Last Friday, MMU hosted a lunchtime reception the ācelebrate small business, entrepreneurialism and enterpriseā. The event was attended by the The Rt. Hon. Chuka Umunna MP and The Rt. Hon. Ed Miliband MP
Ed Miliband is a prominent figure in UK politics as heās the current Leader of the Opposition and head of The Labour Party. It was great to briefly talk with him, heās someone who truly believes in the importance of companies like InternChina, and the benefit they bring to everyone who takes up the opportunities that we have to offer.
Also speaking at the event was Chuka Umunna, the UKās Shadow Business Secretary who echoed Ed Milibandās comments, adding that Manchester is an ideal city to operate a business from, as itās now the fastest growing city in the UK outside of London.
I never thought Iād meet someone like Ed Miliband – itās not usual Iām lucky enough to get invited to such an event! It goes to show that taking up an internship can be rewarding in unexpected ways.
It also comes at a time when the Labour party has announced that their election manifesto will include commitment to reduce student tuition fees. Without stating my own political views, as a student, I think thatās pretty good news!
If you want to be part of the InternChinaĀ story – why not Apply Now!
InternChina – Visit to Qingdao Municipal Museum
Qingdao has a history of more than 120 years, and the museum is as a great place to learn more about the history of the city. As last weekās InternChina event, we decided to visit Qingdao Municipal Museum.
The museum has exhibitions about several different aspects of Qingdao, and the themes of these exhibition includes Qingdao local history, ancient coins, ceramics in Ming and Qing dynasties and Qingdao local folk customs.
We started with the history of Qingdao exhibition. Although Qingdao city has only existed for about 120 years, there were some people who lived in this area around 6000 years ago. Unearthed vessels and tools were exhibited to display how ancient people lived their lives. There are some collections of models that shows the historical stories vividly, for example, the wars that occurred in Qingdao and the scenery in Qingdao hundreds of years ago.
Afterwards, we continued our visit with the coins and ceramics exhibitions. The oldest ācoinā on the exhibition looked like a knife with a hole at one end, people used the hole to collect and carry the coins on strings. Also, there were lots of ceramics there. They were made in different dynasties, and therefore styles and techniques used were totally different.
After that, we experienced a traditional folk custom called woodcut painting. This kind of painting is mainly made for Chinese New Year celebration. Traditionally, the paintings are about characters in Chinese myths. They are believed to be able to protect or attract fortunes for the family. To make this kind of painting, the wood should be cut into moulds according to the picture you want to paint. The mould is then coloured and used to print the picture onto paper. In the museum, they had some moulds already and we just did the painting part by ourselves. We followed the steps taught by the āteacherā in the museum; eventually, we made our own pictures successfully.
We experienced lots of ancient Chinese stuff during this visit and it was a great opportunity to get ācloserā to Qingdao.
Ā Want to know and experience more Qingdao? Apply now!
Peking Opera Watching experience in Qingdao
Last Friday, for our weekly event, interns in Qingdao watched Peking Opera at the Qingdao Grand Theatre. Actually, for me, although a Chinese from Qingdao, it was my first time to watch live Peking Opera, and it was special.
Peking Opera, also known as Beijing Opera, is called äŗ¬å§(jing ju) in Chinese. It is a traditional Chinese theatre and has a history of more than 200 years. It is an art form that combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. The works of Peking Opera are mainly based on Chinese history and folklore.
The performance we watched that night was called āéēåęé¾č¢ā, literally meaning meeting the queen and hitting the dragon robe. The story is from a Chinese classic literature. Bao Zheng is one of the most well-known ancient Chinese government offical in the history, and he met an old lady on his way back to Beijing. The old lady claimed herself as the mother of the emperor and had been set up by others. After verifying the old lady was the queen, Bao helped her to get back to Beijing and she blamed the emperor for all the misery she suffered. She ordered Bao to punish the emperor and Bao hit the dragon robe instead of hiting the emperor to save himself from being punished.
