After The Crash: How to Study in China for Free

Government scholarships and other opportunities

Source: Reddit

So, you’ve seen the news and read the tea leaves. Let’s get straight to it: how can you learn Chinese for free and what scholarships are available to you?

The answer is, way more than you think. We’ll begin with short term, non-degree programs (<1 year) before moving on to bachelors and masters degrees.

Short term programs

You have probably heard of Confucius Institutes before. What you may not have heard is that they have been expelled from the US and are largely on their way out in Europe - with some exceptions. Further complicating this is that the Confucius Institute scholarship program is focused on training Chinese language teachers from foreign countries and it’s hard to pin down information on whether they still accept westerners or non-language teachers. That being said, its website never says it doesn’t, and the language it does have says they still accept other applicants even though teachers are their focus. So, I say give it a shot and apply. Every scholarship I will mention in this article, including this one, fully cover tuition and dorm costs as well as provide a moderate living stipend.

The application portal and requirements are here, but one thing to note is that the Confucius institute, like many scholarships to study Chinese, requires at least an HSK 3 certificate. The HSK is China’s language proficiency exam and goes from level 1 to 6 (soon to be 9). However, the first 3 HSK levels are notoriously easy, which is partly why they are overhauling the HSK system and making 1-3 significantly more rigorous. In 5-6 months of studying, you should be able to reach HSK 3. I would not let this discourage you.

There’s no other scholarship programs for short-term language study in mainland China, unfortunately, but before discussing Taiwan’s free scholarships I did want to mention the cost of tuition in China. It’s not cheap - nothing in the thousands ever is - but it is cheap relative to most college tuitions. A semester-long program generally costs between $1.2k-$2.5k and the most expensive, single-person dormitories no more than $300 a month. That might fit your budget.

Now, Taiwan’s Huayu Enrichment Scholarship is also a great opportunity with lots of flexibility and no stated minimum Chinese proficiency. The scholarship funds multiple program lengths: 2 months, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, and 12 months. A basic info doc from the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania can be found here.

This government webpage outlines the application process. The application process is handled on a university-by-university basis; each university has their own portal and sets their own application deadlines for applicants using the Huayu Enrichment Scholarship. You also need to apply to the Local Republic Overseas Office, who will interview you as part of the application process. Here’s a list of contact details for all of Taiwan’s Representative Offices, use this find yours and apply.

Now, on to long term programs. While I’m sure Taiwan probably has scholarships available for foreign bachelor and masters students, I’ll be focusing on mainland China. That’s just where my experience is.

Long term programs

There are many different, unrelated scholarship programs offered at different levels of society (Central, provincial, and municipal governments; or universities themselves), which can make it confusing and hard to navigate.

This is further complicated by the fact that there are essentially two avenues for long term Mandarin study in China. China has a solid offering of bachelor’s degrees focused on just learning Chinese, but no master’s degrees (as far as I can tell). However, many bachelor’s or master’s programs that are taught in Chinese will provide foreign students a year of full-time study at a Chinese language center before beginning their courses. That means if you opted to study a different subject, whatever your undergraduate background is, you could learn Chinese both from your full-time program and the progress that comes naturally from taking subject courses in Chinese. And you can double dip by pursuing a master’s in Chinese literature, which wouldn’t be too different from just a Chinese language master’s degree. If you just want to learn Chinese intensively for 2 years, I highly suggest a Chinese literature degree.

Finding bachelor’s programs is pretty easy, here are a couple - Donghua, Beijing Language and Culture, Chengdu - but master’s is a bit more complicated. First, when looking at a program you’re interested in, you have to see if they even offer that one year program of full-time Chinese study. As far as I can tell, almost all should. Check their admission requirements, especially any sections on Chinese proficiency. For example, China Pharmaceutical University’s admission page mentions it at the bottom of this page. If not, shoot them an email - lots of stuff in China is just hard to find on their English websites.

Now, those are the types of Chinese language programs, what are the different kinds of scholarships you can get? There’s a lot, but in short: CSC is the standard, university scholarships the next most popular, and provincial / municipal government scholarships are alright. Confucius Institute may still be an option too.

CSC is short for the China Scholarship Council, which administers the Chinese Government Scholarship program. CSC scholarships are available for bachelors, masters, and PhD programs at 274 participating universities. Almost every university that you would actually consider going to is a participating university, so don’t sweat that part. The confusing part, however, is the categories of CSC scholarships: Type A, Type B, and Type C.

Type A scholarships must be applied for via a Chinese embassy; Type B scholarships must be applied for via the university itself. I still don’t know what Type C’s are. Besides the form of application, everything else about Type A and Type B scholarships are identical. This webpage lays out the application process that you need to follow (not a government website).

Now, in addition to having their own portals for Type B CSC scholarships, many universities also have their own scholarship programs that they administer. These scholarships are usually similarly generous to Chinese Government Scholarships and are relatively easy to apply for. The difficulty with these scholarships, just like scholarships from municipal and provincial governments, is in finding them. Luckily, there is one English-language Chinese government portal with a full list of every type of scholarship (including the CSC scholarships) right here. You can also apply for scholarships using this portal. And not only will it help you find scholarships, but it also lists their requirements and application deadlines. Here is the exact page for the CSC scholarships, by the way.

I believe the Confucius Institute also may still run its scholarship program for bachelor’s and master’s degrees, but I’m unsure. You can investigate using the link I attached earlier. If anyone reading this has info on Confucius Institute scholarships, please comment and I can update the post.

So, to wrap it up, if you want to study Mandarin in mainland China or Taiwan you have two main choices: short term non-degree programs or a master’s / bachelor’s degree. From there, you can select from a whole host of scholarships that will fully fund your tuition and day-to-day expenses. Huayu Enrichment Scholarships (ROC) or Confucius Institute scholarships (PRC) for short term programs and CSC, university, provincial, and municipal scholarships for longer-term degree programs in China.