Chinese Government Scholarship Life

[ladyferoz]

Hi

These forums were a life saver for me. I learnt so much about the CSC. There are a few blogs about the cgs on the internet so I need your help, should I get accepted I will also contribute.

To the current students under the cgs and similar scholarships, how is life there? Here are the basic questions I would like to ask.

1) During summer and other holidays, does the university provide accommodation for you or do you have to find alternate plans?

2) Do you use meal plans or do you have to figure out food on the stipend?

3) Any tips to adjust for incoming students?

4) What do you wish you had known before arriving in China?

Thank you guys, I'd appreciate any input!

[m000gle]

I'm not a current Chinese Government Scholarship student; but I am a previous recipient, and was on one for a full two years of language study.  I've also done my best to keep up-to-date just in case a second scholarship application, in a different category such a masters degree, is possible in the future.

In a nutshell, my CSC Scholarship experience was great, and those were probably the best two years of my life.

1) During summer and other holidays, does the university provide accommodation for you or do you have to find alternate plans?

Whether the university will provide accommodation during a holiday period will depend on whether you will continue to be enrolled as a scholarship student following the break.  For example, if you have a two year scholarship, you will continue to receive both dorm accommodations and monthly stipend during your first summer; but you will receive nothing once your studies have ended and your second summer's begun.

2) Do you use meal plans or do you have to figure out food on the stipend?

This may vary between institutions; however, most school's student cards will double as a declining balance RFID card used for canteen food and sometimes other on-campus purchases.  This will be out of pocket and, in theory, this is what the stipend is designed to cover.

3) Any tips to adjust for incoming students?

- Make friends, both local and international! ... The more friends you make, the more you are likely to use your Chinese outside class, the more likely you are to make lifelong friends (my girlfriend, for example), and the more likely you are to have fun in general.

- Find a balance between your studies and experiencing China! ... Spend all your time partying, and your studies and/or HSK may suffer; spend all you time studying, and you'll miss the entire overseas experience.

- Travel and eat lots of food! ... Maybe I'm biased, as these are passions of mine; but both will not only give you amazing memories, they will also help you settle in to your new/temporary home.

4) What do you wish you had known before arriving in China?

- Most foreign banks will not issue replacement ATM/debit cards while you are overseas, even if they have substantial domestic Chinese operations.  For example, HSBC Canada expected me to fly 10000+km home simply for a new ATM/debit card when I could walk to the local HSBC in Beijing; their motto, "The World's Local Bank", is a load of crap, unless you have hundreds of thousands of dollars in investments in your account.  They lost me as a customer in the process.  Bring two or more ATM/debit cards from home, if you can, just to be safe.

- Shoes US Size 10 (EU Size 44) and above are difficult to obtain, or will have limited selection.

- On some days, you will be amazed at how you've successfully adapted to the Chinese bureaucracy and Great Firewall; on other days these will be the bane of your existence.
 

- Foreign electronic brands (Sony, Apple, Canon etc) will frequently cost a significant premium, and you will often find yourself stuck with last year's tech at inflated prices. Unless explicitly "international" in nature, the warranties of foreign purchased brand name electronics (Apple excluded) will have limited if any free warranty service in China.

 

- The Foreigner Physical Exampination Form used as part of your CSC/Hanban/etc scholarship application may no longer be valid by the time it is to be submitted to your school and local PSB for X-1 Visa and Residence Permit processing.  They're only valid for something like six months.  I did a second full physical just weeks before departure, which was accepted without issue; while other friends, who did not, got stuck redoing their physical exam upon arrival.

 

- A Residence Permit, regardless of type (X-1 Study, Z Work etc), is received after processing within the first 30 days and become essentially unlimited entry visas for their period of validity.

 

I can't think of anything else to add, at this point.  However, if you have any questions, either I or any of the other forum members will do our best to help.

 

Have fun!  You'll be living the dream for the next year or two!

[ladyferoz]

Thank you so much! I am sorry, anyone ( current and past recipients of the scholarship ) can reply. Those are interesting points you raised especially with the banks. Thanks

[imron]

Bring two or more ATM/debit cards from home, if you can, just to be safe.

This is good advice.  Ideally have online banking configured for both accounts so you can easily transfer money from one to the other (for example if one of the cards gets eaten by an ATM).

[shuoshuo]

I was on the CSC scholarship for years, long enough to see so many of China's changes and many situations of what CSC students from different countries and continents go through.  Feel free to ask me anything and I will do my best to answer your question(s).

3) Any tips to adjust for incoming students?
- Before you leave home, pack stuff from back home that you cannot live without.  It can be anything: facial creams (specific brands), snacks, etc. Some things that are easy to find in your country, may be impossible to find in China.

 

- Don't be afraid to explore.  The new surroundings and language barriers may be very intimidating to some people.  Be bold and explore the city and even nearby cities.  It's worth it.

 

- Don't expect people to be able to understand English.  I know many foreigners who go to China and expect that there will be people who understand English so they don't plan ahead.  It's just better to expect that the general population outside the university do not understand nor speak English.

 

- Hangout with students who cannot speak English.  That way, you are forced to speak Mandarin and this will go a long way.  This past year I was on the Confucius Institute language scholarship and I know students who spent the whole year speaking English so at the end of the year, they left in the same way they came: not able to speak Mandarin.  This is because they only wanted to hangout with those who spoke English or their own language, and were either too shy or unwilling to try Mandarin.

 

- Do not get involved in protests, petitions, and so on.