When the opera started, we were amazed by the unique sound made by the musical instruments, as they are quite different from what we heard from an orchestra. The songs have much more variations with stronger beats. They were in perfect cooperation with the singing of the players. Also the costumes the players wore were gorgeous as they have several colours and pattern on each one of them. The players also ātoldā the story by their movement, for example, a walk around the stage would mean they took a long trip to somewhere. Even though it was kind of hard for us to get used to the music and to follow the story, we are glad that we decided to join the event!
Do you want to experience the unique Chinese culture with us in Qingdao?Ā Apply nowĀ .
Inner Mongolia Trip: 30th of September to the 6th of October
——————————
More information on travelling to Inner MongoliaĀ :
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/searchResult?q=inner+mongolia&facet=origin%3Athorntree_thread
Where to find friends to go with you on an Epic AdventureĀ : https://www.internchina.com/zh/contact/apply
——————————
Hello everyone,
My name is Philippe Touzin and I am the Marketing and Graduate Recruitment Manager for InternChina. I am based in the city of Zhuhai and this is the second part to my blog on travelling to Big Sky Country: Inner Mongolia (China).
Part I:Ā https://internchina.com/inner-mongolia-trip-30th-of-september-to-the-6th-of-october-part-i/
Gallery of the Inner Mongolia Trip
2/10/2013-Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Province – Grass Plains
8:00am: Breakfast and then we went for a Hike in the grass plains, walked up some hills, saw some LamaĀ Buddhism stone prayer ātemplesā and flags , herd of horses, sheep and endless plains- we took some photo shoots and then went back to our farm for lunch. The afternoon was Mongolian Bow and Arrow training/shooting session, followed by horse riding.
Ā
The horse riding was not part of the tour, and cost 150.-rmb per hour, so we went out for 3hours and rode around with our guides. We all came back feeling like Mongolian Men with sore asses, and the best part was when John Pitts fell of his horse- I didnāt get to see the fall, but Max’s description and the thought of it got us all laughing for about 2hours! (John Pitts: Product design/production manager for a design and manufacturing firm that supplies the top MNEās in the world with highest quality electronic goods/ accessories)
Ā
We had a rest and then dinner again (stew of potatoes, mutton, mutton ribs,ā¦) which was cooked by the wife of the farmer- followed by copious amounts of Horse milk alcohol (sour horse milk + extra baijiu!) and beer, and more card games in the yurt.
Baijiu: Chinese alcohol, usualy over 60%!
Ā
On our way back from the farm to our yurt, I met the Grandfather/ownerĀ (Mongolian name: Nasan Oqir- 70 years old ) of the lands who invited me for some beers together. He was very cool and explained that his father had built this house and his livestock consisted of:
-300 sheep
-60 horses- which he herds riding his motorbike from sunrise to sunset, every day.
-30Ā chicken
-2 dogs
-1 cat
-2 rabbits
-and 2500 sqkm of land!!
He wakes up every day before sunrise, rides his motorbike to the neighboring farm (15km) where his best friend lives,… drink some horse milk alcohol together, have breakfast and then gets to work- He offered me a job working for him and honestly it was very tempting!!!
Ā
Dulung came to save me before he took out more Baijiu and I returned with him (quite drunk already) to keep partying with my friends. At some point in the night-when we finished all our alcohol, we went out in the plains with all our blankets (temperature: 10 degreeĀ Celsius) and lay down to star gaze- Amazing!!
Dulung was quite drunk and passed out, so we ended up having to carry him back to the Yurt, by creating a human King Chair which ended in Ā a few falls and lots of giggles.
