2018 marks the 5th anniversary of the Belt and Road initiative (BRI). The past five years saw an explosion of foreign students coming to China to study under this initiative. According to statistics from the Ministry of Education, by the end of 2017 the number of foreign students in China reached 500,000. Among them about 320,000 are from Belt and Road countries, accounting for over 60 percent, making China the biggest overseas studying destination in Asia. The biggest source countries of China's foreign students are South Korea followed by Thailand and Pakistan.

Pornpawis Lhapeerakul from Thailand is studying for a PhD degree in China studies at Shanghai International Studies University. Durian trade between Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and the Thai government is currently a popular topic among him and fellow friends in Shanghai. On April 19, Alibaba and the Thai government signed a cooperation agreement to sell Thai rice and durian on Alibaba's shopping site, Tmall. Within the first minute, over 80,000 orders were placed and over 200,000 kilograms of durian sold out, China Entrepreneur reported recently. 

"That was amazing. The Belt and Road initiative has brought much help to the export of Thai fruit," Lhapeerakul told the Global Times. Thanks to the convenient online retail sector, he is now able to enjoy durian from his hometown while in Shanghai, which tastes equally "good and fresh" as it does back in Thailand. 

"It would be better, though, if durian was as cheap here as in Thailand," Lhapeerakul said in fluent Chinese.

Like Lhapeerakul, around one million Thai people are taking up Chinese language courses set up in 3,000 schools and universities in Thailand, making Putonghua one of the most important foreign languages in Thailand, people.cn reported Wednesday. 

"The Thai government is encouraging more Thai students to speak Chinese so that they will be able to communicate and do business with China in the future. Almost every university now has Chinese-related majors, such as Chinese studies, business Chinese and international education," Lhapeerakul said. 

He said that many Thai students seek an overseas education in China. He too was inspired by his classmates to study in China. He is now doing research on the Belt and Road initiative and how Thailand will develop under this initiative. 

"Thailand is very interested in the Belt and Road initiative. There has been many discussions about it from the Thai government, private enterprises and ordinary Thai people," he said, adding that after graduating he hopes to be a Chinese teacher in Thailand.