Over the last few centuries, there have been many changes in our lives.

In the old days, planes were not very popular because they could be dangerous and too expensive. Nowadays, more people can travel by plane and get to the other side of the world in just one day.

When it comes to work, people had to work much harder because they did not have the useful tools and instruments that we have now. Today, however, most of the difficult and dangerous work is done by computers and machines.

Imagine people’s living conditions a few hundred years ago. There were no bathrooms or running water in many houses. People shared public bathrooms with strangers. And they had to collect water from faraway places.

Nowadays, every child has the chance to get a good education. In the past, there were fewer schools and the quality of education was much poorer. Now education is free for primary and middle school students. Also, it is much easier to find the educational materials that you need on your mobile phone or your computer instead of going to the library.

With the development of science and technology, our life is much better than it used to be. And we are continuing to create new things to make our lives better and easier.

Karlsson, a Swedish teacher at Beijing Union University (BUU), has lived in China for over 15 years. The seeds (种子) of his China journey were sown when he joined in a program for East Asian studies at Lund University in Sweden in 1997. Back then, cellphones and the Internet hadn’t yet come into wide use. Learning Chinese meant using textbooks, heavy dictionaries and audio tapes. He would read the dictionary carefully for hours to understand a one-page Chinese article.

“In those days, it was a real challenge,” he said.

In 2006, with a high score in the official Chinese language test, he won a scholarship for a five-week summer program at Beijing Language and Culture University.

After finishing the study program, Karlsson was offered a Beijing-based job as a market researcher. In 2008, the year Beijing succeeded in hosting the Summer Olympic Games, he got married. In the next year, he started to teach business at BUU.

Life in Beijing has been a wonderful adventure (异乎寻常的经历), especially as a witness to the great achievements China has made. It has offered him many chances for personal growth. Today, thanks to high-speed broadband and 5G, he can connect with students at BUU’s partner universities in Russia, Montenegro or Mexico while riding on the Beijing subway.

“When you open your eyes to these great projects, it is impossible not to want to be part of them or at least support them somehow,” he said.

Although he was busy on teaching days, Karlsson applied for a full-time scholarship at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. In 2022, at 44 years old, he got his Ph.D. in economics. “I am quite interested in blockchain technology, and I know that China is quickly becoming the leader in blockchain applications outside the cryptocurrency space. So, I always write my articles in this area,” he said.

“There is always time to follow your dreams unless you decide to give up,” he said. “Taking on seemingly impossible challenges and also helping those around you are what makes life worth living.”

Did you have an experience of going from one after-school class to another on weekends? Chinese students used to be busier on weekends than weekdays because they had to take so many after-school classes. Many of them spent much time on these classes to learn exam skills.

But this year, Ma Xiaohua, a student from Grade 8 in Zhengzhou spent a winter holiday that was quite different. “I felt more relaxed this holiday, because the homework is clearly much less and more enjoyable,” said Ma. Things like doing some housework, making an English video to introduce a Chinese custom, and reading aloud Home Letters by Fu Lei were part of her winter holiday homework. Ma found herself doing more practice-based (基于实践的) learning instead of always having her nose in workbooks. Another big difference for her was that she didn’t have after-school classes anymore. “This gives me more time to play badminton and gradually get healthier,” she said.

Like Ma, many junior high school students welcomed the changes, as they feel less stressed than before. However, it doesn’t mean schoolwork isn’t important anymore. For some students, they feel worried about the changes. “I used to take many after-school classes, but now I’ve lost their instruction (指导) and need to depend on myself,” said ninth-grader Zhou Xiuwei from Nanjing. “I felt more stressed this holiday.”