Why Choose a China Internship?

My name is Pat McCarthy, and my connection with China began as a boy growing up in a modest home in rural Ireland. I remember my mother saying, “Get your old clothes ready,” when the China charity truck came to collect donations for rural Chinese children. I put my best shoes in the bag. My family also welcomed Chinese immigrants into our home after their restaurant burned down. Those experiences taught me to spare a thought for others.

Giving and service became part of my DNA, and I came to understand how helping others could give meaning to my own life. Today, I live in Liaoning, China, where I work as an educator and philanthropist and serve as Chairman of the Europe Sino Institute, also trading as the Ireland Sino Institute.

In 2012, my wife and I founded the I Love Learning Education Centre in rural Liaoning, the philanthropic arm of the institute. I was a newcomer, learning about the community while finding my place within it. Teaching gave me a way to connect with local families and put the values I grew up with into practice.

In the classroom, giving often means offering your time, patience and attention. There is real fulfilment in helping a student find the confidence to speak. Working towards that goal alongside local teachers builds relationships too. For an intern, these shared responsibilities can create a sense of belonging. You contribute to a community while learning from the people who know it best.

Teaching also develops skills you can carry into other areas of life. Preparing lessons takes organisation. When an explanation does not work, you learn to try another approach and listen to feedback. For an intern, this experience can strengthen communication, teamwork and adaptability, with practical examples to draw on in future job interviews.

Mandarin immersion brings its own sense of progress. Lessons give you a foundation, while everyday life gives you reasons to use it. Buying something, asking directions or joining a conversation can become small steps towards independence. For a newcomer, being able to express a need or understand a reply helps make daily life more manageable and opens the door to closer relationships.

HSK certification provides a clear goal for that learning and evidence of proficiency at the level you pass. It can support your CV, while preparing for the examination encourages regular study. The confidence to use Mandarin beyond the classroom gives that achievement practical value.

Travelling helped me understand more of the country where I was building my life. My visits to Fushun brought me closer to Nurhaci’s history and Lei Feng’s commitment to helping others. My wife’s stories about Lei Feng had helped inspire our education work. Liaoyang’s White Pagoda and Dongjing ruins opened another chapter of the region’s past.

Wudang Mountain’s Taoist heritage and Guizhou’s landscapes and Miao and Dong traditions showed me how varied China is. For a newcomer, travelling offers opportunities to practise Mandarin, navigate unfamiliar places and ask about local customs. You learn to ask questions before making assumptions, a habit that helps when working with people from different backgrounds.

Between those journeys, much of my learning happens in ordinary moments: a shared meal, a conversation with a colleague, a neighbour’s story. Taking the time to listen helps me find common ground with people whose lives have been different from mine.

My own journey has been shaped by the courage to enter an unfamiliar world and the purpose I found in serving others. I tried to capture that connection in this poem, written in honour of the people, heroes and history of Liaoning:

Fushun told stories that drew me to this land,
Of Nurhaci’s courage and Lei Feng’s helping hand.
One showed the strength to brave an unknown way,
One showed that service gives our lives true meaning each day.
Their lessons shaped the journey I would start,
To teach young minds and serve with all my heart.
Fushun became the compass that would guide my way,
Nurhaci gave me courage; Lei Feng gave me purpose.