• Anne Christin Petersdorf

European University Viadrina, Frankfurt, Germany 

"As part of my degree program, I chose to study abroad in spring 2012 at Chihaner in Beijing.

I enjoyed working for Chihaner a lot! Especially the open-minded international staff and the great working atmosphere contributed to my positive experience. I also liked the diverse work. Especially working on the various creative projects as the brochure and website design was a challenging and fun task. I gained more experience and proficiency of these skills.

I thank my employers and colleagues for a great time and hope to work with Chihaner again."

 

"Ich heiße Anne Christin Petersdorf. Ich studiere International Business Administration an einer Universität in Deutschland. Ich habe mein Pflichtpraktikum im Ausland im Frühjahr 2012 bei Chihaner in Beijing absolviert.

Ich habe meine Zeit bei Chihaner sehr genossen! Besonders das freundliche Arbeitsklima und die gute Zusammenarbeit mit meinen weltoffenen, internationalen Kollegen haben viel zu meinen positiven Erfahrungen beigetragen. Am besten hat mir die Arbeit an den verschiedenen kreativen Projekten wie der Broschüren- und Websitegestaltung gefallen. Sie waren eine gute Herausforderung und haben Spaß gemacht. Ich konnte mehr Erfahrung und Kenntnisse in diesen Arbeitsbereichen erlangen.

Ich danke meinen Arbeitgebern und Kollegen für die tolle Zeit und hoffe eines Tages wieder für Chihaner arbeiten zu können."

 

• Marco Sucato

Palermo, Italy

"My name is Marco, I’m from Italy and I’m a foreign student here in Beijing. My major is Chinese language and culture, and I wanted to find an internship to expand my working use of the language and gain experience of Chinese business.  Searching on the internet I’ve found Chihaner and I was really interested by their philosophy of offering culturally focused program. So I was given the chance to interview and thankfully I was accepted.

During this internship, I had some very friendly colleagues, both Chinese and western. My Chinese colleagues were really nice people; they’ve introduced to me a lot of things and concepts about Chinese culture, as well as showing me places which I might have missed. They also gave me the opportunity to work here in Beijing, in a dynamic international environment. So, overall I can say I’m totally satisfied about this experience."

 

"Mi chiamo Marco, sono italiano e sono uno studente straniero qui a Pechino. Sono specializzato in lingua e cultura cinese, questa è la ragione per cui ho voluto cercare una Compagnia culturale per poter accrescere il mio bagaglio di conoscenze sulla Cina. Cercando su internet ho trovato CHIHANER e sono stato colpito dal target dei “programmi culturali” offerti da questa Compagnia. Ho avuto l’opportunità di sostenere un colloquio e ho iniziato l’internship.

Durante questo periodo ho avuto degli ottimi colleghi, sia cinesi che occidentali. I colleghi cinesi sono stati veramente delle persone squisite, mi hanno insegnato molto in riguardo alla cultura cinese e mi hanno fatto visitare molti posti non-convenzionali. Mi hanno dato, inoltre, l’opportunità di lavorare qui a Pechino in un ottimo amiente internazionale. Posso quindi dire di essere totalmente soddisfatto di questaesperienza."

 

• Sofia E. Delgado

University of Missouri, United States

"My interest in Chinese culture and language brought me to Beijing but I also wanted to experience living and working in China. So, I decided to join Chihaner Co. as a sales and marketing intern. I feel that my experience in the company was not just giving ideas about how to gain more  customers, but also about sharing cultural opinions with my Chinese and international colleagues, meeting new friends, visiting wonderful places and having a great time was a huge part of my Chihaner experience. I would like to thank all my colleagues who made my time in China an unforgettable experience."

 

"Actualmente，soy estudiante de la carrera de finanzas con un grado en el lenguage Chino en la Universidad de Missouri ubicada en la ciudad de Saint Louis. Mi interes en la cultura china y lenguage, me motivo a visitar Beijing, China y vivir una experiencia en vivo. En orden para mi de adquirir la experiencia que andaba buscando, empeze una practica en la compania Chihaner en el area de Mercadeo. Mas que aportar idea, fue la experiencia de compartir sobre culturas, conocer amigos y visitar lugares importantes de Beijing con personas muy agradables. Una vez mas gracias a todos por hacer de mi estadia en China una experiencia innolvidable."

