Deepening Intercultural Dialogue and Exchange between Bulgaria and China:A Student’s Perspective

GEORGIEVA, Lillyana V. (lillyana.georgieva@abv.bg)

Lillyana V. Georgieva is currently a PhD student in Economics and Economic Policy at Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski. Her research focuses in the area of the grey economy: measurements, causes, policies. She holds a Master’s degree in Accounting and audit and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics (Valedictorian of her class) from Sofia University. She is the recipient of the award “Student of the Year: Economics” for 2015 and 2017 and holds many more prizes, as well. 

She works as an accountant and teaches seminars in financial accounting at Sofia University. Despite of her finance background, she is interested in diplomacy, international affairs, and cultural dialogue, too, and has participated in many conferences and courses abroad. In 2018, she was an exchange student at the Diplomatic Academy of the MFA in Moscow, Russia and later did an internship at the Presidency of the Republic of Bulgaria. 

Lillyana considers herself a friend of China: In 2017 she welcomed H.E. Dzhan Haidzhou, the ambassador of PRC in Bulgaria, to Sofia University. In 2018 she attended a summer school at Zhejiang Institute of Technology in Ningbo and served as a volunteer in the next year, when Chinese students visited Bulgaria. 

Research Overview 

The presentation aims to present a hands-on experience of a university student. Different cultural exchange initiatives in which the author has participated are discussed and evaluated with the aim to draw the main factors that have made them successful and impactful. The author presents her experience with educational, social, and cultural initiatives, organized by different Chinese institutions and analyzes their positive impact in terms of promoting cultural exchange and acquainting the participants with Chinese culture. Among the most important factors is the creation of good human relations between people of different cultural backgrounds and fostering a dialogue between them. The current pandemic situation makes this goal harder to achieve, however it is possible to engage the parties in teamwork by organizing online competitions or language practices, for example. As a conclusion, the author evaluates and gives recommendations about future exchange projects for students.