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There are many good reasons to obtain a degree after high school. This article is for high school students and parents who want to give their children a unique advantage in the 21st century – to study abroad in China. It’s based on my own experience after completing two degrees in South Africa and now my MBA in China since 2013. Throughout this article I will use RMB = Chinese Yuan Renminbi, the official currency of the People’s Republic of China.
The exchange rate is 1 RMB = 2 ZAR = 0.17 USD.
1. It’s Cheap
Living China is cheap compared to most places on earth. While a can of Coke is more than double in South Africa, that’s the difference in economics of scale. My MBA tuition fee is 20,000 RMB per year and in South Africa it’s at least 50,000 RMB or about ZAR 100,000 per annum.
Indian students told me it’s much cheaper to study Medicine in China because they don’t have to bribe anyone as they do in their own country. It may also be easier to get your degree due to differences in the levels of education. This always depends on the quality of your university.
2. Scholarships Are Plenty
As some who received the Chinese Government Scholarship, I live a comfortable student life. This scholarship covers my tuition, text books, accommodation, medical insurance and a monthly allowance that was doubled in 2015 to 3,000 RMB per month.
Besides this comprehensive scholarship there are many offered by colleges, universities, local and provincial governments to attract more and more foreign students. The Chinese government promised to increase scholarships to African countries in 20112.
3. Learning Chinese language
To make your life easier in China it’s important to first study Chinese language full time. Since my MBA is taught in English, I only received 1-2 classes per week during the first two semesters. This is hardly enough to get by in daily life. Students with no work experience receive jobs offers constantly when they have advanced Chinese language ability like my friend Mahadi from Bangladesh.
Most scholarships will include a one year full-time Chinese language course if you request it. This means your total study for Bachelors will be 5 years i.e. one year for Chinese language, and a 4 year degree. In China there is no “Honours” degrees like in the USA, so afterwards you go directly onto Masters.
4. Understanding Chinese Culture
You can watch all the Kungfu movies ever made by Bruce Lee and Jet Li, and it won’t give you a real sense of Chinese culture. You can read about China and it will only scratch the surface of this ancient civilization. I read several translations of Tao Te Ching and other ancient texts. It gave me some appreciation for the culture.
However, it’s only when I travelled by myself around China where I experience the humility of the people from the Middle Kingdom. Each one of my Chinese friends taught me something valuable about where they come from in China.
5. Travel Cheap
The transportation system in China is beyond my wildest expectations. The local buses operate from after 5am to after 11pm in some cases. It cost only 2 RMB and drops even further to 0.6 RMB for students with a bus card. China now has the largest high speed railway network in the world.
So instead of flying you take the train, which is a first class experience and half the cost of the flight. The convenience impressed me after two years living China. Even the local taxi is relatively cheap and you can easily call a can and pay for it with your mobile phone. Traveling to nearby countries like Malaysia, Thailand and so on is cheap and easy.
6. Make New Friends
My friend Tony from Ghana has been in China about much longer. He’s a confident and funny African guy and a real ladies man. Foreigners stand out in China, and we are in short supply when it comes to making friends with Chinese. I am guessing for 100 Chinese who want to make friends there is only one of us. Sometimes it’s out of curiosity, sometimes because they want to improve English.
My best friend Terry Jiang helped me buy books online, book train tickets in the early days, given me great travel advice, and also explained some Chinese culture nuances in plain English. There are many reasons to have friends, mostly I believe it’s the fastest way to overcome your culture shock when you first arrive in China.
7. Experience Economic Growth
“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” is probably a what Chinese kids tell each other when they see a new skyscraper being built. Everywhere I’ve been from Ningbo to Nanjing to Shanghai, there is constant construction taking place. New buildings cannot be built fast enough as more Chinese people migrate from the rural areas into the cities.
Roads are upgraded and new subways built at a rate I cannot begin to describe. Infrastructure spending is how the Central government stimulates the economy. Exports continue to grow although slower than the last 20 years. Consumer spending is on the rise as the Chinese middle class becomes the biggest in the world. It took me almost six months to spot the first beggar in China.
8. Minimal Crime Rates
Walking around late at night with my smartphone in my hands, I feel safe unlike Johannesburg. Even carrying a 1000 RMB in my pocket, I do not fear being robbed in China. Yes, I avoid places I don’t know. And once I missed my train back from Shanghai to Ningbo. So I decided to go to a bar and have fun. After walking around and being propositioned by a prostitute I met some German girls and partied with them until it was time to go to train station around 5am.
Drug mules are routinely executed in China. Terrorists receive a similarly harsh and quick sentences. Several times I left something valuable and upon returning to the restaurant it was given back to me by the manager. There is a co-operation between the people and the police I am not familiar with. In South Africa it always felt like the police wants bribes and will blackmail you into submission.
9. Family Values
In African philosophy we have concept called Ubuntu – “I am, because we are…” and Nelson Mandela was a major proponent of this. In China they don’t talk about it, they actually live it. The family unit is indispensable and so is the community. Grandparents help rear children. Parents spend extraordinary amount of money and time educating children on weekends, and even during the holidays there is no rest.
When you see a father, mother and baby on an e-bike, you see a little bit of the real China. Even though divorce is increasing in China, I do believe it’s negligible compared to the West where it’s over 60% in some countries.
10. Government Without Democracy
This is the opposite of what most people in the West believe true. In my opinion Chinese people get on with living their lives instead of worrying about who to vote for every 4-5 years. They focus on what’s important to themselves and let the government get on with it’s work.
Author Martin Jacques described the relationship between the Government (State) and Chinese families as thousands of years old. And so far the best reasons why the Chinese Communist party remains in power after the spectacular failure in Russia is by Eric X. Li’s TED Talk. A famous writer visiting American once said that in democracy the people get the government they deserve.
11. Sample Asian food
This is more an honourable mention. Trying new food may or may not be important to you. However, it’s important to every Chinese person I’ve met. There is a pride in Chinese people which comes through in eating together. In China, a popular greeting is “?????” Ni Chi Le Ma. It means “have you eaten already?”
Each one of my friends from different provinces has helped me to sample their local cuisine. Much of its shockingly tasty unless you have some hang-up with pork or sea foods. Luckily for me I do eat everything and the variety is almost overwhelming. The best way to impress your new Chinese friends is to use chopsticks to eat noodles 😉