 

• Jean-Laurent FRANCESCHI

University of Aix-Marseille, France

"As part of my degree program Student of International Negotiation specializing in China, University Aix-Marseille), I chose to intern at Chihaner. My strong grounding in marketing, management and sales of Asia, naturally led me to consider working for a business in the Middle Kingdom, Asia's fastest growing market.

By selecting Chihaner, I wanted to apply the theoretical knowledge I had learnt over six years of study as well as, consolidating practical skills required to succeed in the business world. Responsible for managing the marketing and sales promotion team over five months, I relished the opportunity of working for a company which gave me a greater degree of freedom, allowing me to take my own decisions and take real responsibility. I really feel this has been the best internship experience, and I am pleased to have contributed, at my level, to the development of this company."

 

"Étudiant en Négociation Internationale spécialité Chine à l’Université Aix-Marseille, j’ai choisi d’effectuer mon stage de fin d’études à Chihaner. Fort d’un enseignement théorique dans les domaines du marketing, de la gestion et de la vente en rapport avec l’Asie, mon choix s’est naturellement porté sur une entreprise de l’Empire du Milieu.

En sélectionnant Chihaner, j’espérais mettre en pratique mes six années d’études et d’en faire une synthèse en adéquation avec les exigences du monde de l’entreprise. En charge de la gestion de l’équipe marketing vente et promotion durant 5 mois, j’ai profité d’une expérience incroyable jouissant d’une grande liberté d’action et de véritables responsabilités au sein de Chihaner. Ce travail a été ma meilleure expérience de stage, et je suis heureux d’avoir contribué, à mon niveau, au développement de cette entreprise."

 

• Saul Trejo

University of Texas, United States

"My name is Saul and I completed a sales and marketing internship at Chihaner as part of my last degree requirement to graduate from the University of Texas. I can honestly say that I feel lucky to have interned here. I met many people interning in Beijing at the same time and I know I had one of the better ones. The work atmosphere was good, my coworkers were awesome, and Sparky was an excellent boss. He was always open to discussing new, innovative ideas and is open to exploring ways to improve Chihaner. The workload was not excessive and I worked on a number of interesting initiatives including setting up a Hutong tour for local media professionals and starting a campus brand ambassador program. I would also like to encourage people not to think about the pay too much. What you get in everything else is worth a lot more. Lastly, the free company trips we got to go on were great and overall, I would highly recommend this internship program."

 

• Natacha Rousseau

University of La Rochelle, France / Beijing Language and Culture University, China

"Through this internship, I discovered the work life in an office environment. The people I met, which were from many different countries, were all very friendly and fun and this made the office a nice place to work at. During my time there, I could experience first hand some aspects of the Chinese culture such as calligraphy. I had seen calligraphy and read about it before but this time I was able to see it performed in front of me and then try it myself with the calligraphy teacher showing me the hand techniques. My favorite part of the internship though is when I went along during one of the Beijing Hutong Bike Tour. It showed me a part of Beijing that I haven’t seen despite having been here for almost a year. As a student I mostly stayed around the university or went to busy shopping places. Therefore I found the Hutong bike tour very relaxing and it was like being in another city. I got to see the old side of Beijing, the people’s lifestyle there and the guide was giving interesting information about the different places we were seeing. This internship is very beneficial if you want to learn more about Chinese culture and particularly about Beijing."

 

"Grâce à ce stage, j'ai découvert la vie de travail dans un environnement de bureau. Les gens que j'y ai rencontré venaient de plusieurs pays différents et étaient tous très accueillants et sympathiques. Cela a donné une atmosphère agréable au bureau pour travailler. Durant mon temps ici, j’ai pu redécouvrir certains aspects de la culture chinoise d’une autre manière, tels que la calligraphie. J'avais déjà vu de la calligraphie et lu à ce sujet, mais jamais avant vu quelqu’un en faire devant moi et puis essayer moi-même d’écrire quelques caractères aidée du professeur de calligraphie. Ma partie préférée du stage est quand je suis allée à un des tours en vélo des Hutong de Pékin organisé par la compagnie. Cela m’a permis de voir une partie de Pékin que je n'avais pas vue avant, malgré avoir vécue ici pendant presque un an. En tant qu'étudiante je reste surtout autour de l'université ou je vais dans des endroits commerçants animés toujours pleins de monde. C’est pourquoi j'ai trouvé le tour à vélo des Hutong très relaxant et c'était comme si j’étais dans une autre ville. J’ai pu voir la partie ancienne de Pékin et le mode de vie des habitants de ces ruelles, et le guide donnait des informations intéressantes sur les différents lieux que nous voyions. Ce stage est très bénéfique si vous voulez en savoir plus sur la culture chinoise et sur Pékin en particulier."

