Chongqing - As China's 2026 "Two Sessions" get underway, international voices are sharing their perspectives on the country through the #WhyChina campaign launched by the Western China International Communication Organization. The online initiative, hosted on global social media platforms such as Facebook and X, invites foreign scholars, global key opinion leaders (KOLs), community opinion leaders (COLs), and overseas netizens to share their experiences with China.

When Fernando Munoz Bernal arrived in China in 2000, the young language teacher told himself it would be a short adventure—a year or two at most. What he found, however, was not just a job, but a calling. “Life, as it often does, had a different script for me,” says Fernando, now widely known by his Chinese name Gao Fei. Back then, all he saw around him was endless opportunity. What started as a small language training center for children in Dongguan—just three classrooms—became a labor of love.

“If I close my eyes, I can still remember the pride I felt seeing my logo on those walls,” he recalls. That humble beginning slowly grew into three branches across the city, where he devoted himself to “changing the lives of a generation of Dongguan children, one lesson at a time.”

Yet Fernando says his real education began when he started working as a consultant for the local government. Visiting different departments and districts, he witnessed firsthand the immense complexity of running a city of millions. “It was in those meetings, watching people work tirelessly to improve their communities, that my admiration deepened—from respect to a profound love,” he explains.

His journey, marked by loss and reinvention, dreams deferred and dreams achieved, led him to a home, a family, and a future in China. Now, as he looks forward to one day becoming a citizen, Fernando reflects: “I realize I’ve sort of become Chinese already. I’ve felt it for a long time. I just need a lifetime here to understand it.”

From a young teacher on a brief adventure to a community builder rooted in purpose, Fernando’s story mirrors that of many expatriates who arrive in China looking for something new—and end up finding themselves.