In the course of my bachelor and postgraduate studies at the University of Manchester I have made many Chinese friends who has influenced my decision to study in China. Over 60% of my classmates at my Master’s course were Chinese. This meant that our cultural differences were discussed not only in our class, but also in our free time, when eating hot pot or having fun at the karaoke bar. I became so eager to learn about the booming economy and transforming society that I decided to pick Chinese electronics industry as a main topic of my dissertation where I looked at socio-economic and political aspects of Chinese labour force.

Indeed, I was fortunate enough to learn about China, and specifically about Chengdu, from my girlfriend. She has been praising the city for its peacefulness and tranquillity, especially in comparison to Chinese coastal cities like Hong-Kong or Shanghai. I started to recognise the beauty of the city through secondary sources, namely from expat forums, videos and pictures on the internet. However, as I would like to experience China first-hand, I began thinking about the possible and sustainable ways of beginning my journey. My search was originally narrowed to search for some English teaching jobs, as something rather easier to begin with, and as something that would sustain my living costs, hoping to pick up some of the Chinese language and Sichuan dialect in the meantime. However, I have soon realised that it has been recently made illegal for a non-native speaker to teach English in China and so my first step needed adjustment.

I remembered my girlfriend showing me Sichuan University at around the beginning of the year, saying that University is one of the best in the country. I did some research and watched YouTube channel of an American (Austin in China, YT) who was very positive about his experiences as a teacher at Sichuan University. Nevertheless, I would say that the key drivers which influenced my decision to pick this course are two-sided. On the one hand, I am eager to learn about the history and cultural heritage of China, on the other hand I do not want to undertake another bachelor or masters degree as I would like to soon be fully financially independent person. It was the price for the course and the quality of the university which made it not difficult to persuade my mum, to whom I am extremely grateful for one more year of support.