 

• Rocio MAZZU

IPAG, France

"My name is Rocío Mazzu, I am Peruvian and I live in France where I do my studies in Marketing at IPAG (Business School). As a complement to my studies I needed to do an internship. It is for this reason that I came to work at Chihaner for a period of 4 months as a Marketing Intern.

Concerning my internship at Chihaner, I can say it was an excellent experience. Through my work at Chihaner I have learnt more about the tourism industry as well as had the invaluable experience of working in a team of Chinese and foreign staff.

Working with both local Chinese and other foreign staff has helped me to get a better understanding of many different cultures. Also, I have come to appreciate the different ways of administration and decision-making that is used in Chinese companies.

Participating in the tours that the company offers has helped me to better understand the work that goes into creating and organizing tours, and has given me the opportunity to propose improvements to each of the tours. Also, thanks to the tours I have learnt more about Chinese culture.

Thank you very much to Chihaner for giving me the opportunity to take this internship in China and providing me with a greater knowledge of management and a deeper understanding of Chinese culture."

 

"Mi  nombre es Rocío Mazzu, soy peruana  y vivo en Francia donde realizo mis estudios de Marketing en IPAG (Business School).  Como parte complementaria a mis estudios necesitaba realizar unas prácticas es por tal motivo que vine a trabajar a Chihaner por un periodo de 4 meses en el área de marketing.

En cuanto a las prácticas con Chihaner, puedo decir que fue una excelente experiencia. Esta práctica me ha permitió conocer más cosas del sector turístico trabajando en cooperación con un equipo del personal chino y extranjero. 

El hecho de trabajar con personas locales y extranjeras me ha ayudado a comprender mejor las  nuevas culturas diferentes a la mía. También, he podido apreciar las diferentes maneras de administración y de toma de decisiones.

Participar a los tours de la empresa me ha servido para comprender mejor el sistema del tour y proponer mejoras para el buen funcionamiento de la misma. Asimismo, gracias al tour he podido conocer un poco más de la cultura china.

Muchas gracias a Chihaner por haberme brindado la oportunidad de realizar mis practicas y ofrecerme una gran ocasión de aprender la administración y cultura china."

 

• Gwendoline Mace

Rennes 2 university, France

"My name is Gwendoline MACE, I am a French student and I study mandarin Chinese, English and Business at Rennes 2 university in France. I just finished my second year and I was eager to get some professional experience in china in order to improve my mandarin skills and discover about marketing development in a travel and tourism related company.

Therefore Chihaner was for me, the perfect opportunity to enhance the future career i would like to do once graduate, in the travel and tourism field.

Chihaner gave me the opportunity to do three weeks internship and discover about marketing strategies, and the different ways to attract people’s interests on Chihaner. I enjoyed working with a team, in a positive environment, as for the individual works. I really loved being part of the Brochure making of, it was to me, the most enriching experience during this internship because I could put in practice all the things i learnt about translation at my university and i discovered the design part of the brochure finalization. I also understand better what the travel companies seek and what are the customers’ expectations from Chihaner. And all the different possible ways to try attract customers online and all the strategies possible such as affiliating to other companies.

All in all, i would like to thank Chihaner for giving me the opportunity to do this internship, even thought it was for a short time, this was my first experience in a travel company at a marketing position and i found it really enriching ! Thank you."

