Changzhou is a city in Jiangsu province, approximately one hour by speed train from Shanghai.

Changzhou is not a touristic city, so the prices are lower, which is very convenient for everyday life.

Places close to Changzhou( around 1 hour by train) - Suzhou, Nanjing, Wuxi, Hangzhou
Other - Beijing, Chengdu

Stackpole International Fluid Power Solutions (Changzhou) Co., Ltd.

Quality Control Project

I was working as a Quality Engineer. During first weeks I had a chance to get to know the production hall, especially assembly line and I read a lot about system standards in the company. Then I worked on tasks which were assigned to me by members of quality department. I spent one week in a lab where I had an opportunity to learn more about cleanliness analysis. Despite language barrier I was able to understand the process after few days and I really enjoyed working there.

2000 CNY per month

This amount of money was sufficient per one month, because company covered expenses of accommodation, energy and shuttle bus to work. Lunch at work was for free.
So I paid only for food and rest of the money I used to travel.

English - excellent.

Fully equipped apartment - provided and paid by the company.
The only expense was installation of Wi-Fi router.

Two volunteers picked me up at the airport in Shanghai.
IAESTE China organised Welcome Dinner for all interns in Shanghai. Day after the dinner LePA programm was held by employees of IAESTE China.
There were two trips organised by IAESTE to Beijing and Xian, but I did not participate. I found them too expensive and I prefered to travel on my own in small group.

There were around 20 other interns in the city. For me it was very hard to meet them, because I came home around 7 pm every day, so during the week it was almost impossible. Changzhou is really big city and we lived in different places, very far from each other.

There was no time to do sport after work and I have always traveled on weekends.

Dumplings, noodles, hotpot.
Chinese food is different in each province. I enjoyed food in Sichuan the most, it is very spicy, but also very tasty.
In Shanghai you can find various mixture of chinese food, I spent 7 days there, so I had a chance to try a lot of meals and they all were very good, though little bit more expensive then in Changzhou.

Internet connection is complicated in China, a lot of websites and apps are banned there, for example Google, Google Maps, Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, even Whatsapp is not working correctly. You need a VPN to unblock them. I used ExpressVPN, but it was not reliable on 100 percent. Sometimes I did not connect for 3 days.

The most important app is WeChat. I was in touch with my family via WeChat and it was working perfectly.
I was lucky, because my company helped to arrange chinese bank account, so I could use the WeChat payment by QR codes. It is very easy to use and you can pay by this everywhere, even in small shopps, grocery etc..

If you are going there in winter, take a lot of warm clothes. It was very cold in the office, because the company did not use heating.

Passport - the most important thing for foreigner in China. You will need it for buying train tickets, flights, even to enter museums and touristic attractions.

Different culture, opportunity to travel, professional experience.

IAESTE China has its residence in Shanghai. I was in contact with them mainly in the beginning, before I went to Changzhou. During the stay and at the end of internship they wanted me to fill in a feedback form.