Kimi Shao and Michael Stewart are ISA Site Specialists for Asia.
1. Economy – India and China are two of the word’s largest economies. With China currently in the No. 2 spot after the US, and India set to replace Japan as No. 3 in the coming years, business-savvy students best keep an eye on these two giants. The Business & Chinese Language program in Shanghai gives students a great opportunity to enroll in Chinese Business and Economics related courses, along with other subjects in History, Political Science and Chinese language.
2. Language – Added benefit for the pragmatic linguist, Chinese and Hindi are some of the world’s two commonly spoken languages and both are considered critical languages. The University of Hyderabad offers courses in Hindi as well as other regional Indian languages including Urdu, Sanskrit and Telugu. Intensive Chinese Language in Shanghai is the perfect program for students who want to significantly improve their Chinese language proficiency.
3. Culture – The culture element is inevitably spreading all over the world. You have seen Shanghai (in the past and in the future) in multiple movies, such as Skyfall – the latest James Bond movie, Looper, as well as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Shanghai has become the cultural symbol of China. In India, Bollywood produces more films than any other movie industry in the world, averaging 3 films per day! While not all of the 1,000+ films produced annually are cinematic gems, Hindi films have a huge world-wide fan base and have even won coveted Academy Awards.
4. Class & Charm – Home to some of the world’s earliest civilizations, old and new are not far removed from each other in these two countries, with traditional ways of life being practiced alongside the ultra-modern in the world’s two most populous cities, Shanghai and Mumbai. Each city is a study in contrasts; a combination of dazzling cosmopolitanism and hidden corners of tradition.