 

"Mon nom est Gwendoline Macé , je suis étudiante en LEA anglais / chinois à l'univeristé de Rennes 2 en France. J'ai souhaité partir en chine pour faire un stage de un mois afin d'améliorer mes compétences en chinois et de pouvoir acquérir de l'experience professionnelle. J'ai donc eu l'opportunité de faire mon stage chez Chihaner qui est une entreprise qui propose des tours culturels aux alentours de Pékin, et de pouvoir découvrir les stratégies de développement markéting en faisant mon stage dans ce département. C'était pour moi l'alliance parfaite pour me permettre d' acquérir l'expeirence necessaire dans le domaine des voyages et du commerce, J'ai beaucoup appris durant ce stage, notemment les stratégies markéting pour attirer plsu de clients sur le web, les besoins d'acquérir des partenaires qui pourraient faire connaître l'entreprise à toujours plus de clients. Ce que j'ai surtout appréciée faire, a été la traduction de la brochure officielle B to B, qui sera exportée en Europe, je l'ai faite de l'anglais au francais puis de l'anglais à l'italien, ca a été un réel enrichissement car j'ai pu mettre en pratique mes compétences en traduction, apprises à l'univeristé puis j'ai également pu découvrir les techniques informatiques pour effectuer le design de la brochure finale . Le travail d'équipe m'a également beaucoup apporté, que ce soit pour le traduction, les recherches de clients ou de partenaires, il est toujours bon de se concerter en cas de questions ou d'incertitudes et que tout le monde soit daccord pour apporter le meilleur aux cliens et à l'entreprise.

Je suis donc très satisfaite de ce stage et je souhaite remercier Chihaner de m'avoir donnée l'opportunité de l'effectuer dans son entreprise. Merci."

 

• Adam Watkin

University of Birmingham, United Kingdom

"I've thoroughly enjoyed my summer working as an Editorial Intern at Chihaner. My experience here has not only given me a good insight into my specified role, but also, because of the small size of Chihaner, I have been allowed the flexibility to experience other areas of the business such as marketing, advertising, sales and I have also had a direct say in designing the services which Chihaner provides. 

More generally, the experience of working within a small company has been a truly valuable experience. The small staff numbers allowed me to get to know my colleagues well; their roles in the company; and as a result I found it much more conducive to producing good work. For example, being familiar with the staff made it much easier to clarify language with translators when I was editing their text. 

Furthermore, I was given a lot of responsibility and a great degree of flexibility when it came to writing texts. Having successfully shown my ability in the first week, immediately I was given a number of projects to work on as well as the day-to-day tasks. One of my main projects was writing a manual for tour guides and one in which I was given almost complete command over. This has given me further confidence in my own abilities and I think I will appreciate this experience particularly if I come to work in a bigger company, where self-confidence will be a great asset when communicating ideas and taking decisions.   

The tour guide manual involved compiling information from various sources so that the guides were well informed on each point of interest. I also had the idea of drafting sample narratives which the tour guides (for whom English was not their first language) could use to communicate the information more effectively to Chihaner's customers. This was also an interesting experience because I was required to write direct speech i.e. the narratives had to communicate the information whilst also sounding natural to the listener. When I went on the tour I had written the manual for, it was quite satisfying hearing my words being used by the tour guides.

Aside from my role in the company, I feel I've learnt other lessons and enjoyed other significant benefits of the job. Firstly, working in a foreign city is a very different experience from merely visiting somewhere. Spending just under two months here, gives you a taste of working abroad and gives you an idea of whether you feel you could enjoy working away from home. When you're somewhere foreign for two months you can't live the life of the tourist so you have to immerse yourself and adapt to the day-to-day. This has been a very rewarding part of my time here.

The tours I was able to take as part of working with Chihaner, were also very enjoyable. Taking them with colleagues, the tours not only gave us a better idea of what customers required but it was also very nice to have something to share with your colleagues outside the office. I became good friends with many of my colleagues and meeting them, and experiencing what Beijing has to offer together was a great part of the experience.

Thank you Sparky for being a very kind, understanding, friendly and hard-working boss who it was a pleasure to work with. All my best for the future of Chihaner."

 

• Claudia Fernández

University of Stirling, Germany

My name is Claudia, I am German and I am currently studying my BA with Honours in International Management Studies with European Languages and Society at the University of Stirling, Scotland, GB.

