How to find a good agent in China

Speaking from the point of view of an actual student, it’s important to choose the right type of agent that suits you for when you’re applying to come and study in China. Here are a few little tips and piece of advice that I have for you to choose the right agency.

Make sure that they’re trustworthy.

This is probably the most important part of everyone’s decision when choosing an agency or organization to do anything, no matter what you’re looking for. So it’s important that you get the right signals from the start from the company. And there are a few points to doing this

· The company feels like a family member or friend rather than a big corporate organization (so it’s better to choose the smaller companies where they’ll actually have one to one-person support and they’ll actually know who you are!)

· Check out their website and get the feel of it

o If the website shows that they want to help the students as much as possible, this is definitely a good start for you. Have a look at their contact page, they need to have things like emails, phone numbers, and maybe even pictures of the people working in the office.

· Ask any people on their Facebook or social media page about their service

o It can’t hurt from doing a little research into the company, have a look at their social media for people’s comments or send a message to the company and see how they reply back.

· Phone them up and speak to them one to one

o Just give them a call. The good agents are the ones that are happy to answer the phone and speak to you about any kind of questions that you may have

· If you’ve got friends in the country, get them to go to their office!

o This is important as many people worry that agents don’t exist, so if you have friends in the country, ask them to pay the company a visit at their office and speak to some of the employees there.

· Some companies want to only get the money straight away so be careful!

o Good companies will provide some sort of service to students first, i.e. collect some information or provide some recommendations and advice and then let the student know regarding the service fees etc. This is to help the student’s know about the company’s service quality and ability to help the student.

o Choose those companies that have the money back guarantee or offer payment methods such as PayPal as this suggests that it’s a safe option for you to pay.

· Choose an agency that is experienced in other matters not just studying in china

o This means that they’re likely to have good relationships with organizations around the world and can actually meet all of the things that they’re saying to you.

o They’re also experienced in the past of setting up relationships with organizations in clients so know what they’re doing.

For more Information, please check: www.studyinchina.hzlearning.com or www.hzlearning.com. 

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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

My Funny Experience When I Study in China

Here’s a story from one of our colleagues who studied in China for a year in Beijing, to give you an insight into what his experiences were!

Experiencing true Spring Festivities:

In February when it was absolutely freezing, the world celebrated Spring Festival had come around, and during this time in Beijing around 9 million people had left the city to go back to their hometowns to celebrate the festival with their families. I felt like I was the only person left in Beijing! You can’t imagine the difference in the city, the majority of places were closed, and as it was a kind of winter break, lots of the international students had also gone home, but I decided to stay and see China during this period. Beijing was like a ghost town, most restaurants, shops were kind of half open you could say, they opened for part of the day and also only after the first two days of the festival had passed. Walking the streets in Beijing and being the only person on the whole street was an extremely surreal feeling, there wasn’t even any cars on the road apart from the occasional taxi.

I’d done my research coming up to the Spring Festival, and found that the major parks in Beijing would be open as hosts to Temple Fairs, I wasn’t too sure as to what a Temple Fair was the parks that were considered the best (Like the Lama Temple Park, and Longtan Park) didn’t actually have a temple in them! I’d decided to head to the Lama Temple Park Temple Fair which was considered the biggest and best with one of my African friends who too had never seen or even heard of these festivities before. When we got there we couldn’t believe our eyes, it was like every single person in Beijing had decided to come to this temple fair, and if you’re there yourself you can see why.

It was a completely different feel than anything else I’ve ever experienced in China, everyone was happy, laughing, joking and the smell of cooking BBQ hit you as soon as you got into the park, oh and also the crowds. There were so many people! The festival had a variety of entertainment, like food stalls, arcades, traditional dances, traditional ceremonies (where they carry someone around in a kind of box), music, and they even had a game area which was full to the brim of items that you could win.

We were there for hours, and I’d definitely recommend going yourself, but just prepare some warm clothes and bring enough money for food, as they also have a huge amount of stalls where you can buy gifts that have been brought from around China, and this also includes the food. The food was absolutely amazing! You’ll definitely feel different about China after visiting these fairs and understand how important family and friends time is to the Chinese people. The vibe at the fair is something that I’ll never forget.