For most young female white collars in China, France meant perfumes and fashions. Now, however, it is more than that: France has become the favorite choice of Chinese female white collars when they consider studying abroad.
Last year, about 600,000 Chinese people went to France, most of them being students and their relatives, said an official at the French Tourism Bureau.
Recently, the Women's Foreign Language Publications of China and the Huakun Women's Life Survey Center jointly carried out a survey to see how female white collars see Europe. The survey covered 100 female white collars in Beijing. It finds that apart from sightseeing purpose, 18.8 percent of the women choose France for study, while Britain, a country that has rich educational resources and lots of famed universities, actually falls behind France.
A reporter from the Beijing Morning Post then interviewed five young women. All of them said they were attracted most by the artistic and romantic atmosphere in France. Under this artistic environment, they won't meet much pressure in their study.
From the information submitted by the French Ambassy, it can be seen that last year, the number of overseas Chinese students in France had risen from the annual several hundred to several thousand a year now. Last year, there were about 8,000 Chinese people who went to France to study and the number was still climbing this year, said Ms. Yin, who works in a company that deals with international education exchanges.
In addition to the artistic atmosphere in France, many Chinese students like to go to France for study because tuition fees there are rather cheap. France makes the world's famous perfume brands and cosmetic products. In France, the arts and designing courses offered by its colleges are quite good. Its management course on cosmetics and luxury goods also enjoys world fame. Since the management courses provided by French colleges are mostly related to liberal arts, they are therefore more suitable for women.
(China News Service November 8, 2007)
