Plan a Gap Year Abroad in China
CIEE's Gap Year Abroad offers high school graduates an incredible opportunity to go abroad and immerse themselves in the Chinese language, culture, and environment. Located at the confluence of the Yangzi River, the Grand Canal and the Pacific Ocean, Shanghai historically served as a major commercial port, channeling the region's cotton crop to markets in Beijing, the countryside and Japan.
Former leader Deng Xiaoping once said that if China is a dragon, Shanghai is its head. Known for its economic prowess and long history of foreign influence, Shanghai is the perfect locale from which to observe the interplay of various forces moving China from a planned to a market economy. It is said that whatever happens in China, happens first in Shanghai, its largest city.
Shanghai was traditionally open to Western influence and had the best Western art, architecture and business center in Asia. The city was raided, invaded and finally occupied by the Japanese in 1943, and fighting continued until the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949. In 1972, with the Cultural Revolution still raging, Shanghai hosted the historic meeting between the Chinese premier and President Nixon that began China's normalized relations with the rest of the world.
Today, the Western architecture along the Bund waterfront area provides visual proof of Shanghai's historic ties to the international community as well as a testament to its colonial past. More recently, there has been massive development in the Pudong Special Economic Zone just across from the Bund along the opposite bank of the Huangpu River, with new skyscrapers being erected on a regular basis. Construction of the city's infrastructure, including bridges, tunnels, and a new train system, is constant. The modernization and economic development that China has been experiencing can easily be witnessed in this great city.
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Shanghai Perspectives - Download our CIEE Shanghai newsletters. Read about the Gap Year Abroad Program in China from a student's perspective.
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The PBS production "China From the Inside" offers an exceptional view of China. Click here for local broadcast information. |
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