Living Abroad

The United States remains the most popular destination for Chinese students looking to study abroad. In the 2013-2014 school year over 274,000 Chinese students came to the United States to study, accounting for 31% of the entire international student body that year. A large number of these students come from China’s wealthiest and most powerful families—the daughter of President Xi Jinping, for example, studied under an assumed name at Harvard. While the US remains the uncontested number one destination for Chinese students, the U.K. came in second with a total of 58,810 students commencing their studies in the 2013-2014 school year, compared to 57,190 Chinese students in all other European countries.

In many parts of China simply being a foreigner used to earn you some semblance of fame, but as more and more expats are choosing to call China home and high schools around the world are starting to offer Chinese classes, being white and able to speak some Chinese no longaer earns you the celebrity status. Here’s a list of 5 famous “lao wais” and a short description of what they’ve done to accomplish that status.

China is one of the biggest countries in the world, and with a population of 1.4 billion people, you’re bound to have some quirks. Here are 11 of the most surprising facts.