Hello!
My name is Clara and I am an undergraduate university student from Spain. Why should you study in China? Well, it is a very good question indeed. I personally don’t know you, I have never meet you in real life so I can’t pin point the specific reasons why you, my fellow quora questioner, might enjoy the academic life in this country. Leaving that a side, there are a fairly obvious (at least for me) reasons why you should join the chinese life.
Cuisine: If you ask anybody what they liked the most about a place, 80% chances is that they are going to mention food somehow. It is in our nature. We need to eat and if the meal is nice and you have been starving and walking around a city for a while, then it’s going to be ten times nicer. Chinese cuisine is diverse and it will vary a lot from one town to another. From hotpot to cabbage, food will follow you everywhere. That’s because chinese citizens love streetmarkets and restaurants in general. Don’t be shy and try everything. I know some things won’t smell like roses but don’t be to shy about Durian or spicy tofu. And if you have been eating noodles and rice for a while and want a bit of change, big cities like Shanghai have restaurants with a touch of western. I personally enjoyed the take of chinese in things like pasta or pizza
Karokes, arcades, and other funky entertainments: Undergraduate students in china are usually 24/7 in the library. They fight like beasts for a place in there and even eat every meal inside (trust me I have seen it) but after a long week of never ending work, there is a little time for fun. One advice I will give you if you study in China is to avoid leaning into internationals students and mix a bit more with your chinese colleagues. They are fun. Very fun. The biggest plans out there are karaokes and malls. Karaokes are made for everyone and every situation. “I am sad because I failed an exam” “Oh shit, Let’s go to the karaoke then so cheer up”. “I have finished the semester yay!” “Cool! Let’s go to the karaoke to celebrate”. And so on. They are sometimes situated on malls so students go shopping or eating and then to them. Arcades are also inside malls and they are really fun! You will get to see many machines that are nowhere near our concept of arcade.
Travelling and the beauty of China: As I have mentioned before, China is a huge country with many different ways of life. Each place can feel like its own country. Cities are these marvellous technological constructions with skyscrapers and sofisticated clothing style but China is also small houses lost in the middle of nowhere with old people swinging in their porches or selling food outside their houses while there are still clothes in their hanging lines. Don’t be afraid to explore cities on your own, you just need a bit if mandarin and “China maps” which is the equivalent of Google Maps. There is a chinese app for every western app, don’t worry they are relatively easy to work with.
(Source Quora, by Clara Martinez Naranjo, Studied International Communication at University of Nottingham Ningbo China)
