Why I studied in China

There were many reasons to why I decided to study in China. Here they are:

Learning Chinese

Since going to university I was given the opportunity to study Chinese during my business and marketing degree, the lessons were good but I didn’t feel like I was progressing enough, and I was given the opportunity to go and study at BUCT in Beijing in their Comprehensive Chinese Course for a year, and I jumped at the opportunity. And nowadays many universities in China are being recognized globally, and people always make the assumptions about Chinese education and how hard they push their student, and that’s the challenge that I wanted to take.

Were my feelings the same after I came to China?

Yeah definitely, but living with many students from all over the world, not just Chinese students, it opened my eyes indefinitely, from listening to their stories and their reasons to why they had to, not necessarily a choice, they had to come to China to get this education otherwise they wouldn’t have one, due to potential problems or lack of opportunities in their own countries. What better way to learn the language than to be submerged in the language 24/7 with teachers that start to teach only in Chinese after a short period of time. And having to live your life in Chinese. I developed myself an incredible amount.

China itself

I’d always wanted to come to China, whether it was for traveling, studying or working, and my friends had always joked about me living in China during my Chinese study, and honestly I did imagine myself living there one day! It’s an incredible country, and all of the things you hear about it each day aren’t true and you’ll realize the true China once you arrive here, the culture is absolutely out of this world, it’s something that I’ve never experienced before, it’s absolutely incredible.

Were my feelings the same after I came to China?

Yes, but even more amazing. As I met a whole bunch of people, through students, people I met on a day to day basis, or even met randomly in the street or in the canteens, the people here are amazing and extremely welcoming. I thought the culture would be different to mine from living in the UK, but you can’t understand how vibrant and different it is unless you experience it for yourself. I found myself meeting and talking to incredible people from all over the world in China, people with so many stories, and all of the negative things you hear outside of China is complete rubbish, and you need to see this country for yourself.

The food

If you’re anything like me, then you’re obsessed with Chinese food in your home country. And being from the UK we often had Chinese takeaways from our local restaurants no matter where we were, and I just loved it! And seeing various posts, recipes and pictures of ‘proper’ Chinese food, I couldn’t help but drool at the prospect of going to China. Because let’s face it, the Chinese food back at home (for me the UK), can’t be classed as real proper authentic Beijing/Chinese food because it’s pretty much adapted for foreign tastes, unless you head to the local Chinese restaurants that are just for the Chinese. You’ll be eating like a king before you know it…

Were my feelings the same after I came to China?

Definitely, at points I was kind of sick of eating rice with dishes, but that’s the thing about the food here, you can eat literally anything you want, you’ll find restaurants from your own country, the food in china literally does cater for all. And the food here simply can’t be compared to that of the Chinese food in your home country, it just can’t. It’s in a completely different league, the food and diet is completely different (well it is in Beijing！) I got to the point that I was trying everything and anything I could find, and I probably spent barely anything in the process. In the cities, they have restaurants from all over China, from the different provinces, and the food is just incredible, the flavours, the smells even the look of the food makes you hungry as the waiters bring it by your table. And not only that, but the street food is to die for. Many a days me and my friends after playing football would head over to the local BBQ restaurant, grab a few beers and dine eating BBQ with the locals. The only problem was that when I left China to go back to the UK, I just couldn’t eat the Chinese food here, because it just wasn’t as good! During my time in China, I felt like I spent 90% of the time eating, whether it was breakfast from street stalls, or pizza or dumplings at night. Food was always on my menu, and you’ll find that too!

Traveling:

No matter what country you’re from, you’ve probably seen pictures of China, both from their festivals, the great wall, or simply their food. And being someone that always wanted to travel, I wanted to include this into the reasons to why I wanted to study in China.

Were my feelings the same after I came to China?

Didn’t change a bit. I had so many glorious adventures during my time in China, both by myself and with friends, some examples include going to the great wall in the middle of winter, we were literally the only 2 people on the whole of the great wall, and that was an incredible surreal experience! We went to a cat restaurant, where literally everywhere is surrounded by cats, everything from the sofas, to the walls, and there are cats underneath you, on top of you, on your table, in your bag, everywhere. Other amazing things include in Beijing I was able to see the forbidden city many times, Jingshan park, and also the Olympic park etc. And traveling in China is so simple but yet so beneficial for you, it feels so nice to be part of this incredible country and witness with your own eyes the various aspects that help build the culture and the country as a whole. Other places include the various temples around China and no matter what you’re into, from watching sports to meditating in temples, China has it all for you, that’s what I found.

