Source: SYSU News Center
Written by: Wang Dongmei
Photos provided by: Chun Young Sang
Edited by: Ian J. Heuer

Chun Young Sang, a Korean student from School of Software at Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), is the winner of the Guangdong Government Scholarship for Outstanding International Students for the Academic Years 2013-2014 and 2014-2015. His graduation thesis has been rated as excellent by the school, and although he doesn’t like the label of “xueba” (top student), his teachers speak highly of him. 

Chun Young Sang on SYSU's East Campus
 

Young Sang came to China with his parents in 2004. He attended a private junior high school and a public senior high school in Guangdong province. He has been interested in cartoons since childhood and he learned to work with animation tools all by himself. During a summer vacation in high school, he spent a whole week programming a game using Adobe Flash. He was entirely devoted to the design, sleeping only a few hours a night without feeling tired. This experience drove him study software engineering in college.

In 2011, Young Sang applied to SYSU and was enrolled in the School of Software on the East Campus, majoring in Digital Media Technology. “Before I came to SYSU, I thought my classmates here might be too rigorous and rational, but actually they are active and enthusiastic. I like the free and relaxed atmosphere in class,” said Young Sang. He still remembers the evening parties of his class when they were sophomores, which offered a great opportunity for him to communicate with more of his classmates. 
 

I love the School of Software!
 

During his college years, Young Sang would study English textbooks and their Chinese and Korean translations in order to get a clear understanding of the theories. He also liked the one-month lab practice every summer because he could apply what he had learned to accomplish real-world tasks.

"Once I’ve made up my mind to do a project, I’ll pour all my energy into it." Young Sang was in charge of designing a mobile side scrolling action game with two classmates, winning praise from the instructor in the project presentation. His graduation design is about the implementation of 3D skeletal animation and toon shading, and his graduation thesis has been evaluated as excellent by the school. 
 

 
The character model designed by Chun Young Sang for his graduation thesis
 

Talking about his plan for the future, Young Sang said he will go back to South Korea to fulfill the two years of compulsory military service, and then he’ll look for a position in a game company in China. His goal is to start a studio of his own eventually.

Young Sang also gives practical advice to international students who want to study IT at SYSU: Don’t play too much in the first two years; study hard and lay a solid foundation for your future.