Russian youth embraces challenges in SZ

Having lived a stable life in Kazakhstan, Kirill Tezichev, a Kazakhstan-born Russian, decided to take on a new challenge in China. In 2023, he quit his job and enrolled in an applied economics master’s program at the Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen. Tezichev had previously earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry.

Kirill Tezichev (L) poses for a photo with a schoolmate during a community volunteering event in Shenzhen in this 2024 file photo. Courtesy of the interviewee

“Getting to Shenzhen was a new opportunity to explore myself and expand my limits,” said the 28-year-old master’s student.

Before arriving in Shenzhen, Tezichev has worked in an oil refinery for five years and was a professional weightlifting athlete, winning several world championships like the Bench Press World Champion 2018 (Vantaa) Finland. He began sports training at the age of 7 and has participated in boxing, running, and weightlifting competitions. These experiences shaped him into a person eager to take on challenges and pursue personal growth.

“Shenzhen is a fast-paced city where everyone works hard,” Tezichev explained, noting that the environment provides him with opportunities to improve himself.

After settling in China, Tezichev, like many expats, decided to choose a Chinese name. He settled on Huo Qubing — a famous general from the Western Han Dynasty (202 B.C. – A.D. 8) — because he admired General Huo’s history of facing challenges, overcoming difficulties, and winning battles.

Besides studying economics, Tezichev enjoys learning about Chinese culture, history, and philosophy. He has been active in cultural activities since arriving in China. For example, he participated in a poetry recital competition where he recited a selection of Li Bai’s poems for six minutes.

He recalled that memorizing the poems was not the difficult part — it was grasping the tones. He listened to audio recordings, adjusting his pronunciation sentence by sentence. “It is difficult for me, but I enjoy taking on challenges. It also helps me improve my Chinese,” Tezichev said.

He emphasized the importance of learning and speaking Chinese. “By speaking the local language, you are not isolated in your community. You can be part of the Chinese community and be open to everything,” he said. “I will definitely continue working towards fluency in Chinese.”

Tezichev finds that understanding Chinese in China is much more challenging than the standard Mandarin he learned before arriving. Initially, he struggled with different accents, but now he can distinguish various pronunciations from people in different provinces. For instance, people from Sichuan Province may not pronounce tongue-rolling sounds as clearly.

“Shenzhen is unique. It is a mix of all sorts of cities. Everyone comes from different parts of China or even the world. I feel there is a mutual sense of community,” Tezichev said.

When discussing his goals, Tezichev mentioned that, like Shenzhen, which is open to everyone, he is open to every opportunity and uncertainty.