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May 26, 2016

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Young people keen to follow gap year trend

TAKING a gap year may be a well-trodden path for young people in other countries, but the phenomenon is only just taking off in China.

Six months ago, Zhang Yangwei, a 24-year-old postgraduate student in Beijing, decided to take a year off from his studies to work and travel in Australia.

He has worked in a restaurant in Sydney, picked cherries in an orchard in Orange City and waited tables in Tasmania. “To learn from a journey, this is the best part of taking a gap year,” he said.

Australia made working holiday visas available to young Chinese last year and Zhang was one of the first to benefit.

The country grants 5,000 working holiday visas to Chinese citizens aged between 18 and 30 each year, and is currently working its way through applications for the second intake. Visa holders are entitled to work for up to six months with each employer and study for up to four months.

“Gap years are getting trendy in China,” said Shen Ruichen, a graduate of Beijing Foreign Studies University. “The working holiday visa quota will be filled within several hours of the application period opening.”

She gave up a well-paid job and is about to embark on a working journey in Australia.

For college graduates, taking a gap year is an alternative to getting a job or applying for postgraduate study. There are many types of gap year from being an international volunteer to working in exchange for accommodation.

Some say the trend reflects the greater individualism and adventurism of the younger generation as China becomes more tolerant of non-conventional lifestyles.

After graduating from one of China’s top universities, Lu Xiaoning decided to spend four years working and traveling in countries including Germany, Argentina and India.

“My parents were strongly against the plan at first. They thought it was eccentric and a waste of time. But after I sent them pictures of me having fun in the countries I’ve been to, they also thought it a good idea,” Lu said.

“Chinese youngsters prefer to lead a life of uncertainty and challenges. It’s so great to tread a path that no one has set foot on before rather than to walk on a bustling road,” she said.

Working in a cherry orchard, Zhang’s first job in Australia, he woke up at 6am every day in a room shared with other working travelers from various countries.

With outdoor temperatures rising above 30 degree Celsius, Zhang found the work sweaty but enjoyable.

“It was about more than entering an exotic world. It was an indelible episode of life that would not be repeated,” Zhang said.

“At home, I had never been on a farm before, much less done manual labor on one.”

After getting off work, Zhang savored his leisure time in a small village far from home.

When night fell, he would join his friends from all corners of the world, drinking beers round the barbecue.

“Each time I bade farewell to a place, that just meant coming across a whole new world: different cities, different homes and different friends,” Zhang wrote in his travelogue.

Shen said: “In terms of career development, the jobs we take are of little help for the future.

“But what a gap year is all about is the combination of work and travel. We take a trip around the world and think about what we want to do, what kind of life we want to lead.”




 

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