Among the 312 Taiwanese students in the Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Wang Bojun is quite special, as his mother is also one of his classmates.
Both mother and son have proven to be excellent students in the university since they enrolled two years ago. Wang's father has also expressed interest in studying here in the next two years.
Wang comes from a family of doctors in Taipei County of Taiwan Province and is among the increasing number of Taiwanese students attracted by schools in the Chinese mainland.
Jian Renyou, another Taiwanese student in the university, has been here since 1994. He has earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees in the university and will take the qualifying course for his doctorate degree next semester.
Traditional Chinese medicine is increasingly popular in Taiwan,but there are few colleges that teach related courses, Jian said.
The mainland has a longer history of traditional Chinese medicine than Taiwan, and there are good colleges and teachers, he added.
The Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine has more Taiwanese students than any other on the Chinese mainland. This summer, 58 Taiwanese students graduated, of whom half will continue their studies here, and an additional 120 are scheduled to enroll next semester.
Jinan University, located in Guangzhou, the capital city of south China's Guangdong Province, is also attracting increasing numbers of students from Hong Kong and Macao.
This year, 853 students from Hong Kong took the entrance exam for universities on the mainland, eight times more than last year.About 1,070 students from Macao took the exam, of whom 1,051 have just graduated from high schools.
Some of the university's graduates from Hong Kong and Macao would like to remain in the mainland to work. Guo Min, a student from Hong Kong majoring in information technology, said he believes that he will find a good job here, since the mainland's economic development is impressive.
More and more Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan residents are sending their children to primary and middle schools here while they start businesses in the mainland.
Kong Qingbin came to Guangzhou with his parents after finishingprimary school in Hong Kong. He is now studying in a local privatemiddle school and can speak fluent mandarin.
His father told Xinhua that it will be good for Kong to study on the mainland since he is likely to be admitted to a university and, later, find a job on the mainland.
The majority of the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan residents in Guangzhou send their children to local private schools that provide bilingual education in both Chinese and English. The totalnumber of students of this kind is estimated at about 7,000.
Many Hong Kong residents think that the mainland economy will develop rapidly in the future, especially since China's entry intothe World Trade Organization, and will provide good opportunities for them and their children, said Ruo Houhui of the Hong Kong Institute of Education.
As the mainland is opening more widely to the rest of the world,schools and universities here are not only providing high-quality education, but are also adopting many policies in accordance with Hong Kong universities and other western universities.
(Xinhua News Agency August 31, 2002)
