Source: Guangzhou Daily, 2014-09-02 Page A15
Written by: Xu Jing
Translated by: Mariel Danielle Rommeswinkel
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

This extremely handsome, fluent Mandarin speaker started driving go-karts at the age of three, at eight and a half he began to participate in the international Formula racing and won many awards. This year, Christian Rommeswinkel from Germany was enrolled at School of Chinese as a Second Language, Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU). Coincidentally, Christian has four sisters, and three of them too have studied or are studying in SYSU, which is not seen very often in other universities in China.

The starting of the semester is near. This year the School of Chinese as a Second Language at SYSU has welcomed a German boy named Christian Rommeswinkel. He has a handsome face, and a lot of other students find him handsome. Therefore, he has been on many Internet websites and in magazines as a model for his part-time job.

"My oldest sister improved a lot while studying in SYSU"

To Christian Rommeswinkel, he always knew that he and SYSU would cross paths. His oldest sister, Renee Rommeswinkel graduated two years ago from SYSU. Mariel Rommeswinkel, his second eldest sister and his youngest sister, Adrianna Rommeswinkel are also attending classes at SYSU. Only his third eldest sister, Rachel Rommeswinkel chose to study at Xiamen University. This is extremely rare in SYSU and other universities in China.

Christian chose to study at SYSU because of his oldest sister. "My sister studied at SYSU, from the time she was enrolled and until she graduated, I saw a very big change in my sister; her personality developed a lot," Christian said. His parents had settled in the city of Dongguan. SYSU in Guangzhou and Dongguan are an hour away, so that is another reason Christian decided to go to SYSU.

Mandarin so fluent that he can "argue" with his sisters

Surprisingly, Christian's Mandarin is fluent. He had no problem communicating with the reporter. He first started to study in Dongguan. During primary school there, he came into contact with friends who only spoke Mandarin. But at home, he would use English to communicate with his parents.

However, in spite of many years in China, Christian’s parents cannot speak Mandarin. Christian said, "At home, my sisters and I would argue in Mandarin, because my parents don't understand Mandarin." Although when he was 6 years old, he and his family came to China and immersed themselves in the Chinese culture, his home still has a strong European style décor. At family dinners there must always be barbecue ribs and all kinds of desserts.

Siblings are very competitive

Christian likes the atmosphere of his family because all his siblings are competitive and always want to win. "After my oldest sister graduated, she found a very good job working for an international shoe-brand company in Shenzhen. The children in our family would secretly compare each other, and at the same time was mesmerized by all aspects of SYSU.”

Christian’s twin sister, Adrianna Rommeswinkel’s high scores in language proficiency exams allow her to enter two-years ahead of her university studies, and the two new students are very competitive in their grades but also help each other to learn more.

At the age of eight and a half he started to drive formula race cars but couldn’t reach the pedals

Christian has over 10 years of experience in the driver’s seat of a formula car. At the age of three and a half, his dad bought a go-kart track in Thailand for the family to support their hobbies.

Christian’s love for speed has mesmerized him. When he was eight, he started driving formula and has competed in many competitions and became "the youngest formula driver in history".

Obviously, when he was eight he couldn’t reach the pedals of the formula car, so his dad had to use his homemade design to move the gas and brake pedals forward.

Because of Christian’s love for racing he often went to the Zhuhai International Circuit (ZIC) to race. Christian said he will continue to drive race cars in the future but because of some financial challenges now he is unable to race formula cars.

In 2009, Christian went to Beijing to race in an international competition, he was runner up. “It was intense throughout the race. After the third lap, accidents began to occur on the track, before Christian entered the straight-a-way he lost control then hit the wall barrier and flipped over the wall but Christian was ok.” The media said.

In this regard, Christian proudly said: "The original dream will definitely come true, though without a proper base and a uniform, I still impressed the organizers with my action.”