Mohammed Talib, an Iraqi influencer known as Mu Zhiyan, pastes Chinese calligraphy Fu, which means good fortune, on a door in Baghdad, Iraq, on Feb. 10, 2021. Mu Zhiyan was born in the city of Samawah on Jan. 28, 1998. His birthday was the day of the Chinese Spring Festival of the year of the Tiger. He started loving China since he was five years old when he got a toy and was told it was made in China, and when he entered school, he started reading everything he got about China and its culture. TO GO WITH "Feature: Iraqi social media influencer celebrates China's Spring Festival" (Xinhua)
BAGHDAD, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Before the Chinese Lunar New Year, Iraqi lover of Chinese culture Mohammed Talib endured the hardships of traveling from his hometown in southern Iraq to the capital Baghdad to celebrate the Spring Festival with his Chinese friends.
Talib, also known by his Chinese friends as Mu Zhiyan, hung a Chinese lantern at the house of his Chinese friend and stuck a Chinese calligraphy "Fu" on his door to express his wish of happiness and blessing to all Chinese in their festival despite that he had never been in China.
Mu was born in the city of Samawah on Jan. 28, 1998. His birthday was the day of the Chinese Spring Festival of the year of the Tiger. He started loving China since he was five years old when he got a toy and was told it was made in China, and when he entered school, he started reading everything he got about China and its culture.
In his childhood, he was fond of watching the TV series "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," and while he was studying in Russia and socializing with Chinese students there, he learned Chinese from them and became able to speak Chinese fluently.
"This year is the year of Ox, and the next year will be Tiger, and for the coming year I will wear red clothes," said Mu, referring to one of the luckiest colors in Chinese culture, which stands for prosperity, loyalty, success, and happiness.
Like Chinese young men, Mu Zhiyan's mobile screen contains several Chinese apps such as the video apps of Douyin and Kuaishou, as well as WeChat and Alipay.
Sinophile Mu has many Chinese friends on social media, and he also "loves to eat Chinese food, hot pot, spicy strips, and hot dry noodles."
Mu, who is also an Iraqi internet celebrity, changed his profile on social media to the Chinese New Year of Ox and changed his cover photo to a 360-degree VR night view of Chinese city of Chongqing.
Making use of his self-learned Chinese language, Mu Zhiyan published many short videos about China on social media platforms, varying from constructing bridges and high-speed railways in China, China's National Day, and Chinese New Year to coronavirus vaccines.
Mu Zhiyan's social media accounts have attracted a lot of attention and responses. He said that he went into discussions about real life in China, which is much different from the image shown in Western media.
Mu used all his experience to respond to the distortion of China's image on social platforms and the prejudice of foreign media against China.
After the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in China in 2020, Mu Zhiyan felt that he needs to stand with the country he loves, so he used his savings to purchase masks and sent them with his Chinese friends to China.
As part of his response to the defamation of China, he produced a video in which he spent five days translating an Arabic song "If People Want Life" into Chinese, accompanied by pictures of two huge hospitals built by the Chinese in record time during their battle against the pandemic in Wuhan.
Li Hualai, a Chinese teacher who teaches at the Chinese Department of Salahudin University in Iraq, told Xinhua that he is deeply impressed by Mu Zhiyan, who became an "internet celebrity" in the Arabic language community, promoting Chinese culture as well as resisting Western media distortion of China's image.
Mu hopes that the pandemic will end and that he could study the Chinese language in China as soon as possible.
"Studying the Chinese language at a Chinese university is a dream that never leaves my mind, and I hope that this dream will come true," he said.
"I hope that his desire will be fulfilled soon, and I also hope that more and more Iraqi youths will learn Chinese culture and language, and be messengers of cultural communication between China and Iraq," added Li. Enditem