Personal and professional satisfaction

They often say that china is the place to chase opportunities and to develop yourself.

Were my feelings the same after I came to China?

I really honestly agree with this. I feel that in only a year I changed an incredible amount, both professional and personally, I learnt a new language, I changed my thinking of the world and I started to appreciate things in life more, I realized how lucky many people are in this life, and how unlucky some people are too and that we need to be gracious of it. I learnt a lot during my time in China, I learnt many stories from people along my journey, met a huge range of people from local farmers to people who work in the government in China. And this gave me the opportunity to listen and to take in things that they say and learn more about life than what we hear on the news, especially in China.

So even though it’s a scary thing to move to a new country that maybe you don’t speak the language, just go for it, you’ll only regret it if you don’t try. You’ll love the food, the culture, the people, the smells, the sights, the sounds, and most of all you’ll never want to leave!

The Best and Worst thing about living in China

There are so many good things about living in China, it’s often difficult for people to recall their best ever experience from being in the country, whether they’re here for a short time or a long time period, every single day you can experience something completely new with this fantastic culture and country.

I’d say the best thing about living in China is the experiences that you’re going to have, especially with aspects such as the people, food and the sites that you’ll go and see. There are some fantastic places to see in China, some things that will likely take your breath away as you stand in awe of these things right in front of your eyes, like one of my favorite is the 26-metre-tall Buddha in the middle of the Lama Temple or in fact the Great Wall at Badaling, no matter what you see in China it’ll likely take your breath away.

The food, the food is one of the main talking points of everyone here in China, if you’re talking to someone in China the topics will likely be about food, as it’s such an important part of their culture as they have a vast range of dishes, all of which you need to try your best to try (even the strange things!). You’ll never be hungry in China, from breakfast to night, you’ll likely be stuffing your face full of the finest breakfast dishes, dumplings, rice dishes, hot pot and duck, the only problem is that you’ll never want a Chinese takeaway in your own country when you return, because you’ll miss this food too much!

But my favorite thing of China is the people, the people are what make China China. They’re extremely hospitable people, no matter where you are in the country, whether you’re in the middle of a bustling city or wandering around a tiny little village, you’ll probably have a few stares but nothing menacingly, they’re just happy that you’ve come to their country to have a look around. Throughout my whole time in China I’ve never once had a problem with anyone, everyone’s so smiley, helpful and warming to welcome you to the country. I’ve had many random people talk to me on the streets, ask me questions about my life, where I’m from etc. even when I was part of one of those ‘scams’ in China where someone takes you to a local tea shop for some very expensive local tea, I wasn’t even bothered and it was actually a really nice experience, because the woman paid for it, because I was polite to her and she wanted me to enjoy my first experiences in China, she even made sure that I had enough money for the entrance ticket into the Forbidden City and if I needed some help buying it she could do it for me!

Many a time in China I was invited out for dinner by the Chinese, or to various people’s houses to take part within their Spring Festival celebrations, of which I was extremely grateful for. At each point in China, every single Chinese person, whether they can speak your language or not, will try their best to help you, no matter what it’s for. That’s what makes people want to come back time after time.

Going onto what I’d say the ‘worst’ part of China is, I couldn’t even give you something solid, there’s not a lot you can say bad at all, everyone works so hard, everyone’s so welcoming, the food is amazing, the sights are amazing. The only hassle when being in China is the limited access to the internet over here, like accessing Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc. but even then, after not using it like a daily routine as you would in your own country, you just get used to using the Chinese version, and you even just realize that you don’t miss any kind of social media at all, and it soon becomes an unnecessary part of your life, of which I deleted most of them as I realized I didn’t miss any of them at all.

For more information, please check www.studyinchina.hzlearning.com.

Or scan the following QR code via wechat.

Students tips on what to do and what not to do in China!

Students tips on what to do and what not to do in China!

1. If you’re given food by someone, DO try your best to finish it, it’s considered rude or hurtful if you don’t! So eat slowly, but a lot!

I once had 2 whole dishes in a restaurant, of which I’d ordered by mistake (quite often actually), and didn’t realize they were huge dishes, and the woman asked me why I didn’t finish it all, I told her I ordered it wrong but I was full, and she looked really disappointed!

2.   DON’T make it obvious that you’re putting your seat belt on in a taxi, because if the driver sees it, he/she will think that you think his/her driving will be bad!

