Pakistani students study for a doctorate in agriculture at Shihezi University in Xinjiang, looking forward to helping cotton farmers in their hometown increase their income

Xinhua News Agency, Urumqi, September 10 (Reporters Sun Zhe and Hu Huhu) Starting from the Punjab Province of Pakistan and spanning thousands of kilometers, they came to Shihezi University in Xinjiang to study for a doctorate in agriculture. Gulfam Yusuf and Mohammad Qishan hope to help more domestic cotton farmers improve production efficiency.

Punjab is an important agricultural area in Pakistan, where cotton, wheat and other crops are widely grown. Their parents ran a small business and were also engaged in agricultural production.

“My hometown has deep ties to agriculture,” Mohammed said. When he was an undergraduate in Pakistan, he chose agriculture as a major, not only because of his interest, but also because he hoped to help his parents and people in his hometown increase their income and become rich in the future.

Xinjiang is an important cotton-producing area in my country. In recent years, it has achieved rapid development in fields such as cotton breeding, mechanized harvesting, and green planting.

For this reason, a few years ago, Muhammad and Gulfam successively set their sights on China and decided to continue their studies at Shihezi University.

When they first came to Shihezi, language was a difficulty in front of them. In order to integrate into campus life as soon as possible, the two started learning Chinese from scratch, actively communicated with Chinese classmates every day, and became familiar with the language and environment through conversations.

"This place is different from my hometown, but there are similarities in terms of food and other aspects, and everything is good," Gulfam said. Whenever he has the opportunity, he will introduce his experience in China to his friends in his hometown, share his experience of learning agricultural knowledge and experiencing Chinese culture in Shihezi, and encourage more young people to study in China.

In Mohamed's view, Shihezi University has advantages in the field of cotton research, which is an important reason that attracted him to Xinjiang. He said: "If you come here to engage in relevant research, you will be able to find better development opportunities in the future." Today, Mohammed is conducting research on using drones to spray pesticides and pest control, hoping to improve agricultural production efficiency through technical means.

Shihezi University began recruiting foreign students in 2002, and more than 1,880 people from 41 countries have come to study at the school. Currently, there are more than 600 international students studying at the school from 34 countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russia, Uzbekistan, and Canada.

In the past few years, more and more young Pakistanis have paid attention to Xinjiang and chosen to study at Shihezi University. "Many new international students don't know how to apply, how to buy things, or how to communicate with teachers. We will try our best to help them," Gulfam said.

In their eyes, as the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor continues to advance, exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in the fields of economy, trade, education, science and technology have become increasingly deepened. In particular, the two countries were deeply impressed by the continuous improvement of the traffic capacity of the Khunjerab Port on the border between the two countries, making personnel exchanges more convenient.

Today, Xinjiang has become their "second hometown." Whenever he returns to Pakistan during holidays, Muhammad misses his studies and life in China and often looks forward to returning to school.

Mohammed said that exchanges have brought the people of the two countries closer and allowed more young people to see a future of common development.