Maziyar at the Law Library, in his favourite room with collection of international law books in English. Photo: Dai Ya
Maziyar with his wife and son hiking in Haiyan in Jiaxing, Zhejiang. Photo provided to Hangzhoufeel
Story
By Dai Ya
Hangzhou universities have been bringing numerous overseas talents to the city. The eyes of students, researchers, and professors, have been feasted by historic and up-to-date teaching buildings and libraries, old narrow streets and wide highways, the peaceful West Lake and the fresh mountains in the suburb. Those places remember the foreign guests deeply immersed in their work or vigorously exploring the city. If the city could speak or write, it would definitely be able to tell a special story about each of us.
The Zhejiang University Library of Law would have a say as a narrator of Maziyar Shokrani's life in Hangzhou. Now Maziyar is known as a highly competent and inspiring teacher of International Law from Iran among university students and colleagues, but eight years ago, only the Library of Law, which is located on the secluded and charming Zhijiang campus of Zhejiang University, was well acquainted with him. At that time, Maziyar had already obtained a PhD in International Law from the Xiamen University of International Law and was pursuing his second master's degree in Chinese law at Zhejiang University.
Maziyar then and now is an adventurous, vigorous, and keen person. Recalling his arrival to Hangzhou and Zhijiang campus, he with a joyful smile and a subtle sense of nostalgia perceivable in his kind big brown eyes exclaimed: "Oh, I loved this place from the moment I saw it!" From the very first days, Maziyar started visiting what he now calls his favourite place in Hangzhou -- the Law Library.
Maziyar started visiting the Law Library during his first days in Hangzhou back in 2014. There, one particular room with a collection of International law books in English became his perfect place for reading, thinking and learning. In that small room packed with chestnut hardwood floors and massive timber bookshelves, Maziyar had been spending days reading the best international law books. Those thick scholarly books of the room must still retain the memory of him coming in the early mornings, diving into the books for hours, and sometimes even having a nap on the hardwood floor.
I was lucky to have a chance to visit that place with Maziyar and to see the professor once again gently taking his treasured books down from the shelves, making some comments on them, and from time to time uttering "I met him" or "I attended his lectures" while sliding his finger over the printed names on the covers. Besides, I also had a glance at the classrooms, where the idea of becoming a teacher of international law gradually formed. However, when studying within those walls, Maziyar could not yet imagine himself becoming a Zhejiang University teacher and even more so being admired and appreciated by many of his students.
As for the students' perspectives, Maziyar, who they shortly call Maz, is a friendly, respectful and knowledgeable teacher. Zhou Hanning, a junior student majoring in Law, who chose Maz's International Relations and International Law course last year, enjoyed the classes because Maz organized them in a way of interactive seminars rather than lectures, therefore everyone had a chance to share their thoughts with the professor and other students as if they were old friends, communicating on equal terms. Sun Yuhe (Cecilia), a third-year undergraduate majoring in English had been attending courses taught by Maz for four semesters. In our talk, she expressed her admiration for the teacher's encouragement "to explore the possibilities of what could be done to build effective negotiations between the countries in order to reduce the possibility of wars and other inhumane actions."
In fact, students' words correctly reflect the main principles and goals of Maziyar's teaching. He believes that nowadays the main role of a teacher is to facilitate interactions among the students in the classroom, for example, by providing discussion topics and questions, and introducing some sources of information and new ways of thinking. In this process, students are able to learn from each other and the teacher at the same time.
Maziyar also always learns from his students; Sun Yuhe mentioned that despite being a foreign teacher, he shows a lot of care for students' culture and thoughts, often directly and sincerely expressing his understanding, for example by saying "Oh, now I see that it is a common idea among you, students."
In a course that Maziyar loves teaching the most - The Global Conflict Hotspots – where he together with students analyse peace and conflicts on different levels (from intra-personal to international and global), the ability to learn from and communicate with others gains a greater perspective. Within this course, Maziyar shows his students that even on personal levels, for instance, by developing self-respect, recognizing the worth of others, avoiding interpersonal conflicts, and simply exchanging opinions with friends, people are making baby steps towards the peace of the world.
It would be nice to think that year after year, when the Hangzhou universities are turning out numerous graduates, among whom some are Maziyar's students, who bear the knowledge about international law to other cities and countries.