Rebecca Williams was born in 1980 in Esperance, a beautiful town in Australia. In 1998, around 20 years after China began its reform and opening up, then-18-year-old Williams participated in a culture-sharing event about China. She made up her mind to visit China, so she could enjoy more colorful experiences.
Today, Williams is known to many of her friends by her Chinese name, Li Baike. She told Women of China, "More and more foreigners have developed an interest in Chinese history, culture and arts, from a young age. This is surely a result of China's constant will of opening up." Williams used to study in Hawaii. The school organized a thematic-sharing event every Friday. During one such event, when she was 18, several overseas Chinese visited the school and introduced something about Chinese culture. Prior to that event, Williams had known a country called "China" in the Oriental world, but she had no idea about either the country's history or its culture. Williams was inspired by the sharing, and she hoped to one day visit China, and to learn about the country through her own eyes.
Her wish was fulfilled in 2001. As a third-year student at University of Western Australia, Williams was admitted to an international students' exchange program between her university and the Ocean University of China (OUC, located in Qingdao, a city in east China's Shandong Province). She arrived in China for the first time, to study in a Chinese linguistics program at OUC.
"Back in the early 21st century, there were not many foreigners in Qingdao," Williams recalls. She could barely speak Chinese at that time, so it was not easy for her to communicate with the locals. After she graduated, in 2002, she moved to Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province. There, she started an amazing "five-year-journey." Says Williams: "I felt like I was at home. Yunnan has a great number of residents of the minority ethnic groups. They treated me like I was from another 'ethnic minority.' The locals were willing to make friends with me."
Of her wonderful experiences in Yunnan, Williams fondly remembers a modeling contest. "I was an oral English teacher in Kunming. We had a fashion show, and students, wearing gorgeous ethnic minorities' costumes, were walking the runway. For me, it was so fresh and eye-catching. I was impressed by the charming arts and culture of China's ethnic minorities."
Williams says the most important reason she stays in China is her desire to help foreigners understand and learn about today's China — through an objective and firsthand point of view. After living five years in Kunming, Williams relocated to Beijing. She began a new job: Recording English versions of children's books.
"I adjusted my voice to fit the different characters of a story, when I read it in English. It's interesting," she says. Later, she helped dub several Chinese TV dramas into English. The English versions of those dramas have been exported to other countries, and many have become especially popular in Africa.
Williams likes to sing. In 2008, during an event to celebrate Beijing's hosting of the 29th Summer Olympics and Paralympics, she performed with a band, composed of Chinese and foreigners. That year, she also sang for Chinese Bridge — Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students, as a representative of Oceania, to cheer on candidates from Australia and New Zealand.
Of her stage performances in recent years, Williams picks Universal Show, a program broadcast on CCTV (China Central Television) Channel 4, as one of her favorites. "The great show invites top-level performers, from around the world, to this specific stage. I am always deeply touched by the 'chemistry' they have formed during the marvelous communications between different cultures and arts," she says.
As China makes new strides in its reform and opening up, Williams says she looks forward to witnessing more inclusive and creative cultural exchanges, which will definitely better connect China with the world.
Williams has lived in China for more than two decades. Her parents, and other family members, believe living in China has special meaning for her. As a foreigner who has gained an in-depth understanding of China, since the country launched its reform and opening up, the Australian says she shoulders the mission of "acting like a bridge," so she can help promote the beauty of the Chinese language and culture to her friends around the world.
"Currently, I'm working on a new attempt to perform traditional Chinese crosstalk, known as xiangsheng. I hope our audiences will realize foreigners are interested in traditional Chinese linguistic performances as well. Via my voice and my performance, I want to show people around the world that I'm good here, in China!" Williams concludes.
Photos from Interviewee
(Women of China English Monthly December 2023 issue)
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