"We all have our dreams when we come to study in China." said Mark from Italy in fluent mandarin.

It was a chilly evening on 22nd Nov., but it was really warm in the Music Hall of Hangzhou Normal University where Walk in Zhejiang Overseas Students Variety Show was being held. Over 100 students from all over the world now studying at 19 universities in Zhejiang Province performed 18 programs on the stage.

The event was organized by Department of International Cooperation & Exchange of Ministry of Education, Zhejiang Administration of Radio Film and Television and Hangzhou Normal University, and Mr. Hao Ping, Deputy Minister of Education and Mr. Zhen Jiwei, Deputy Governor of Zhejiang Province presented the variety show.

Four overseas students from Shanghai Normal University performed "Life on Campus" in a traditional Chinese folk performance known as "3.5 sentences". Each of the three performers says one complete sentence then the last performer says half the sentence as a conclusion, which always falls on the point of humour. On the stage, the last performer was Morafe from Botswana who has only studied mandarin for a year. After practicing for 5 days, he managed to perform properly as a good part of the team.

Jianan from Germany is now studying at Beijing Languages University. Dressed in dark green dress she played classic "Tour to Suzhou" with flute. Influenced by her mother Jianan has been addicted to China and Chinese culture ever since she was a little girl. Majoring in Psychology, she began to learn playing flute when she came to study in China. She had studied mandarin for a year in Germany before she came to China, but she couldn't understand what locals were talking at all when she arrived. She found it difficult to speak proper intonation. She would pronounce "hao(4) ma(3)" meaning number as "hao(3) ma(1)" meaning how are you, which made locals laugh.

The traditional drama Romance of Liang and Zhu was performed by the overseas students. The hero played by Yamamoto Toshiki from Japan has studied mandarin for just two months but is able to communicate with journalists in mandarin. Currently he's studying in Tourism Management in Zhejiang Normal University but dreams of becoming an actor in China.

After the variety show there were more fun at the back of the stage. All performers were making new friends with mandarin with various accents, snapping photos together and sharing phone numbers. They leave their smile in Hangzhou as well as their dreams.