Sculpture artist Bharat Singh: Indian siblings’ Beijing story

Bharat Singh(L), Sculpture artist

My name is Balate. I’m from India. I’ve been in China for more than 10 years. Now I am a professor at Department of Sculpture of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. This is my sister Lijin.

Hi, my name is Lijin, we are siblings. I love China very much, I came to China to study sculpture, and I’m studying for my doctorate at Central Academy of Fine Arts.

When I came to Beijing, we usually rode bicycle when we went out, but now we usually go out by car, which is a change in economy. What changed in art is we had few galleries in the past, and now there are much more. Beijing is a cultural city. We now live in Songzhuang, where many artists concentrate.

Beijing has become a city that is more convenient than New York. We both feel comfortable and convenient in Beijing.

We would make phone calls to each other when we came to Beijing 10 years ago. But now things changed a lot and WeChat becomes the most convenient tool for communication. And my friends from around the world are using WeChat to contact each other, including those from the U.S. and Australia and other western countries. WeChat is a popular App and even foreigners also love WeChat and they think it’s awesome that China has WeChat.

When I first came to Beijing we usually used cash when shopping, but now we can just use our phone because we can pay with WeChat everywhere. It’s very convenient and it has lots of benefits.

There are many similarities between India and China, including the fields of culture and economy. Both are developing countries and have a large population. Many new things could provide people with a more convenient life. China has done that by using WeChat, but India hasn’t done it yet. So India has a lot to learn from China. We wish India could have a new payment method like WeChat, which will provide convenience for people.

Beijing is a beautiful city to which you never want to say goodbye. Beijing is the most beautiful city and it’s our second hometown.

I love China, I love Beijing and I wish I can spend the rest of my life in Beijing.