A useful gap year

Two journalism graduates take a break from their studies to make a documentary on people-to-people links with Malaysia, Wang Ru reports.

Hu Yuanjing, who took a gap year during her postgraduate studies, was a little surprised to find that the Malaysian Chinese and the Chinese share a similar tradition when it comes to not wasting food.

"In China we are told from childhood that we should not waste food, and a 'clearing the plate' campaign was started in China several years ago to tell people not to waste food. In Malaysia it is a tradition to show gratitude to ancestors who struggled to lay the foundation for their offspring to succeed," says Hu, who explored relations between China and Malaysia in July when she was making a documentary entitled Multi-Cultures Intertwined in Harmony, with her friend Wang Zehua, both 25 years old.