Handing out questionnaires near the doorway of a shopping mall in Xujiahui, Chan Yin Yan looks like a typical college student working a summer job.
When the 19-year-old begins speaking to passers-by, however, his thick Cantonese accent makes it clear he isn't your average Shanghai student. In fact, he isn't from Shanghai at all.
Chan is one of more than 200 students from Hong Kong working unpaid internships in Shanghai this summer in an attempt to improve their Mandarin skills and learn more about the culture of the mainland, a place many of them expect to end up living and working after their graduation.
While this is not the first time university students in Hong Kong have taken on internships in Shanghai, it is the first year so many students from the SAR have come to the city.
Chan, a second-year student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, picked up a one-month internship with the Xujiahui Shopping Mall Group. Sponsors such as the Shanghai Banking Corp. will pay for some of his expenses for the month, but Chan will still end up paying for the chance to work in the city - and he counts himself lucky to get the opportunity.
This year, all seven of Hong Kong's major universities give their students the chance to work and study in the city.
The reason is economic. While Shanghai's economy has grown rapidly over the last decade, Hong Kong has battled recently with growing unemployment and stagnant growth.
"I am still not very good at Mandarin," said Chan. "But I am interested in job opportunities here."
According to Professor C.Y. Cheng, dean of students at the Hong Kong University, more than 400 students applied for the internships in Shanghai this summer, though the school was only able to provide 80 positions.
He said students are worried about their chances of landing a good job in Hong Kong in the future, so they want to spend time in mainland cities such as Shanghai to improve their chances of getting a job in Shanghai once they graduate.
Statistics from the Chinese University of Hong Kong show 30 percent of last year's graduates took positions based in the mainland and another 40 percent took jobs with ties to mainland cities.
(eastday.com June 12, 2002)