3/10/2013-Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Province – Grass Plains
9:00am: breakfast (we had the same staple Mongolian food every morning- Rice with mutton soup + warm horse milk- and some sort of bread)
Spending the morning going for some more walks and then thanking and saying goodbye to the family for having hosted us. When we had first arrived we brought with us a bottle of Famous Old Grouse whiskey, as it is customary to bring a gift when staying with the family- and this was a good present apparently š
Our car had changed for the last leg of the journey to a normal car, which was fine but meant we were 4 big boys at the back-OUCH- we departed and of we were! But 1hour later we were stopped by the policeā¦they were not too amused to see 4 people sitting at the back and after we talked with the officers, giving our foreign charm, they agreed to take Dulung to the next village so he could catch a bus and no other problems. The police also decided it was a good time to have a photography session with us- so quite alot of posing and Victory signs later we were off again!! But we forgot to take pics with them also! š
We had some emotional goodbyeās with Dulung, our guide. He is our age and our time together was more 5 buddies travelling, laughing and getting drunk together- we still keep in contact using our weixin, and have invited to stay with us in Zhuhai where we would guide him to the local Island!! (next blog? :D)
Weixin / WeChat: is a Chinese app (similar to whatsapp) which everyone uses here in China. You should download it if youāre coming to China!
We arrived in Hohhot at 8pm, tired and exhausted, no showers for 5 days, bodies filled with sands everywhere, un-kept beards andĀ full of amazing adventure memories. Inner Mongolia/become mongolian men/adventure time= Success!
We checked in to the same hotel : Wanli Hotel and had the longest showers in the world. On our way to the rooms we found the room service lady/ her trolley and raided it for extra shampoo and shower gels as we were super dirty! :p
We had a early dinner and then me and Joe went back to the room to sleep-NACKERED-ā¦John and Max went to a bar called: Seattle Bar- Do Not Go there– they had 3 drinks and donāt remember coming home- we are pretty sure their drinks got spiked with drugs as we are all heavy drinkers.
4/10/2013-Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Province – Grass Plains
10am wake-up. John had a lie-in but Joe, Max and myself went walking from our hotel to the Great Mosque of Hohhot (where john met up with us). Hohhot was on the old Silk Road and there is a big cultural mix, including a thriving Muslim community. The walk was long but got a good feeling of the city- not much going on- but the Mosque was beautiful and the surrounding area very interesting with street markets and pet markets: they had all kinds of animals and MASSIVE snakes.
Had some good lunch= Big grilled Naan breads with lamb bbq, followed by going to visit Lama Buddhism temples, pagodaās, old street market andĀ yesā¦we got more fireworks for our last night in Hohhot!!! The guys were super nice, we were the first foreigners to have gone in their shop so they gave us all the fireworks for free!! We proposed to take pictures so they could print it out and use it as advertisement!
Last Dinner and night life
For our last dinner we had a Meat Fest-6kg of meat between 4 guys- 1 huge lamb leg and a full rack of ribs- It was the BEST Lamb meat we had ever had and we washed it all down with local beer- we ended up having some locals join our able, one of them being the 2nd best Inner Mongolian champion wrestler and a bunch of girls of one who nearly vomited on Max. :p
After this we headed to a Mongolian bar which had live music and local Mongolians drinking- it was fun and good until- the Mongolians got too drunk, one got angry wiped out a mini sword and smacked one of them hard on the head (with the scabbard still on thankfully), then he ran out , came back and slashed another guy on the arm with the scabbard off and then ran out again, this time chased by other guys carrying, not chairs, but tablesāit was shocking but slightly comedic at the same time. I then approached then with Joe and offered to give first aid as IC employees in all offices are first aid trained. They both needed stitches but theyāll be ok.
After that we finished our drinks and decided to go clubbing, found a āBox Clubā which, I swear, smelled like horses! Club are the same everywhere else in the world and we ended Ā up drinking / making mates with another Mongolian and coming home at 4am.
5/10/2013-Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Province ā back to GuangZhou
12:00 get up and check out. We had been eating Mongolian food all week and were hungover so we went to McDonaldās to set ourselves right. We then kept going with some more tourism by going to tourist shops and buying some small gifts (combs, bracelets,ā¦) for our friends and family back home!
