it was a journey filled with hardships and frustrations.

At the end of 2003, he came to China to study Chinese at the Beijing Language and Culture University. He thought it would be easy as it had always been easy for him in the past to master a foreign language. However, all his linguistic assets seemed to be of little help when he hit the long, hard road of learning Chinese in unfamiliar surroundings. But still he did not regret his decision. "Instead, I thought I should have come to China earlier," he said.

Fortunately, he had a do-or-die mentality that got him through one hardship after another. That period signified a great leap forward in his life and Tchiegue credits it to his positive and active attitude. He participated in campus activities to practice his Chinese, never missing an opportunity to improve his skills. Learning Chinese and the Chinese way of life became an indispensable part of his life. He began to relish Beijing snacks like bean curd with a strong smell and the fermented drink made from water used in grinding green beans; he also learned to play mahjong with his Chinese friends and hosted parties for the students' art troupe and his efforts were greatly appreciated by his Chinese audiences.

To master Chinese, he would at first mechanically mimic and recite the words he learned, making great effort to pronounce each character as clearly and accurately as possible even though he didn't know a single Chinese character at that time. After class, he improved his skills by recording himself speaking Chinese and recalling Chinese television and radio news programs word for word. All this effort created a good foundation for his Chinese pronunciation.

After completing the Chinese language training program in the Beijing Language and Culture University, Tchiegue applied for a doctoral course in aeronautics and computer sciences at the Beihang University.

One day in early 2005, he happened to be watching a popular TV program featuring acclaimed Canadian crosstalk performer Mark Rowswell, known in China as Dashan. It inspired him to master the art of crosstalk in Chinese, a traditional art form that requires great speech techniques and intelligence, a difficult task for even many native speakers.

Despite the stiff challenge, Tchiegue set off on his new quest by trying to become an apprentice to Ding Guangquan, a veteran Chinese crosstalk performer who had taken in several foreign apprentices, including Dashan.

He applied - and was refused. And it happened time after time. It left him frustrated, puzzled and even angry. But he would not give up, even when the choosy teacher gave him the herculean task of memorizing ancient crosstalk texts in just a week. Even his Chinese classmates admitted it was a tough task. But Tchiegue finally succeeded in doing it. Won over by his sincerity and irresistible persistence, Ding finally took him on.

Intercultural ambassador

Today, Tchiegue's dream has been realized. He lives in China and is a Chinese language maestro. However, it didn't make him complacent.

"Crosstalk is more than a tool for language learning," he told ChinAfrica. "It is insufficient to learn Chinese without a proper appreciation of Chinese culture."

He began to explore other art forms - Peking Opera and face-changing, one of the oldest and most difficult performing techniques originating from southwest China's Sichuan Opera - and achieved success in all these fields. The success keeps him performing across China. He often appears on Chinese state television and in various performances.

He patiently introduced Chinese traditional opera to his family and friends who fell in love with it. "My wife and friends now watch the Chinese opera channel," he said proudly.

One of his friends, who initially didn't like Chinese opera, even went to a video store, anxious to find the track he had heard at Tchiegue's home. Tchiegue said he was then "moved to tears."

Besides his other activities, Tchiegue today gives lectures and performances at Confucius institutes worldwide through the Office of Chinese Language Council International to share with local Chinese-speaking foreigners his tips and tricks for studying Chinese. 

By virtue of his language advantage and rich culture foundation, he was invited to host some high-level forums and seminars, such as the Benin Economic Forum held in China in 2011, and the trilingual Burundi Investment Forum in 2014, where English, French and Chinese were used.

The success has not gone to Tchiegue's head and he remains humble. "I hope I can serve as an example to encourage more foreigners, especially Africans, to pay attention to and enjoy studying Chinese language and traditional culture," he said.

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