Location
  • China
    • Beijing
    • Shanghai
    • Hangzhou
Length
52+ weeks

Program Details

Activities
City Exploring
Timeframe
Academic Year Fall Spring Summer Winter Year Round
Housing
Host Family Hostel
Primary Language
English
Age Min.
18
Age Max
30

Pricing

Starting Price
300
Price Details
- $300-$800 program fee depending on the regions:
Zone1((UK, Ireland and Oceania): $300
Zone2(Euorpe, South Africa): $500
Zone3(North America): $800
What's Included
Accommodation Some Activities Airfare Meals Tour Guide Travel Insurance Visa Wifi
Apr 02, 2024
Feb 29, 2024
90 travelers are looking at this program

About Program

Nǐ hǎo! LoPair offers an award-winning cultural exchange program which enables you to become fully immersed in Chinese culture, learn Mandarin, make fantastic friends from across the globe. We'll provide you with a 3-12 month placement in a major Chinese city living in a homestay with a lovely Chinese or Expat family.

Your adventure starts with arriving in Beijing, Shanghai, or Hangzhou! You'll get professional Mandarin classes per week, fascinating cultural courses etc. You will assist host family with live-in educational childcare and some light household chores up to 30 hours a week — you'll get a room of your own, meals, insurance and international round way flight tickets! On top of this, you will have plenty of chances to explore on your own, with other au pairs and with your family while receiving pocket money per month!

Video and Photos

Program Highlights

  • FREE round-trip flights, homestay accommodation and insurance
  • FREE Mandarin lessons per week
  • ¥2000 pocket money per month
  • Choice of host families all located in metropolis (Beijing, Shanghai. Hangzhou)
  • Cultural activities

Related Programs

Program Reviews

4.51 Rating
based on 94 reviews
  • 5 rating 59.57%
  • 4 rating 36.17%
  • 3 rating 1.06%
  • 2 rating 2.13%
  • 1 rating 1.06%
  • Housing 4.75
  • Support 4.35
  • Fun 4.45
  • Value 4.5
  • Safety 4.7
Showing 9 - 16 of 94 reviews
Default avatar
MANJARI
4/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Hangzhou

My expirience has been great as an au pair in China . It has thought me a lot and made me grow as a person.
the culture and everything is so different. The people and the manners too. You can deffenetly learn a lot.
To my surprise after six months in China, I dont want to go home yet.
If you are thinking about being an au pair in your gap year, I would say China is a different and exiting opportunity to choose. Besides the long, old culture you will also gain knowledge into the Chinese language.

What was the most unfamiliar thing you ate?
The food that I had to take up a lot of courage to try was definetly chicken feet
133 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Andreea
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Great experience!

My experience as an au pair in Shanghai was awesome! I'm about to complete my 6 months program and I will extend for 4 more. My host family is the best I could've wish for. They helped me settle in and they made me part of the family! I have a great relationship with my host kids and we always do something fun together.
The mandarin classes were really cool with an awesome teacher. I came here that I didn't know anything of the language and I have improved a lot through hard work.
Lo pair staff is also very friendly and they always answered all my questions very quickly.
I would totally recommend this experience, it's a great opportunity to explore a country and a culture that's so different from what we are used to and it allows you to grow a lot as a person.

116 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Marion
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Six months in Shanghai

I've been an Au Pair in Shanghai with Lo Pair for soon six month, I live a wonderful experience here. This is mainly due to the fact that my host family give me a lot of free time which enable me to meet a lot of friends and became fluent in Chinese ( I had a beginner level when I arrive and I can now speak normally). I think that the most important is that those six months really gave me an other vision of the world. The family part is important but it's thanks to my friends that I get to see what was the normal life of a young people here.

What is your advice to future travelers on this program?
I think that to have a good experience the two majors factors are : First your host family, take your time to choose the right one and always ask the Wechat of their foster Au Pair to have his advice. Second what you choose to do during your free time, because if you come to China to spend six months doing nothing and be bored all the time it's obviously going to be a bad experience.
59 people found this review helpful.
Read my full story
Default avatar
Marie
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Great experience

Spending 6 month in China was such a great experience. LoPair did a great job and the support was always good. Living in such a big city was a great experience and I’ll never forget that. Teaching a Chinese child is very interesting because you’ll always see the improvement after that time. Beside that I always enjoyed the Chinese lessons and I think that it was useful for me to learn such a different and interesting language. I’m very thankful for everything I’ve experienced and would always recommend the program. Thank you!

