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
Dec 25, 2023
Feb 29, 2024
87 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
  • Choice of host families all located in metropolis (Beijing, Shanghai. Hangzhou)
  • Local coordinator support
  • 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 1 - 8 of 94 reviews
Default avatar
Caterina
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Extremely recommended!

Thank you to Lopair I had the opportunity to live the experience that I was not able to have in University due to the pandemic situation. All the staff was extremely helpful through all the process and helped me in time of difficulty.

I highly recommend this experience to someone who wants to have a powerful insight on Chinese culture and the daily lives of Chinese people. Depending on the city and the family the experience can vary a lot from person to person so it's important to ask the right questions at the begging to the staff who is always very kind and ready to answer your concerns.

I am so grateful to the agency for making this experience possible!

7 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Gianluca
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Nice experience

During the summer of the year 2023 I took part of this program and spent 3 months in Beijing China with an amazing family who took me in their house and treated as their own. I really enjoyed my time there and had great adventures and experiences. I had to take care of the younger brother who was 11 years old, and luckily we clicked with each other. I recommend this experience to everyone who wants to do an aupair and to whom wants to discover Chinese traditions and culture. Only suggestion I can give is to study before Chinese because starting from scratch would be very difficult, for me it still was even though I studied Chinese at university for 3 years. Overall a very good experience!

Pros
  • Meeting new people
  • Trying new food
  • Living abroad
Cons
  • Communication can be difficult
33 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Camila Bianca
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Au pairing in China, the best decision I have made.

I was an au pair in the USA for 2 years and I loved the experience so I decided to try it again in a different country, China was one of my options since I had always been interested in its culture and language so when I found Lopair I knew China was the right choice.
I arrived to Hangzhou and met my host family for the first time (without taking into account the online interviews ,ofc.), they picked me up at the airport and took me to my new home.
Lopair found a great family for me, they are funny and caring and made me feel part of their family as soon as I arrived, throughout my time with them I have met 奶奶, 外婆 and the rest of the family, having dinner with their relatives and friends is great because I can practice Chinese (my host family can speak English so we use English everyday) .
They have become part of my family now and I am so happy to have them!
My host kid is so smart, he challenges himself everyday so his English has improved a lot, I always ask him things about China and what Chinese kids do for fun, etc. He is always willing to help me clear my doubts.
Lopair has been with me since day one and I am thankful for that.

Hope this was helpful and that everyone interested in China just come because they won't regret it!

Thanks Lopair!

128 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Brenda
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Out of my expection! Wonderful Experience even during the COVID-19

Honestly, I didn't expect much before I actually arrive in China. I do intersted in Chinese culture and I plan to join because I really want to experience the difference. However, I met a wonderful family, and Lopair really good at helping and supporting me during the time when COVID-19 breakout in China.

I was very worried and even panic when it started, the situation was pretty overwhelming. My host Mom was really nice to me and I also think of leaving the program earlier. When I asking questions and options how to leave, Lopair shows their great support and I also understand it's hard to get the flight during the time, I received a very clear explanation on the available options. But leaving my wonderful host family, I will feel so aweful and regreted. I got a lot helps and support from my host family and lopair, I don't feel good by leaving them at this hard time. So, I decided to stay after all.

And I'm glad that I stayed, becuase once the pandemic situation was under controled, my host family is able to take me out and we have short-trip to visit their hometown in Huzhou, a really wonderful place to visit, we climbed up the top of the mountain, visited some historical sites, learning history and ancient stories……

I thought my trip to China will be end up really bad when the COVID19 started, but it's not~ Totally out of my expectation~ I appreciate a lot and it's soooo nice to met my host family. I do suggest people who would like to join this progarm will need to prepared for being a teacher since Chinese family wants you to teach the kids to learn English.

The teaching sometime may needs you to generate some creative ideas to teach. You may also be prepared that you will need to learn Mandarin in China, Lopair offers Mandarin class and I'm able to catch up my poor Chinese, which now become one of the biggest gain during the program.

What was the most nerve-racking moment and how did you overcome it?
when the epidemic started, it really gives me a hard time to make decision on staying or leaving. I overcome it all thanks to my host family and lopair's help.
131 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Melissa
3/5
No, I don't recommend this program

Don't go

Luckily I had the support of my agency at home who also rebooked my flight so I could get home earlier when the virus in Beijing spread and contacted me and other german aupairs very quickly.

Others didn't get any help from Lopair, and tried to charge big amounts of money which no aupair can afford!

I won't explain in detail what problems other aupairs had.Another comment explains it well enough. Things went pretty bad for many of us, especially when the virus broke out.We were basicially left with no support.

Communication problems also occured on many occasions. Just be aware they will usually side with the host family and care for their problems first.After all they pay a lot of money.

China is a nice place to visit.I enjoyed being there and made some great memories.Try another company or program. You might be left with no proper care and have to pay too much money when things get bad since Lopair is only interested in making as much money as possible and not taking care.Have a nice day.

121 people found this review helpful.
Response from LoPair Culture Exchange

Hi, Melissa,

Thank you for your valuable comments.

We truly value your feedback for this program as it could help us to improve our program in the future and we are very sorry to hear that you had very bad experience regarding the flight arrangement, especially during the very difficult time with pandemic situation.We also get shock by the sudden outbreak and of course we still try our best to help out. I apology if we miss anything or we didn't give a clear instruction during the time when everyone needs help.

If you still have time to help us revisit your case, you are more than welcome to drop me a line at my email address justine.wang@lopair.com. I would like to sort out a few details with you together since I was on my maternity leave during your coronavirus outbreak time, and to see if there's anything we could do to make you feel a bit more relieved.

My sincere apology for the very bad experience!