3:00pm return to Guangzhou Airport. On arrival in Guangzhou you can easily take a express bus to the Center of Zhuhai, Gongbei station (last stop). For more info please contact: info@internchina.com
I hope to go back and go into real Mongolia (the country), although the travel and experiences we had felt very authentic and Mongolian. I highly recommend learning some Chinese and speaking some basic Chinese as this way you get to skip all the mass tour groups and discover the Real Inner Mongolia (or chat with Andal guesthouse š )
Thank you forĀ reading, and please do not hesitate to stop by Zhuhai InternChina office for some tea and stories.
USTRAAAYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
(cheeerrs)
Philippe
More information on travelling to Inner MongoliaĀ :
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/searchResult?q=inner+mongolia&facet=origin%3Athorntree_thread
Where to find friends to go with you on an Epic AdventureĀ : https://www.internchina.com/zh/contact/apply
ItĀ“s one of the most popular sports in the UK. And although IĀ“m German, I love it too: SNOOKER.
Snooker started to become popular in Germany ten years ago and I remember watching it on TV for (possibly too many) hours as a teenager. In recent years, with the rise of DING Junhui in the rankings, Snooker has become more and more popular in China as well. These days, there are several players who can compete with Snooker legends as Ronny OĀ“Sullivan, Grame Dott and John Higgins.
Adding the fact that China invests a lot of money in sports, especially sports in which Chinese can easily compete with Western sportsmen, there are a lot of Chinese players on the circuit as well many tournaments scheduled in China.
For the season of 2013/14 there are nine of altogether 40 snooker tournaments taking place in China. This is a surprisingly big number and would have been unthinkable ten years ago. With the rise of China, SnookerĀ“s global impact is growing as well. The China Open in Beijing will be the last important tournament before the annual World Championship in 2014.
In other words, Snooker without Chinese players, tournaments and money is unthinkable nowadays.
As Chengdu has taken an important position in ChinaĀ“s plans for the future, it obviously hosts a Snooker tournament too: The Chengdu International Championship, which was first held in 2012. It is listed as a professional ranking tournament and has the same status as the prestigious UK Championship. Thus, the participation list of this tournament in Chengdu is quite impressive. Many great names of snooker took part in this yearās competition (27th October to 3rd November).
The Chengdu Eastern Music Park was the hosting venue. When not hosting a snooker tournament, the Chengdu Eastern Music Park is famous for its bars, clubs and art scene. It is definitely worth a visit.
The local hero DING Junhui was able to continue his fantastic run by beating Hong Kong professional Marco Fu in a thrilling final (10-9) for winning his third consecutive tournament in a row.
All in all, I think snooker and China has made a fantastic development in recent years. So, I am glad to have a chance to watch this beautiful game of precision live in Chengdu.
Do you want to see the next International Championships in Chengdu? ThenĀ apply now!
Links:
Picture Ding Junhui
Picture Chengdu Eastern Music Park
The latest visit on my UK marketing tour took me to one of our partner universities – the University of Dundee.
The University of Dundee, in partnership with InternChina, are running the unique and innovative, Global Internship Graduate Certificate – China. This is a 7 month graduate qualification incorporating career planning modules with a 6 month internship in Zhuhai. If you have recently graduated and are looking for the first step on the career ladder whilst gaining a qualification from a top UK University at the same time, this could be the perfect opportunity for you.
Places on the course are filling up fast, so please check outĀ www.dundee.ac.uk/careers/careerseducationmodules/gigciĀ Ā orĀ contact InternChinaĀ for more information and to submit your application.
