Nearly 600 Hong Kong young people had a fruitful internship experience in nearby Chinese mainland cities, with some involved in emerging technology industries, via a flagship cross-border exchange program that expanded to include nonpermanent Hong Kong residents this year with a wider range of positions and activities.

The 2024 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Hong Kong Youth Internship Scheme invited Hong Kong young people aged 18 to 30 to take internship in six mainland cities — Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Zhongshan, and Jiangmen — for four to eight weeks.

Having been held six times since its inception in 2015, the program provided 1,158 mainland internship opportunities for Hong Kong young people this year.

READ MORE: 1,158 mainland internships on offer for HK young people

During a summary sharing session on Monday, the program convener James Tsui Siu-lung said that besides enhancing students’ resumes, the Internship Scheme aims to enrich their knowledge and workplace experience, significantly benefiting their career development.

Tsui said that a major highlight of this year’s program was the inclusion of students holding valid Hong Kong identity cards and studying fulltime in Hong Kong, enabling more nonpermanent residents to participate.

He added that this year’s program featured a diverse range of internship positions including e-commerce livestreaming, artificial intelligence, law, as well as opportunities in biomedicine, cutting-edge materials, and the semiconductor industry.

The program also included internship visits and weekend experiential activities, Tsui said that activities such as networking sessions with major enterprises in Guangzhou, factory tours at Tomson Biotech in Zhuhai, and visits to the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link in Zhongshan were organized.

Weekend activities included heritage workshops, coffee training sessions, enriching interns’ experience beyond their work assignments, he said.

Also at the event, Clarence Leung Wang-ching, undersecretary for home and youth affairs, said the special administrative region government places significant importance on young people’s development, and the vision behind such programs is to provide Hong Kong’s young people with opportunities to broaden their horizons and become a positive and forward-thinking new generation.

Leung expressed the hope that through this program, Hong Kong’s young people could better understand the country, especially the development opportunities in mainland cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

This exchange would not only enrich their social lives but also helps them to actively integrate into the overall national development in the future, Leung said.

Cheung Wing-chi, a recent graduate from Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, embarked on a month-long internship at the Acupuncture Department of Zhongshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine this year, gaining a wealth of new knowledge such as professional acupuncture theories and insightful perspectives on needling angles and depths.

He said the internship has enriched his life experience, and will yield lifelong benefits for his career.

READ MORE: 1,000 HK students set for mainland summer internships

Aurora Chan completed her internship at a cultural planning and communication company in Tianhe district in Guangzhou, praising the warm reception she received from the company’s staff and expressing her fondness for the lively pace of life in Guangzhou.

She found convenience in getting around the city by taxi and utilized her free time to explore various places, such as taking a night cruise along the Pearl River, visiting the Guangdong Museum of Art, and exploring an intangible cultural heritage industrial park.

Reflecting on her internship experience, Chan said it had enhanced her understanding of Guangzhou and is honored to have participated in the program. She said she had experienced the allure of cities in the Greater Bay Area, explaining that it has opened up more possibilities for her development.

Contact the writer at stephyzhang@chinadailyhk.com