I decided to do my internship here in Beijing to experience how business ‘works’ in China’s capital city and to enhance my working experience. The internship as a Marketing intern at Chihaner within the tourism sector was interesting and diverse. I became many different tasks to do like researching new business partners, translating the brochure, maintaining the social networking webpages or discussing the company’s marketing strategy.
I especially enjoyed being part of such an international team and because the company is relatively small you also get a good insight into other parts of the company like for example the recruitment (HR) or the designing of the new brochures. Therefore, the working atmosphere was very comfortable and engaging.

Thanks to Chihaner for the great experience.

 

Mein Name ist Claudia, ich bin aus Deutschland und studiere im Moment mein BA mit Honours in Internationalen Management Studien mit Europaeischer Sprache und Kultur an der Universität in Stirling in Schottland, GB.

Ich hatte mich dazu entschlossen mein Businesspraktikum hier in Peking  zu absolvieren, da ich gerne aus erster Hand erfahren wollte, wie Business in Chinas Hauptstadt ‚funktioniert‘ und gleichzeitig wollte ich gerne meine Arbeitserfahrung bereichern. Das Praktikum als Marketingpraktikant bei Chihaner innerhalb des Tourismussektors war sehr interessant und vielfältig. Ich hatte jede Menge unterschiedliche Aufgaben wie zum Beispiel Internetrecherchen über potenzielle Businesspartner, Übersetzen von Broschüren, Instandhaltung von den sozialen networking Webseiten wie Facebook und Twitter oder das Diskutieren der Marketingstrategie des Unternehmens.
Ich habe es auch besonders genossen mit einem so internationalen Team zu arbeiten. Auch die Tatsache, dass das Unternehmen relativ klein ist macht das Praktikum interessanter, da man auch Einblicke in andere Bereiche des Business bekommt, wie das Rekrutieren von neuen Angestellten (HR) oder das Designen der neuen Broschüre. Auch deshalb war die Arbeitsatmosphäre  sehr relaxed und angenehm.

Einen großen Dank an Chihaner für diese toller Erfahrung.

 

• Grace Imogen Landy

University of London, United Kingdom

I worked at Chihaner as an English Editor and Translation Intern. My first internship experience has been a fruitful and insightful one. I feel that working in a Chinese company has been an invaluable experience. Working at Chihaner has definitely broadened my horizons and I now feel I am better prepared for a potential future career in China.

My main responsibilities as an intern at Chihaner were translating and editing. I translated several items from Chinese-English. Seeing as my Chinese skills are still limited in some areas I found this very challenging at times. However, I feel this experience has improved my confidence in speaking and translating Chinese. At first I thought translating Chinese-English would be too difficult for me, however, with the support and help of my Chinese colleagues I found that I was able to carry out my tasks successfully.

Following this internship have I learnt the benefits of working with an international team of colleagues. By working with colleagues from China, Europe, and America, I have come to greater understand several different cultures. At times working with an international team can pose both language and cultural challenges. However, by finding ways to overcome these obstacles I feel we became a stronger team and were able to better understand the needs and requirements of our international customers. 

 

• Maria Tretyakova

Beijing University of Science and Technology, Russia

My name is Maria, i'm from Russia and i study International Trade in Beijing. This summer i needed to find an internship so i  took one month sales and marketing internship in Chihaner company. It was my first internship ever and i liked it a lot, especially that it is focused on culture. I did the various work during my internship and met a lot of interesting people from various countries. My colleagues were very nice and friendly and the working environment was good. Sparky is very nice and understanding boss. I'd like to thank Chihaner for the opportunite to get such a great experience and i wish all the best to Chihaner company!

 

Меня зовут Мария, я из России и изучаю международную торговлю в Пекине. Этим летом мне необходимо было пройти стажировку для программы моего университета, поэтому я проходила стажировку по специальности маркетинг и торговля в компании Chihaner. Это была моя первая стажировка, и мне особенно понравилось что компания занимается культурой и туризмом. У меня была разнообразная работа во время этой стажировки и я встретила много интересных людей из разных стран. Мои коллеги были очень приятными людьми и рабочая атмосфера была благоприятной. Спарки очень хороший и понимающий босс. Я бы хотела поблагодарить компанию Chihaner за возможность получить такой замечательный опыт и желаю компании Chihaner успехов и процветания!