The University of Dundee have already pioneered the qualification with internships in India and are now launching the programme for China.Ā Comments from previous students on this year’s India programme;
āI could not have had a more fulfilling experience in terms of my personal and professional development.ā
āInstilled confidence in me that there are few limitations to my future or the success I can achieve in my career.ā
For more information about the Global Internship Graduate Certificate
I exhibited at the careers fair whilst in Dundee and met lots of ambitious students who are thinking about an international career. Here’s a picture of my stand at the event:
If you are interested in joining us in China apply nowļ¼
Hi, Iām George. Iāve recently started assisting InternChinaās GM, Jamie, in the Manchester office. Iām reading Marketing at MMU here in Manchester and will be working on various initiatives during my time here.
Although itās only been a couple of weeks at InternChina, Iāve been struck by what a pleasant and helpful everyone here is. Iāve been welcomed with open arms, well metaphorical arms for the most part, as communication with colleagues in China is all done over the Internet! It took some getting used to at first, but after mastering coping with the time differences Iāve got the hang of it!
As I mentioned earlier, Iām at university ā to be more precise, my second year of university. Last week marked the end of something called āfreshersāā. Iāve done some research and found that other countries have various different names for it ā orientation, welcome week, frosh week etc. If none of those words mean anything, essentially, itās just the start of the first term of the academic year.
I must be frank and truthful and say that here in the UK, freshersā is typically a week (or two) long, predominantly spent socialising with new acquaintances usually over a drink or ten. Alongside this, itās a time to sign up for societies and gather everything needed for a years independent study.
In other countries, it seems a very similar affair, with socialising, drinking and preparation being the key focuses of the week.
However, I couldnāt find anything about university students in China starting their first year. Iām curious to know if thereās an equivalent āeventā. Unfortunately, Iām not lucky enough to have travelled to China yet, and so am not completely sure of such cultural differences.
Has anyone reading this experienced the Chinese equivalent of freshersā?
I hope to eventually travel to China – maybe then Iāll find out!
Iām looking forward to the work ahead with InternChina, and wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone and everyone!
Apply now for an internship in Chengdu, Qingdao or Zhuhai.
Written by William
Me
Hello, Ni Hao, Salut, Hallo, Hola, Ola, Ciao, Namaste, Czesc and Marhaban everyone (sorry if I missed any language out, Iām not actually fluent in all of these languages by the way!)
I am a 20 year old Marketing student from MMU in Manchester and Iām the new intern at InternChina in the Manchester office. My name is William Yau and I have been helping the General Manager, Jamie, with marketing work using something called the internet.
I grew up in a relatively rural town called Shrewsbury, located in the midlands of England, and I have been living in Manchester for the past 2 years due to University.
Itās very peaceful and traditional so it would be brilliant for an older person however; it lacks 2 things ā 1) a bustling culture you can only find in a city and 2) an international scene. Thatās where Manchester comes in.
This summer I, furthermore, adopted an extremely tourist persona and spent a month in Thailand, an experience that altered my perception on life.
Work
Why did I choose InternChina? As an ethnic Chinese I was born with a gravitation towards all things Oriental! The company seemed an exciting opportunity with a market I could relate to. Iām delighted that this opportunity came to fruition.
Soā¦ what have I been doing? Twiddling my thumbs all day and sleeping would be a lovely answer; however I am compelled to tell the truth. I was tasked with several internet based marketing activities such as blogging and search engine optimisation. Itās been very hands-on and Iāve had a lot to do (not just making tea!)
Itās interesting working in a different time zone to InternChinaās other offices because when I get to the office theyāve already been working for hours, itās a difficult concept to grasp initially. However, it does mean the company is productive almost 24/7!
I believe this is a brilliant company that offers a wonderful service to its customers. The one thing I have noticed the most about them is how well they uphold their ethics, this is great as I would hate for anything to disturb my sleep at night.
āA quiet conscience makes one strong!ā – Anne Frank
Advice
For future interns in Manchester I would advise you to get your 8 hours sleep, caffeine is not a sustainable substitute in my opinion, save any useful sites you use.
If you read all, half, a quarter, or even one line of this then thank you very much. I think InternChina is a great company and I hope to intern over in China soon to see the other side of the company.
