The People's Republic of China (PRC), located in South Asia, is an industrialised country posting fast economic growth. It is the world's most populous country, with a population of over 1.35 billion and covers an area of 9.6 million square kilometres. The PRC is a one-party state governed by the Communist Party of China, with its seat of government in the capital city of Beijing. It exercises jurisdiction over 23 provinces, five autonomous regions (Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Tibet, Xinjiang), four municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau); while claiming sovereignty over Taiwan.
China has a long history. In 1644, the Manchus took over China and founded the Qing dynasty and later in 1911 the Qing dynasty collapsed and China plunged headlong into chaos. Then Republic of China (ROC) was established in 1912 following the Xinhai Revolution after Qing dynasty. Later, the Communist Party of China took over all of mainland China and founded the PRC in Beijing in 1949 by Mao Tse Tung, which claimed to be the successor of the ROC. Its main religions are Buddhism and Islam. According to government rules, nobody can preach religion but can follow own religious rules and regulations as well as can enjoy own religious festivals with government security.
China is enriched with natural beauty throughout the whole country, especially, its mountains, lakes, parks, rivers, wetlands etc. Besides, it has a long historical and cultural glory. Both central and local governments are putting emphasis on conserving their traditional culture and historical monuments. Consequently, they have built many artificial parks, museums, gardens, cities, lakes, wetlands etc as well as protecting natural ones. However, the top ten sight-seeing and tourist attractions in China are - The Great Wall of China (Beijing), The Terracotta Army (Xi'an), The Forbidden City (Beijing), The Li River - Watery Wonder (Guilin), The Yellow Mountains (Anhui), Giant Pandas (Chengdu), The Potala Palace in Lhasa (Tibet), The Bund (Shanghai), Victoria Harbor (Hong Kong), and West Lake (Hangzhou). These tourist spots attract millions of foreigners to travel to China every year.
Chinese people are obedient to their seniors such as bosses, teachers, parents etc and obey their orders and advice. Similarly, they strictly follow government rules and regulations. They are hard-working, and love and respect their own duties and work. They attend office timely and finish work within the given time. Further, they love and take care of government properties more than own properties. They are not accustomed to telling lies and neglecting own duties or work. They are helpful and friendly; similarly, they behave with foreigners gently and cordially. Moreover, due to strict laws and equal implementation, Chinese people don't dare to do any crimes; even foreigners never dare to do any crimes in China. Therefore, at midnight or late night any girl can freely move anywhere in China.
But language is a big problem in China, the majority of people can't speak English; even many old professors can't speak English. So, they are afraid of talking with foreigners due to their language weakness. However, currently, the government is laying emphasis on English, so new generations are good in English as well as providing English language training for old ones. Inversely, the government is investing a large amount of money for teaching Chinese language to foreigners.
Chinese people take many food items completely different from the rest of the world. Hence, it is quite difficult for foreigners to adjust with Chinese foods but there are many small Muslim restaurants throughout the country which are suitable for foreigners. Â
China is developing in terms of education and technology. To develop technology and to achieve sustainable development, they are investing huge money in education and research. Both central and local governments invest money in the research sector. Currently, there are about 900 national ranking universities in China. In every university, 4-5 teachers make a group and have several research projects. Most of the famous professors work as directors or advisers in different government organisations. Universities also provide undergraduate research grants, while some provide postgraduate research funds. Every student needs to work in a group -- in the first year as an assistant to a senior. But almost all universities provide Chinese medium programmes and only a few universities provide limited programmes in English. Lately, many universities are starting English programmes due to government pressure. Moreover, a large number of students from Europe and the United States study in China for six months or one year under exchange programmes every year.
To attract foreigners and to develop research, Chinese government is giving a large number of scholarships every year. Therefore, around 50,000 to 100,000 international students get scholarships to study in China. There are several types of scholarships such as Central Government (Chinese Scholarship Council-CSC, CAS-TWAS President PhD Fellowship, Marine Science Scholarship, MOFCOM Scholarship, The Great Wall Scholarship, WMO Scholarship), Municipal Scholarships, Provincial Scholarships, University Scholarships. Autonomous regions provide their own government scholarships, such as Hong Kong and Taiwan have their own scholarships such as HKPFS and TIGP respectively. Every year new scholarships are being announced by central government or local government or university.
China has a large job market for both Chinese people and foreigners. During study all Chinese students do part-time jobs or internship 1/2 days per week. Besides, they can apply for jobs during last year of their degree and after graduation join work. So, they don't need to remain unemployed for a moment by wasting time. Similarly, foreigners can get jobs in Chinese companies but need to learn Chinese. On the other hand, foreigners can find jobs in international companies but vacancies are not enough because most of the companies employ people from their own countries. However, foreigners can teach at kindergartens, schools, colleges and coaching centres as English tutors doing part-time or full-time jobs with good salaries. There are also tuition opportunities and most of teachers give money to their research students monthly based on their work. Â
The writer is a Master's degree student studying Environmental Engineering at UNEP-Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development (IESD), Tongji University, Shanghai, China. E-mail: ohid776@gmail.com
China - the next destination for scholars!
Ohidul Alam | Published: March 05, 2016 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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