“Hangzhou is a warm city. I’m not only talking about the temperature, but the city ambience and the kindhearted nature of the people here.” Lam’s friend Yau Tsun Wai works as a sales clerk in a Zhejiang branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. He paints a different picture of working life in the province. “The harmonious re l at ionship between all of the staff is what impresses me most,” said the 20-year-old, who is majoring in business administration at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

“During our lunch break we play chess and table tennis together. Sometimes they invite me to join their team-building trips to places like Qiandao Lake,” he said. “Many of my friends feel almost intoxicated by Hangzhou. I would definitely settle down here if I got a good job offer.” Yau said he was surprised at first by the city’s colorful nightlife, including its bars, clubs, night markets — and games of cards and mahjong.

When asked to pinpoint areas where Hangzhou creates new headaches for them, Yau pointed to the local driving culture, while Lam bemoaned the cost of living. “Cars move quickly and don’t keep enough distance from pedestrians,” Yau said. “The prices are not that low. Sometimes they are just the same as in Hong Kong, so we need to save our money from now on,” Lam said.

She said she plans to go home to find a full-time job after graduating, but that her pleasant experience in Hangzhou has made her more sympathetic to the plight of the underprivileged in other parts of the region.

“Hong Kong and Shanghai are well-developed cities, but Hangzhou still has a long way to go,” she said. “On the other hand, people in big cities tend to be appallingly indifferent toward the poor…so my experience here makes me wonder if there is anything I could do to make their lives better.”

For both students, mastering the Hangzhou dialect has been the biggest mountain to conquer. “We were selected because we had fairly good Mandarin skills, but now we’ve discovered that it was far from good enough,” Yau said. I

n order to better acquaint them with Zhejiang and its business culture, their respective banks organized a slew of activities, such as outdoor expeditions and meetings with SMEs in Yiwu.

“These Hong Kong students are ambitious and willing to express themselves. Their aspiration to learn makes them study hard, so I believe their trips to other parts of Zhejiang will be very fruitful,” said Huang Zhenyu, the human resources manager of Shenzhen Development Bank in Hangzhou