WHEN the idea of going to China for further study came to then-young Indonesian sinologist Novi Basuki a decade ago, he was discouraged by many of his relatives. Basuki told Beijing-run tabloid Global Times that his parents, however, quoted the above popular adage from the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, to support their son's decision.

Born in the 1990s, Basuki gained an undergraduate degree in Chinese education at Huaqiao University, and a postgraduate degree in international relations at Xiamen University in East China's Fujian Province. He later went to the China-Asean Research Institute at Guangxi University as a visiting scholar.