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Real Reasons some interns decide to join the Internship in China wagon
Shhhh….Don’t show this to your parents or guardians; this is strictly For Your Eyes Only! 🙂
Deciding to join an Internship in China Program. We all have things we’ve always wanted to try but know we can’t because of various limitations (aka it’s illegal). Maybe we’ve been dreaming of celebrity status since we were kids, or saw something cool on TV to replicate. Whatever your fantasy is, here are five categories that can be done in China. They might not be good enough to convince your parents, or good enough to site to your guidance counselor, but who cares? They’re good enough reasons for you to choose China for your next internship experience! We discovered these reasons during a survey conducted on our Learn Chinese and China Internship Program participants in 2016. Indeed, these are reasons no intern will ever dare mention to their parents.
1. The Legal drinking age is…
Nonexistent! The official legal drinking age of 20 is hardly ever enforced, whether you’re itching for your first clubbing experience or wanting to buy booze. If youthful looking, Asian middle schoolers can get drunk at a dive bar, and high school international students practically have their own nightclub, you’ll have no trouble getting in or ordering a beer or two. In our experience, the only time China asks for ID is at the airport’s tax-free shop.
2. No curfew: no end to your party
If you’re from a state or city with a curfew, which may apply to kids and teens, or even in the form of early shutdown and alcohol last calls, then you’re in for a treat! Not only is alcohol available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but bars and nightclubs will stay open till dawn, or about 6 am.
3. The lawlessness of the Wild West
Most China blogs just complain about people littering, spitting indoors, or driving like wild men, forgetting to look at the positive side of things: many things are allowed in China. Rules are not as set in stone, and there are significantly fewer laws than, say, the US. As a foreign-looking foreigner, you might feel especially liberated in China where foreigners are both exempted from the local etiquette traditions and often given preferential treatment.
4. Heaven for the lazy slob in you
Do you hate doing chores? Cleaning? Driving? Bathing, even? Hire someone to do it for you! In China, wages are still low enough that even interns can afford to outsource pesky chores that they dislike. Hire an “ayi” (Meaning house help), an older woman or “aunty”, and have them do your laundry, wash your dishes, or cook you dinner for just an hour or two a day! Similarly, you can hire a driver or hail a cab for a cent, much more affordable price than back home.
5. Automatically a hit!
Depending on where you’re from and what you look like, you could be automatically become a D or even C list celebrity in China! In smaller, non-first tier cities you’ll be invited to dinners, bought drinks, asked to appear on TV, or hired to play, well, a foreigner in a production! At tourist spots, you’ll find swarms of domestic tourists wanting to take your photo, get a selfie with you in it, or have a conversation and befriend you. If you’ve always dreamed of the spotlight, of being popular and well-liked, then come to China for your ten seconds of fame!
