Yang Mei

yangmei_szdaily@163.com

FOR many international students, studying abroad means expanding horizons. For Adam Asmahri, a French student studying at Peking University HSBC Business School (PHBS) in Shenzhen, studying abroad has been a profound journey of immersing himself in a culture thousands of miles — and mindsets — away from home.

While wrapping up his first year in a Master of Finance program, Asmahri reflected on his unique path in China, from exchange student to a budding social media personality, during an interview with Shenzhen Daily on May 28.

Graduating from Institut Supérieur d’Electronique de Paris with a master’s degree in engineering and computer science, Asmahri’s initial decision to study in China was not driven by a clear career path in finance, but by a desire for the truly unfamiliar.

“If I’m doing a semester abroad, I don’t want to go somewhere near like Europe. I want to go the furthest away possible,” he explained, recalling his first exchange at Beijing Jiaotong University in 2019. Despite initial hurdles like a lost phone and a language barrier, his six months in Beijing were “one of the best six months of my life at the time.”

Two years later, he experienced a different side of China during an exchange at Hong Kong Polytechnic University in China’s Hong Kong, which, despite stringent COVID-19 pandemic quarantine measures, further cemented his desire to work in the city.

It was there he realized his engineering background could merge with finance, setting the stage for his return. “I met some French people working in finance in Hong Kong, and one of them suggested [I] study finance and have two masters, which is nice,” Asmahri said.

Finding his way to PHBS was a serendipitous discovery. Asmahri did research on a university rankings website to check top-tier Chinese universities. “I looked up Tsinghua. Then I looked up [Peking University] and I saw the [number one university], but it was in Shenzhen, so I was surprised,” he recounted.

His initial skepticism about a campus in Shenzhen quickly turned to admiration. The university’s brand-new facilities, top-tier professors, and surprisingly comfortable single-room accommodations for international students immediately impressed him. “It’s the first time I [saw] a single room,” he noted, highlighting the contrast to shared dorms in other Chinese cities.

Beyond academics, Asmahri embraced opportunities for practical experience. He landed a remote internship with OPPO, a major Shenzhen-based phone company, working on its artificial intelligence development for French language accuracy.

The opportunity, shared through the school’s international student WeChat group, allowed him to leverage his language skills without interrupting his studies. While he admitted the work was “very basic,” it provided valuable exposure and a salary. He mentioned that several other PHBS students also joined the program.

Asmahri’s cultural immersion extends far beyond the classroom and internship. A lover of spicy food, he quickly delved into a culinary landscape that is much more diverse than the Asian fusion cuisine often found in France. “I’d never tried hotpot before,” he said, mentioning that he has also discovered the unique flavors of Chongqing noodles.

He has also been able to keenly observe the nuances of Chinese social etiquette and compare them to his home country. For example, the directness of taxi interactions varies between China and France — it is considered very rude in France if a passenger does not say hello, thank you, and goodbye to a taxi driver, but in China that is the norm.

His Mandarin skills, honed through movies, have become a key to deeper engagement. Asmahri is especially fond of Chinese comedies starring renowned Chinese comedian and actor Shen Teng,

As a member of the Z10 Club, officially launched by EyeShenzhen in March, Asmahri has had the opportunity to participate in cultural events in the city. “It allows me to do stuff that I wouldn’t think about,” he said, crediting the program for encouraging him to visit places like an intangible cultural heritage exhibition and a Spring Festival flower market.

These experiences, in turn, fuel his growing presence on Xiaohongshu (RedNote), the Chinese version of social media platform TikTok. After abandoning a popular skincare account on TikTok, he started a Xiaohongshu account to document his life in China and has gained more than 1,000 followers.

This willingness to share candid observations about daily life has made his account popular, reflecting his belief that foreigners can truly experience Shenzhen’s rich cultural side, which is often overshadowed by its reputation as a tech powerhouse.

With a unique international perspective honed by living and working in diverse cities like Lyon, Paris, Houston, Beijing, Hong Kong, and now Shenzhen, Asmahri is charting a course that bridges continents and cultures — one experience at a time.