China Exclusive: Gap years bringing young Chinese closer to world

When he turned 24, Zhang Yangwei told himself "to explore the world and find a better version of yourself." The postgraduate student at a Beijing university made a bold decision six months ago: He took a year off from school to work and travel in Australia.

Zhang has worked in a restaurant in Sydney, plucked cherries in an orchard in Orange City and waited tables at a youth hotel in Tasmania. "To learn from a journey, this is the best part of taking a gap year," he said.

Taking a gap year may be a well-trodden path for young people in the West, but the phenomenon is only just taking off in China. The Australian government made its working holiday visas available to young Chinese in 2015. Zhang was one of the first 5,000 to benefit from the arrangement.

Australia has begun granting 5,000 working holiday visas to Chinese citizens aged between 18 and 30 each year, so is currently working its way through applications for the second intake. The visa holders are entitled to work for up to six months with each employer and study for up to four months.

"Gap years are getting trendy in China. The working holiday visa quota will be filled within several hours of the application period opening," said Shen Ruichen, a graduate from Beijing Foreign Studies University. She gave up a well-paid job and is about to embark on a working journey in Australia.

For college graduates, taking a gap year is an alternative to getting a job or applying for postgraduate study. There are many types of gap year from being an international volunteer to working in exchange for accommodation.

The trend reflects the greater individualism and adventurism of the younger Chinese generation, and China as a whole seems to be getting more tolerant to non-conventional lifestyles. Lyu Xiaoning holds the same view as Shen Ruichen. After graduation from one of China's most prestigious universities, Lyu decided to spend four years working and traveling in countries including Germany, Argentina and India.

"My parents were strongly against the plan at first. They thought it was eccentric and a waste of time. But after I sent them pictures of me having fun in the countries I've been to, they also thought it a good idea," Lyu said.

"Chinese youngsters prefer to lead a life of uncertainty and challenges. It's so great to tread a path that no one has set foot on before rather than to walk on a bustling road," she added.

Working in the cherry orchard, Zhang Yangwei's first job in Australia, he woke up at 6 a.m. every day in a stuffy room shared with other working travelers from various countries. With outdoor temperatures soon rising above 30 degree Celsius, Zhang found the work sweaty but enjoyable.

"It was about more than entering an exotic world. It was an indelible episode of life that would not be repeated," Zhang said. "At home, I had never been on a farm before, much less done manual labor on one."

After getting off work, Zhang savored his leisure time in a small southern hemisphere village far from home. He would race kangaroos, and eat juicy cherries while lying on his back staring at emerald green leaves and azure blue sky. When night fell, he would join his friends from all corners of the world, drinking beers round the barbecue.

"Each time I bade farewell to a place, that just meant coming across a whole new world: different cities, different homes and different friends," Zhang wrote in his travelogue.

As the visa restricts holders from taking a job for longer than six months, they can only engage in physical work requiring little technique.

"In terms of career development, the jobs we take are of little help for the future. But what a gap year is all about is the combination of work and travel. We take a trip around the world and think about what we want to do, what kind of life we want to lead," said Shen Ruichen. Endi