Would you like to support InternChina in Manchester or in Chengdu, Qingdao or Zhuhai? Send your cover letter and CV info@internchina.com
From Zhuhai to Chengdu: Jack’s First Week in China
I couldn’t have asked for a more adventurous first week in China. As soon as my ferry docked in Zhuhai I was met with an array of exciting new sounds, smells and tastes. I was able to explore the city straight away and it wasn’t long before I had adjusted to the heat and humidity and was able to settle into the Chinese way of life!
By the end of the working week I had barely scratched the surface of what Zhuhai has to offer and still had so much more to see and do. However, this would have to wait as I planned to get back on the plane to spend a weekend with the interns in the Chengdu office! Living in China gives you easy access to a range of incredible places and enables you to travel around and see the sights ā a trip to Chengdu was the perfect opportunity for me to do this!
Chengdu is an incredible city and it was great to be shown around by the Internchina locals! During my stay I was able to try an entirely different type of Chinese cuisine: Chuanchuan, (which was amazing and VERY spicy!!). However, the highlight of my trip was seeing the iconic Chengdu giant pandas. As you can see from the picture below, I was not disappointed!
Exploring different areas of China is a fantastic excuse to try new things and gain new experiences. Whilst in Chengdu I saw the Sichuan opera which was an incredible spectacle of musical theatre and artistic talent. During the day I even had my ears cleaned in āThe Peopleās Parkā which was definitely something I wouldn’t have done back in the UK!
After a jam-packed first week my jet-lag was finally starting to catch up on me. It was good to know that a warm and tropical Zhuhai was waiting for me when I got off the plane! Having already seen pandas, experienced an ear-cleaning tradition and visited the Sichuan opera in my first week I canāt wait to see what else China has to offer!
Interested in exploring China with Jack?Ā Why not get an internship in China!Ā Apply nowĀ or send us anĀ emailĀ for more information.
My name is Jack Everett. I am a sociology undergraduate about to enter my second year at the University of Kent, England. I hope that this internship will teach me useful working skills whilst allowing me to have fun and immerse myself in an entirely different culture.
The summer holidays take up a huge amount of time for students. I wanted to fill mine with something that would be fun but would also look good on my CV and give me a better understanding of the working world. Doing an internship with InternChina was a perfect way for me to achieve both these aims. The company combines amazing cultural trips which allow interns to socialise and have fun whilst also teaching them important skills which can be applied in the working world. I first heard about InternChina from my cousin Jamie Bettles (who also happens to be the InternChina General Manager!). He was able to explain to me the benefits of doing an internship in China and gave me the email address of Philippe Touzin in Zhuhai. After only a few emails containing details about the internship it wasnāt long before I had my heart set on spending my summer in China. I followed the simple application process and arranged a webcam interview with Philippe who gave me a position in the Zhuhai office with InternChina.
The InternChina team was brilliant leading up to my stay in China. They helped me arrange my flights/visa/vaccinations etc. and made sure I was totally prepared for life in Zhuhai. Everyone seemed really friendly and it was definitely nice knowing the names and faces of people before I arrived. When I did finally get to China I was greeted straightaway and taken to where Iād be living. I was given a quick tour of my apartment and then joined by some other interns for my first taste of Chinese food in the evening. (Although using chopsticks took a bit of getting used to the food was amazing!). I began work in the Zhuhai office the next day and am so far enjoying life in China! Iāve only been here a day and half but all the interns/office staff have been really friendly and I look forward to getting to know them and Zhuhai over the next few weeks. After being shown a detailed map I already have a huge list of things I want to do! Tonight Iām starting with a Chinese style BBQ with some other interns. With beautiful beaches, tall palm trees and friendly people, Zhuhai is definitely giving off a good first impression!
Want to explore experience Chinese culture first hand? Why not come to China? Apply nowĀ for an internship or send us anĀ emailĀ for more information.
- 1
- 2