What was the most unfamiliar thing you ate?
The most unfamiliar thing I ate was frog and of course chicken feet
56 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Wencke
4/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Chinese culture as its closest

Of you want to learn about Chinese culture and language than this is your program! LoPair provides good families and a very good support to make this a great experience. You will learn about Chinese traditions, language, food, music, values and beliefs. In terms of helping with communication or cultural differences LoPair is always there to help!! Also they arrange cultural events every month which makes it very easy to connect with other people in China and at the same time you are learning more about Chinese culture. In addition you will have Chinese Language lessons to learn how to speak Chinese and learn about the Chinese characters so you will be able to gain Chinese language skills. Choose LoPair to make the most out of your time abroad.

What is your advice to future travelers on this program?
Make a Chinese bank account to pay with WeChat or Alipay on your phone. Makes everything much easier
53 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Hailey
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

An adventure with great friends

My host family are amazing I made sure to take my time to pick them. I asked a lot of questions and asked what they like any movie or books to see what type of personality they have and about their family like grandparents. I very close with mine and I asked what they did in their free time. I had said no to other host family because personally we not the right fit not that they were not good but we are all different and some people great along great and sometimes it's not so smooth. So I picked my host family based on how I felt talking to them and after and it felt right. I would say never go to fast take your time to get to know them make the right choice. When you do you have a bond that with last years after I was 6 months now I am extending 3 more and plan to meet up again with my host family I truly love them. I not only had a wonderful time with them but also my lo pair works they are amazing people and I love them as much specially my hangzhou coordinator she has always put us first and cared with all her heart. I am grateful for the time and yes there have been some hard things but the world is big and different. as long as you can take the time to understand the difference between cultural. Then you will have a wonderful time with all the new friends and family you have here. Best of luck on your adventure.

What is your advice to future travelers on this program?
Understand that the world is different many people have a different idea and sould be represented so try to understand that and what is normal to you can be abnormal to someone else. So make sure your ready to learn, have fun and grow.
49 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Lynn
4/5
Yes, I recommend this program

It's been a rollercoaster ride

I am about to finish my 8 months as an Aupair in Hangzhou and I have to say there were lots of ups and downs.
I had the luck to have an awesome hostfamily. My hostmom and I got along so so well and in the 8 months I spend here I can really say that she has become one of my best friends. Everybody in that family really cared for me as if I was a real family member. In the end it even felt like Grandma is my real Grandma and not just my Hostgrandma.
But of course being an Aupair isn't always rainbows and sunshine. Working with kids can always be really difficult and straining, especially because chinese kids are different. There were days that were amazing. My hostchild listened to me and we had a fun time. But there were also lots of times where sentences like „JieJie I don't want to play with you“ and „JieJie you are useless“ were on the menue.
You have to keep in mind that the chinese mentality is really different from what you are used to and the kids being spoiled and lots of pressure on their education is often normal.

In my time as an Aupair I grew alot. I've personally been through a hard time but it made me grow and I wouldn't want to take that back.
I made lots of new friends that grew important to me in a really short time and let alone the fact that I decided to extent my stay shows that I did enjoy my time here.
Now that I approach the end of my stay I have to say that I am indeed happy to go home but I am also happy that I decided to spend my time as an Aupair.
I am proud that I finished the program even though I don't think I would do it again. Being an Aupair once in your life is enough.

I'm also thankful for my Local Coordinator Yvonne because even if I didn't really have problems with my hostfamily Yvonne was always there to help. Also she was more like a friend to me than a person of authority which made talking to her about Problems a lot easier.

What is your advice to future travelers on this program?
make sure that you already know the basics of chinese culture before you come. It makes it a lot easier for you. The chinese mentality is a lot different from what we are used to and sometimes they might not understand what you want (or the other way around and you might not understand them. ) Being flexible and open-minded will help you a lot
51 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Yian
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Unforgettable

Au pairing in Shanghai was the best decision of my life. Not only has my Mandarin improved greatly, I had the opportunity to enjoy life and make friends in my (new) favourite city.

Living with a host family was an overall pleasant experience, they treated me very well and any issues that came up were handled maturely and through a comfortable discussion. It's very rewarding to see your host child's skills improve.

The Lopair team try their best to help you adjust to living in a new country. They are always on hand for help regarding teaching methods. The cultural activities provided are fun and educational.

One of the best things about the programme is the quality of teaching at Mandarin House. The classes are often small and the teachers are brilliant, you improve a lot in a short amount of time.

What is your advice to future travelers on this program?
As fun as it is to be in a new city, it is always better when you're surrounded by people. When you arrive, try to make as many friends as possible - my most memorable times are centred around people, not places or activities.
55 people found this review helpful.

Questions & Answers

Hi Karlie, I agree with Clara that asking directly Lopair (aupair@lopair.com) is the best idea. I am 99% sure it's impossible to have two au pairs in the same family, but I think you guys can manage to be placed in the same city! The matching process might just take a little bit longer, because you have to make sure you both find your families in the same city. Hope this helped, and let me know if...