Hoa began learning Chinese while she was a child. Though she was born and grew up in a rural area of Hung Yen province, where Chinese was not common, Hoa liked studying the language because she loved Chinese films and songs.

Hoa’s turning point in her life occurred when she turned 14 years old. Because of limited financial capability, her mother had to leave for Taiwan where she worked as home help. The mother, who had never travelled beyond her village, made the difficult decision to earn money to fund her daughter’s study.

Hoa vowed to study Chinese well so that she could bring her mother back to Taiwan as a traveler, not as home help.

Passing the entrance exam to the Chinese Faculty of Hanoi University, Hoa experienced tough days studying and improving her Chinese skills. Her patience and tenacity helped her overcome the challenges.

“There were very difficult-to-remember letters in Chinese and I had to practice writing the letters on 10 pages to be sure that I remembered them,” she recalled.

“If you are not really clever and if you don’t have favorable conditions like others, you need to work twice as hard to improve yourself,” Hoa aid.

With her great efforts, Hoa got a scholarship for all four years of study at the Hanoi university. She also obtained a full scholarship from the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs to study in Thailand in 2011.

After graduating from Hanoi University as a valedictorian, Hoa was offered a job as a visiting lecturer at the school. 

After that, Hoa got a scholarship from the Chinese government to study linguistics and applied linguistics at Wuhan University, one of China's top-tier universities. 

After obtaining a master’s degree in 2016, she returned to Vietnam and worked at the Chinese Faculty of the Hanoi University before she got a Chinese Ministry of Education’s scholarship for her PhD.

Hoa was very active in extracurricular activities as a student. She participated in the Vietnam-China Youth Friendship Festival in Guangxi, China in 2010 and attended the ceremony to receive Chinese President Xi Jinping who paid an official visit to Vietnam in 2012.

Currently, Kim Hoa is a second-year PhD student at Beijing Language and Culture University, China. She now plays different roles in her life – a wife and mother in her family, a teacher at school, and a student pursuing a doctorate.

Tu Huy