TrMako

I have taken a year of mandarin chinese at my university here in the states and am thinking of a career in china. I would love a chance to work in china for a summer doing anything I could.

I want to work/intern as opposed to study abroad because study abroad programs tend to have large costs associated with them. I figured if I could work there, instead of being paid, they could just cover my travel and living costs.

However, it seems every intern abroad, work in china, etc. program I can find is just as much or more costly than studying abroad. They want me to pay thousands of dollars -and- work for them for no pay. Is it just me, or is that a little ridiculous? Shouldn't the work make up for the costs?

My question is, does anybody know of any internship abroad type programs, preferably in china, that basically cost nothing or very little? Or some companies in china that would be willing to take on a summer intern and instead of paying any sort of wages, just cover travel and living costs?

Thanks in advance.

s1185

Skip the agencies and go directly to the company.

US State Department
I-banks (mostly in Hong Kong)
etc.