Best regards,
Justine Wang
Program Manager

Default avatar
Hannah
4/5
Yes, I recommend this program

6 Months in Hangzhou

I embarked on this six-month placement in China with the aim of having a relatively 'productive' gap year, improving my Chinese language skills and forging connections which might prove useful in the future.

With regard to these aims, the experience was very valuable. My Chinese came on in leaps and bounds thanks to a mostly Chinese-speaking home environment and the best Chinese teaching I've ever received. I also had a really good relationship with my host family (with one caveat that will be outlined below), and will be sure to stay in contact with them for a long time to come. Despite the bulk of my placement overlapping with restrictions due to the pandemic, I was able to see lots of China, taste lots of its food and overall have many unique experiences. Highlights include cupping therapy (definitely an acquired taste!), tongue-numbing Sichuan hotpot and the spectacular scenery of Guilin.

If not for the virus situation, that would definitely be my last word on the programme. However, the fact that our host children weren't attending school meant that myself and most other au pairs were working double the hours stated in our contracts, and I felt that the agency could have stressed more to the families that this was unfair. However, I'm sure that Lopair would have happily facilitated a change of family had I requested one, and the fact that I didn't reflects just how well I got on with my family in all other respects.The fact that I stayed in China, far from family in the middle of a pandemic and working longer hours than anticipated also attests to how great the programme was for my Chinese. I was willing to make some sacrifices in order to reap the benefits of a truly amazing environment for language-learning.

Another nice bonus was making some life-long friendships while out there. I would definitely recommend the programme, though obviously it depends what your goals are at the outset.

What was the most nerve-racking moment and how did you overcome it?
Visiting one of my host parents' home towns, which really humbled me in terms of my Chinese skills but made me more determined than ever to keep working on it. Definitely not a model solution but ended up eating my way through the weekend.
123 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Lorena
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

My Journey in Hangzhou

When I arrived in China I was really happy but worried. How will the first days going?

But actually it was good. More than good. The other Aupairs (the german ones mostly) are my friends until now. Everyone was so nice and we had the greatest days at the orientation at Lopair.

The people from Lopair are so great. I love them all. Maybe someday I want to work for this kind of company. It seems great to me.
After we all went to our Host families I finally realize I was the only Aupair in Hangzhou. It was hard to know the other Aupairs who already where in Hangzhou for months because they’re already built groups and it’s difficult to fit in and get into it.

So my first weeks I’ve stayed with my family. Aiden and Alayne are my siblings. We’re not siblings by blood but I feel the connection between us. I love them. Really. My host parents are the most lovable parents that you can get. I‘m really lucky that I found a place that I can call home. I can’t never thank them enough to be such a kind and loving family.
I never had problems with my family, I heard from some of the other Aupairs that they changed families but I‘m really thankful that I‘ve been here.

The most I‘m thankful for is Yvonne and Jane. This two girls made me feel happy and helped me alot these days.

What would you improve about this program?
More interaction between all the Aupairs and the Lopair stuff.
122 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
gregor
1/5
No, I don't recommend this program

Absolutely Horrible Company (Do not go)

It started of well but after the first month me and almost every single other aupair had severe communication problems as they never did anything but send a WeChat message to the families if anything occurred always in their defence as the family pays 20,000¥ per month (£2000) and we only get paid 1,500¥ (£150) per month so if you sign up you are completely expendable to them.

I won't mention any of the other aupairs problems but in my situation my host family decided to move to a different part of China due to an ill family member endgame me 12 hours notice for me to decide if I wanted to come or not. If I left Lopair told me I wouldn't receive my language classes so I decided to switch families. When I told Lopair my decision they took a while to respond but they told didn't have a family for me and that I would have to wait for a new one.

What they failed to mention in their website is that they provide no accommodation or aid while I'm waiting for a new family. THEY LEFT ME HOMELESS IN BEIJING FOR OVER A WEEK! Due to our extremely low pay rate I had no money for an airbnb but I luckily met some people who said I could sleep in their apartment for a few nights. if that hadn't happened then I would've been sleeping on the streets.

If that wasn't enough they also charged me 300¥ because I left 3/4 through the month so I didn't complete that month of work which took away all of the money I had for food.

And of course THE WORST PART. I left at the and of January while the Corona virus was really bad. Because of this reason my host family didn't want to continue having me teach the children incase I gave them the virus so I contacted Lopair to get a new family, they said that they weren't accepting new families because of the virus and told me I HAD to fly home. I understood that so I asked when my flight left and they said that they wouldn't book my flight unless I paid them 3000¥ because they weren't accepting flights PLUS a number of different charges which weren't listed in our contract!!!

They did this to almost every single aupair and since it was 2 months of our salary none of us could afford it! A lot of my German friends got evacuated by their government and because the charges amounted to thousands of Yuan I begged my parents to buy me a flight home and I could pay them back for it when I start work again at home. Some of my friends from South America were stranded in China after I left trying to scrape together the money to get home.

This company does not provide any support to aupairs whatsoever and will only try to extort you for even more money. I would encourage you to look at other companies as a lot of them take excellent care of you but don't go with LoPair for your own safety, thank you

141 people found this review helpful.
Response from LoPair Culture Exchange

Dear Gregor,

Thank you for your valuable comments regarding to LoPair Au Pair China Program.

We truly value your feedback for this program as it could help us to improve our program in the future and we are very sorry to hear that you had very bad experience in China, especially at this very difficult time during the pandemic.

If you still have time to help us revisit your case, you are more than welcome to drop me a line at my email address justine.wang@lopair.com. I would like to sort out a few details with you together since I was on my maternity leave during your coronavirus outbreak time, and to see if there's anything we could do to make you feel a bit more relieved.

My sincere apology for the very bad experience!

Best regards,
Justine Wang
Program Wang

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...