Olga Solomakha and her husband have a traditional Chinese wedding in 2024. [Photo provided to en.nantong.gov.cn]

Four years ago, 18-year-old Russian student Olga Solomakha traveled more than 6,000 kilometers from her hometown of Nizhny Novgorod to Nantong, drawn by love. Today, at 22, she has made the Chinese city her home and found a new purpose: sharing her experiences of China with audiences around the world.

A 2026 undergraduate graduate of Nantong University and a postgraduate student in digital media, Olga has also become a popular cross-cultural content creator. Under the account name "Olga in China", she has produced 279 original short videos, attracting nearly 100,000 followers across social media platforms.

Her videos offer a personal take on everyday life and cultural similarities between China and Russia. From Nantong's traditional blue calico cloth to local food and customs, she uses her Russian perspective to introduce Chinese culture to international audiences.

Olga Solomakha wins first prize in the third Jiangsu "Chinese Character Bond" Chinese Speech Contest in 2025. [Photo provided to en.nantong.gov.cn]

Her journey began in 2019, when she met her future husband, Wang Yuepeng, a Chinese music student studying in Russia. After maintaining a long-distance relationship during the pandemic, she moved to Nantong in 2022. The couple married in 2024, and their wedding video attracted more than 7.2 million views.

Over the past four years, Olga has also made remarkable progress in Chinese. She won first prize in the third Jiangsu "Chinese Character Bond" Chinese Speech Contest, and has served as an interpreter at several international exchange events involving Nantong.

Olga Solomakha hosts an event in Jiangsu in English. [Photo provided to en.nantong.gov.cn]

She sees video-making and interpreting as two sides of the same mission: helping people from different cultures understand one another.

Now pursuing postgraduate studies, she hopes to focus on digital cross-cultural communication. Her next wish is to bring her grandmother from Russia to Nantong, so she can see the life Olga has built here.

"Where the person I love is, that is home," she said.