A friend of mine came into the taxi with me, and with him being fairly new, he didn’t realize you weren’t supposed to put the seat belt on so the driver can see, the driver was turned around and he looked like my friend had insulted his whole family just from the click of the seat belt, the man looked distraught and drove away in silence.

3.   DON’T follow and speak to Chinese ‘English Teachers, English Students that have just come back from the UK’ or anyone that starts up conversation by asking where you’re from.

I had this experience going into and out of the Forbidden City, whereby this is a scam where they take you to a ‘random’ bar or tea house and can often leave you with a rather expensive bill, a true target for foreigners, especially guys.

4.   DO practice using chopsticks!

Just for a few minutes a day, find some videos on YouTube or online and practice getting the technique right for using chopsticks, as it’ll make your life by far much easier when you get here! And DON’T stick them upright in the bowl as this is considered extremely rude!

5.   DO join in with locals

No matter what it could be, you’ll enjoy your life more in China if you just jump in at the deep end and give things a go, even if the situation is kind of uncomfortable, you’ll thank yourself later for the stories that you can tell people, and the Chinese will love you having a go as a foreigner.

6.   DON’T get illegal taxis

Getting these illegal taxis, i.e. someone coming up you and asking if you want a taxi is a big no no, especially for foreigners, they’re extremely dangerous as they’re not authorized, and they’ll try and rip you off and could drop you off in any random location and demand even more money, the majority of the time even at airports, many people will come up to you, try to take your bags off you to take you to their taxi, and you need to set them aside and tell them no to avoid any trouble! So it’s always best to wait for the genuine distinct colored taxis.

7.   DO carry some tissues with you

Quite often when you’re travelling around China, the bathrooms won’t have toilet paper to hand, so to avoid any awkward moments, try to bring some tissues with you or toilet paper.

8.   DO BARGAIN!

This is such an important tip, that I tell every single person that comes to China, when you’re at a market at any of the cities such as the electrical, clothes, gift markets etc. unless the price is specifically stuck i.e. at H&M or Zara for example, you need to bargain at markets. Prices will usually start at around 80% more than the ‘normal’ price just for foreigners, so you need to be stern and strong and negotiate a price that is suitable. I once negotiated down a gift that started at ￥2,000 to ￥200, and that’s just from be being stubborn. You can try different tactics, like walking away, or giving them hope i.e. you’re sure then you’re unsure etc. or you could also tell them that you know the prices and cost prices etc. and that usually means a better price for you.

For more information, please check Study in China Program. 

How to Make Your Life Easier in China

Some handy tips and experiences from a student in Beijing

1. Get your student card as early as possible

Even if it means annoying the university, keep pushing them to give you your student card as soon as possible, because at most universities you can use this card in the school shops, canteens and also in the library, so it’ll make your life a lot easier if you had this sooner rather than later. I didn’t receive mine a few years ago until I’d already been in China for a month, the amount of I.O.Us I had was unbelievable! All joking aside you can always just use your friend’s card and give them the physical money, but it’s just handy to have your own, you can grab lunch or dinner really quickly instead of waiting at a local restaurant.

2. Get your subway card early and keep an eye on the credit!

Quite often I found myself trying to get onto the subway and being blocked by the gate due to not enough credit on my card, turning around and seeing at least 30 people in the queue at the ticket office and wanting to cry. So make sure that you top up your card at night, avoid rush hour, or try the smaller stations or exit booths, as less people will be wanting to top up their card there! And if you’re on a bus and don’t have enough, then you’ll have to pay with notes or coins, and if you don’t have any then you can’t get on!

3. Set up a Chinese Bank account at a foreign friendly area.

Even though you’ll be finding yourself waiting in a longer queue to be served, setting up a bank account at a foreign friendly branch is ideal because you won’t have any of that awkward pointing and looking at each other blankly trying to work out what the other person said. You can also ask them to set up everything for you, for example Bank of China allows you to have mobile banking, online banking and also physical banking, you don’t have to pay for the extra so just ask for it all!

4. Get a Chinese SIM card as soon as possible

Ask one of your friends, or go to a store that happily accepts foreigners, like unicom (for example the airport) and get a Chinese sim card, because you’ll find that in lots of areas like shopping malls or restaurants, the software to enable wifi will often ask for your mobile phone, and quite often it only works for Chinese numbers, you can also link this number to your Chinese bank account to set up other accounts like wechat pay, alipay, and even accounts on taobao, it’s so important that you do this to avoid a big hole in your bank!

For more information please check www.studyinchina.hzlearning.com