"Are foreigners all here to make money in China? Can foreigners not survive without praising China? Sorry to disappoint you all," said Kieran, a"Post-90s" youngster from South Africa, in a self-introduction video, speaking fluent Chinese and responding to doubts from many netizens about foreign bloggers.

He gave himself a Chinese name - Fan Ruijie, and because he loved the character "Fan Debiao" portrayed by Fan Wei in the TV series "Ma Dashuai", he named his social media account "South African Fan Debiao". Born in Cape Town, south Africa, Fan Ruijie entered the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Tsinghua University to pursue a master's degree eight years ago. After graduation, he stayed in China, and after several job changes, began working in Sino-Africa trade in Shanghai five years ago. Currently, he is the Greater China representative for a South African tea brand.

"Learning Chinese is to 'broaden my mind'," Fan Ruijie replied when asked why he chose to learn Chinese, using a phrase with a distinct "British-style Chinese" Flavor.

Fan Ruijie was born into a family of lawyers in Cape Town, south Africa. "If I had studied law, I would have stayed in South Africa, but I wanted to experience new life in new cities," he said. Therefore, he chose Economics and Business for his university studies.

During his studies at Stellenbosch University, Fan Ruijie joined the university choir. In 2013, he traveled to Shanghai and Shaoxing with the choir to participate in a global choir competition. "Previously, i thought China was a poor place, but I was completely wrong. China is more developed than many Western countries in many aspects," he said. Being new to China and not speaking any Chinese, his first trip to China left a deep impression on him. After learning Chinese, he learned to use an idiom to express his mood at that time: "Look at someone or something with new eyes!"

His experiences in China not only exposed him to modern China but also sparked a keen interest in Chinese culture. "After coming to China for the competition, I decided that I would try to come back and live in China for a while to learn more about Chinese culture," he said. "My goal is to learn Chinese because learning Chinese can open a window to 1.4 billion people."

In 2013, Fan Ruijie graduated from the university and went to the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Tsinghua University to study a year later. When he first stepped into the new environment, he felt a bit apprehensive: "Actually, i was very scared before going to Tsinghua. I thought no one would help me." however, after entering Tsinghua, Fan Ruijie found that his Chinese classmates were willing to help.

After graduating from Tsinghua University, Fan Ruijie decided to stay in China for further development. He joined Beijing Axis as a market analyst, helping foreign enterprises, especially those from South Africa, enter the Chinese market. "South African enterprises are very enthusiastic about entering the Chinese market, and the potential of the Chinese market makes me optimistic about the prospects of South African products," he said.

In 2018, Fan Ruijie joined the Chinese branch of a South African tea brand. "Shanghai has the most cafés in the world, and you know, cafés not only sell coffee but also tea drinks," he said. During his years of working and living in Shanghai, Fan Ruijie walked through the streets and explored almost all the coffee shops he could find to promote tea drinks from South Africa. Currently, many chained coffee brands in Shanghai have listed the South African tea products that Fan Ruijie represents.

Fan Ruijie described the Chinese tea and beverage market as "fiercely competitive". "But China has a huge population and a large market. As long as we can provide products that are valuable to Chinese friends and find suitable promotion channels, china can quickly become our largest market," He said.

南非“90后”小伙玩转跨文化人生：学中文是为了“扩大我的脑袋”

“外国人都是来中国捞钱的？外国人不夸中国就活不下去？不好意思让大家失望了。”在一条自我介绍的视频中，来自南非的“90后”小伙Kieran说着一口流利的中文，回应不少网友对外国博主的质疑。

他给自己取了个中文名字——范睿杰，又因为喜欢电视剧《马大帅》中范伟饰演的角色“范德彪”，所以给自己的社交账号取名为“南非范德彪”。出生于南非开普敦，范睿杰于八年前进入清华大学中文系攻读硕士学位，毕业后留在中国，几经辗转，五年前开始在上海从事中非贸易工作，目前是南非一家茶叶品牌的大中华区代表。

“学中文是为了‘扩大我的脑袋’。”当记者问范睿杰为何学习中文时，他用一句颇有“英式中文”风格的话作为回答。

范睿杰出生于南非开普敦的一个律师世家。“如果自己学习法律，我只能留在南非，但我想去新的城市体验新的生活。”因此在大学专业的选择上，范睿杰选择了经济和商务学。

在斯坦陵布什大学就读期间，范睿杰参加了大学的合唱队。2013年，他随队前往上海和绍兴参加全球合唱队比赛。“我原来以为中国是个比较穷的地方，没想到我完全错了。中国在很多方面都比西方的国家要发达。”初来乍到，他一句中文都不会讲，但是他的初次中国之行让他印象深刻。学习中文后，他学会用一个成语来表达自己当时的心情：“刮目相看！”

在中国的经历不仅让他体验到了现代化的中国，也让他对中国文化产生了浓厚的兴趣。“那次到中国参加比赛后，我决定以后要尽力回到中国生活一段时间，多了解中国文化。”他表示，“我的目的就是要学习中文，因为学习中文才能够打开十四亿人的窗口。”

2013年，范睿杰大学毕业，一年后赴清华大学中文系学习。刚迈入新环境时，他的内心有些忐忑：“其实去清华之前我非常害怕，我以为没有人会帮助我。”然而进入清华后，范睿杰发现了身边的中国同学都乐意帮忙。

从清华大学毕业之后，范睿杰决定留在中国发展。他入职北京中外商桥成为一名市场分析师，帮助境外企业尤其是南非的企业进入中国市场。“南非企业对于进入中国市场都十分积极，而中国市场的潜力让我看好南非产品的前景。”

2018年，范睿杰入职南非一家茶叶品牌的中国分公司，“上海有全世界最多的咖啡馆，要知道，咖啡馆不仅可以售卖咖啡，还有茶饮。”在上海工作、生活的这些年，为了把来自南非的茶饮推广开，范睿杰走街串巷，几乎探寻了能找到的所有咖啡门面。目前，上海的不少连锁咖啡品牌店都已经上架了范睿杰代理的南非茶产品。

对于中国的茶饮市场，范睿杰用“卷”字来形容。“但中国的人口基数巨大，市场很大，我们只要能够提供对中国朋友有价值的产品，并且能够找到合适的推广渠道，中国能够很快地变成我们最大的市场。”

文｜记者 谭洁文
图｜受访者供图
翻译丨赵凡
英文审校丨洪婷