While thousands of graduate students from China cross the Pacific to go to law school in the US each year, an increasing number of Americans are traveling in the opposite direction to take law master's degrees in China.

Brian Timm-Brock is one. The 23-year-old is a second year graduate student at Renmin University of China in Beijing. He can speak fluent Chinese, owing to four years studying Chinese literature at Georgetown University in Washington from 2005 to 2009.

But when he graduated in 2009, he decided not to continue with Chinese in the US, but to study law in China.

"China is making great changes, it is still in a transitional period and its law will soon make significant developments. My aim is to be a law consultant in China in the future," he told the Global Times.

After living in China for over a year, his Chinese has improved quickly. However, he has found fitting in to Chinese society is not so easy.

"My language is not a problem for me. No matter how good my Chinese is, I have a face of a white man, and that makes it difficult for me to integrate with Chinese groups as we have different values."

At present, there are about 20,000 American college students in China, with about one third of them studying non-language majors including economics, management and agriculture, according to You Shaozhong, Minister- Counselor of Education Department at the Chinese Embassy in the US.

In the past, most foreign students only learned Chinese language and culture, so this is a significant change, You told the China News Service late September.

Chinese style

Benaicha Lokmane, 29, from Paris, France, is a senior in acupuncture and massage at Beijing University of Chi-nese Medicine. Before he came to China this year, he learned basic Chinese massage and Chinese language in Paris for one year. But he found the French teacher was not good enough.

"Their skill is not good enough and some can't speak any Chinese. So I decided to go to China to study real Chi-nese medicine," Benaicha told the Global Times.

Without a scholarship, he paid the tuition fee of 35,000 yuan ($5,252) a year, supported by his father and his part-time work. To understand Chinese medicine well, he visited experienced doctors in the field and read up on ancient Chinese medicine classics.

"I like traditional Chinese medicine which is old and systematic and teaches knowledge about healthcare and Chinese philosophy," he said. "And in many foreign countries, Chinese medicine is a promising career."

He said he planned to go to Singapore or Australia to work as a doctor.

For Raya Sadoycheza from Bulgaria, studying Chinese in China was not only a steppingstone in her career, but also a way to know the people.

She arrived in China in September for a one-year Chinese study program at Peking University, and will pursue her doctorate degree in the university's School of International Studies next July.

She graduated from Varna Free University in her country last October, with a master's degree in public administra-tion. Her graduation thesis was about Chinese politics, which encouraged her to study Chinese.

"China has developed very quickly in recent years. I must learn Chinese to know more about it," Raya said. "It has really helped to broaden my horizons."

Despite being able to speak and read Chinese, the 25-year-old woman still finds it difficult to write the characters. "Writing is the most difficult thing for most Western students in China," she told the Global Times.

Some say the increasing number of foreign students studying non-language majors in China can be seen as a result of the strengthening of China's global influence.

Li Guanjun, vice president of Education International Cooperation Group, a Beijing-based international study-aboard agency, told the Global Times, "China has become stronger and wealthier, so more students have an interest in it."

Most foreign students focus on social sciences and economic disciplines, while only a small number of students learn natural sciences and technology, which is not developed in China, Li said.

(Global Times October 29, 2010)