Mountainous city offers Chilean a second home

GUIYANG — Beverly Andrea Hermosilla Serrano maneuvers her electric scooter through the winding alleys of the bustling city with practiced ease, just like the locals. Few would guess that she is from halfway across the globe.

The 36-year-old educator from Santiago, Chile, teaches English at an international school in Guiyang, the capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province. She often astonishes others with her fluid ability to shift from English to Chinese, while managing to sprinkle in a little of the local dialect.

Over the past decade, Serrano has fallen in love with China and its culture, becoming an ambassador of its traditions and sharing them across the ocean.

This year marks the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Chile.

Brazilian, Argentinian, Peruvian, Chilean and Uruguayan citizens have been able to enter China since June 1 for up to 30 days without a visa for business, tourism, cultural exchange, or transit. This policy was unveiled last month at the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-Community of Latin American and Caribbean States Forum in Beijing, aligning with China's broader initiative to expand visa exemptions and foster friendly exchanges with more Latin American and Caribbean countries.

After earning a degree in English literature and linguistics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Serrano traveled to more than 40 countries, living and working in North America, Latin America and Africa. She says she didn't stay in any of these places longer than a year, but that trend ended after she arrived in Guiyang.

In 2015, when she was given two job offers as an English teacher in Beijing and Guiyang, Serrano chose the latter. "Beijing would've been more convenient, but I've always wanted to truly immerse myself in a different culture and connect with local people. Guiyang was the indisputable choice," she explains.

Her first days in Guiyang were challenging. Although she was astonished by the city's breathtaking mountain landscape, she was taken aback by the language barrier and the local spicy food for which Guiyang is famous.

"When I first tried Suantang Hotpot, also known as Guizhou hot and sour tomato hotpot, tears fell immediately," she says. "The first Chinese phrase I learned was 'buyao lajiao', which means 'not spicy please'."

Serrano considers learning Chinese to be one of the most valuable accomplishments of her time in China as it has opened the door to adventures, friendships and unexpected experiences.

"When I started learning the language, I began to get the jokes, and I realized my friends or uncles back home would make similar jokes," she says.

"Once the language barrier is overcome, human connection is surprisingly easy."

Serrano has developed a taste for the four-person table game of mahjong and baijiu liquor. "They are not just a drink or a game but keys to building deeper connections with my Chinese friends, their families and their culture," she says, adding that she has also come to love spicy food.

Serrano flips through the pages of an album she keeps, looking at photos of herself surrounded by smiling students at school events. She hopes to instill a global curiosity in her students, helping them imagine a bigger world.

Serrano often takes innovative gadgets from China back to Chile when she visits family. "I bought an automatic nail clipper for my one grandpa and a self-heating vest for my other grandpa. They loved them," she says.

She also shares Chilean food and traditions with her Chinese friends. To celebrate Fiestas Patrias, Chile's Independence Day, on Sept 18, she cooks some of her favorite Chilean dishes, such as completos, or Chilean hot dogs, and pastel de choclo, also known as Chilean corn pies — and serves them to an eclectic mix of Chinese and international friends.

When Serrano's family visited her in Guizhou in 2017 and 2023, Serrano made a point of taking her family on a trip to explore the province's cultural and natural treasures. Thanks to China's visa-free policy, Serrano's family is planning to visit her again, she says with excitement.