 

- Brace yourself for the roommate situation.  You've applied for a bachelor's degree and as far as I know, you will probably have a roommate.  The universities try to set students up with roommates from the same region, or those who speak the same language (or even from the same country).  That will be all great, but somehow it's extremely rare for anyone to get along with their roommates.  Layout clear rules from the start. If not, try to get your own room.

 

- Get yourself familiar with VPNs.  China has blocked access to a lot of sites including Facebook, Twitter, Blogspot and so on.  If you want to continue using these social networking sites, hook yourself up with a good VPN service provider.

 

- Ask your teachers for help.  Do not hesitate, just ask them.  If you can't find something that you want to buy, if you do not know how to create a bank account or cannot do it on your own due to language barriers, if you want help at the post office, or shopping.  Teachers will help you, and it also helps you get to know them better which will be really good for you while you are studying there.

 

- Make friends with your embassy.  They can help you at anytime (changing majors, giving you more scholarships after that).  Networking is a very important thing for the Chinese, your success almost completely depends on it.

 

Good luck!

[roddy]

Welcome to the site, ladyferoz, great to see you getting some good advice.

 

Do you know where you'll be studying yet? There's a similar topic for Beijing - some of that info will also be applicable round the country. 

 

You might also enjoy this topic, few years old now, on first day of classes. 

[ladyferoz]

 

Make friends with your embassy.  They can help you at anytime (changing majors, giving you more scholarships after that).  Networking is a very important thing for the Chinese, your success almost completely depends on it.

Regarding the embassy and being able to change majors, is that possible? I know changing universities is near-impossible, and is that  comparable to changing majors? I have applied for a BA in Applied psychology and I am worried during the 2 years of language study I would want to go a different direction, such as BA fine arts. What is your experience with that? Or anyone else?

 

Thank you for your tips

[eshton]

 

Regarding the embassy and being able to change majors, is that possible? I know changing universities is near-impossible, and is that  comparable to changing majors? I have applied for a BA in Applied psychology and I am worried during the 2 years of language study I would want to go a different direction, such as BA fine arts. What is your experience with that? Or anyone else?

 

Thank you for your tips

Changing major is something very specific to the school you're attending, in some cases a quick call to your embassy and a couple of signatures gets the job done, other times it's a ton load of red tape and bureaucracy. I've friends on both sides of that situation, one guy got his major changed in hours, then there's a girl here who's been trying to change for almost 2 years.

[ladyferoz]

谢谢 你 帮 我

[eshton]

What are your preferred schools? Have you looked into that as yet?

[shuoshuo]

Changing majors and changing schools is against the CSC rules (this is mentioned).  The schools will tell you that you are not allowed.  But I personally know a few people who have done so, and it was much easier many years ago.  Now, you will definitely need to ask your Chinese embassy for help, and if they aren't really pals with you, they will tell you the same thing: that it is not allowed.  If you've got 'friends' at the embassy, all they have to do is make a call to CSC, explain the situation and you can get your major/school changed.

 

That said, a reason such as "I just changed my mind" may not suffice.  I know someone who changed schools because they wanted to change city.  They felt that Guangzhou was too hot and humid, so they moved to Beijing.  Another person got Beijing but felt it was too polluted and because he had breathing problems he had to give up the scholarship.

 

Changing from Fine Arts to Applied Psychology is quite a big change, esp. if you are placed in an Art university and then you will have to find one that offers Applied Psychology.  Changing majors such as Fine Arts to Art & Design might be quite easy.  But in this case you might have to drop the Fine Art scholarship then re-apply for Applied Psychology.

[ladyferoz]

My preferred schools were BNU(Beijing Normal), East China and South China Normal. Thank you I doubt I would want to change, I was just curious.

[Pauan]

Thanks, Ladyferoz for this thread. I wonder how come nobody thought of opening a topic like this before. haha

And thanks for the people answering it with all those useful tips. 

[ladyferoz]

It's a pleasure, well I am an extremely curious person and frankly would have loved to read personal blogs of csc scholarship students! But they are far and few in between so this is another way of satisfying my hunger of life in China ;)

[shuoshuo]

I did have a blog about my life in China but then I took it down because my number of rant posts were growing. 

[leonguyen52]

Thank you, ladyferoz! Your thread is really helpful

[ladyferoz]

It's a pleasure.

The questions that bother me are quite unusual.

Let's say you're an undergraduate student under the cgs, are you treated like everyone else in terms of studying, for example many universities encourage semester abroads, it sounds crazy but does it happen? A study abroad undergrad in China doing a semester abroad :").

[fanglu]

This will probably depend on the university, but I think in most cases you will not be treated exactly the same in terms of the courses you can study etc. A friend of mine wanted to take an elective English course as part of her bachelor degree, but was told foreign students were not allowed to study English.

 

I doubt very much study abroad opportunities would exist for foreign students (although haven't heard of anyone asking). These kind of programs are in very high demand (with a very limited supply) by Chinese students. The Chinese government is already paying for you to come to China, I doubt they would be willing to pay more to send you somewhere else and at the same time take away an opportunity for a Chinese student to do so.

 

In terms of how you are treated in class, by teachers, etc. foreign students are generally treated much more leniently compared to Chinese students.

[shuoshuo]

Ladyferoz - you will have to set it up yourself (and borne costs), and you will have to do that during the winter or summer breaks.  You will be able to claim credits through these internships though.

[ladyferoz]

Thank you, I understand. Btw, how did the free medical aid /insurance work out for you? Is it advisable to get a separate one?