Uncertainty with humanities majors for CSC scholarship for international students

[Eibar]

I will apply through Embassy with the CSC Type A scholarship to study a MA in Ancient Chinese Literature. I have 4 pre-admission letters but still anxious about an issue that I think applies more to humanities majors:

 

Uncertainty:
My problem is that this combination of [Chinese universities-foreigners-humanities] as you might imagine, is extremely rare on the net. To give you an example, I have only seen one testimony of a foreigner doing a postgraduate degree in History in China. I saw it here, in Chinese forums

https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/36466-graduate-school-in-china-–-a-history-major’s-perspective/

 

Danger of not being admitted for being a foreigner / Departments not prepared to accept foreigners:

Last year I heard a case of a young man who won the CSC scholarship, everything was going well, he did his Chinese language year, but when he was ready to start his BA in Chinese Literature, the University informed him that there was no foreigner in the Literature department, he applied for a change of university, the pandemic started, the bureaucracy complicated everything, and he lost the scholarship.

 

Any recommendations for this situation? Any applicants for majors such as History, Literature or Philosophy taught in Chinese?

 

I think I'm going to confront the international office of the universities saying: SEND ME A PICTURE OF THE HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT TO SEE IF I SEE ANY NON CHINESE FACE (I'm kidding hehe).

[Shaquelle]

Hello, Eibar! Best wishes for your application to study in China. But there are a few things I'd like to share with you: your chosen field of study will almost certainly have more Chinese students than foreign students because it will be taught in Chinese. Many foreign students now choose to complete their Master's degree in Chinese, even though English is an option. 

 

However, I recommend that you contact the universities in which you are interested to confirm that the program will be available after your Chinese language year, as this can happen and you will not be notified in advance, forcing you to either give up your scholarship or choose a different program in which you may have no interest. It is also quite difficult to change schools after receiving the CSC scholarship, so you must ensure that the universities you have chosen are agreeable with a foreigner studying the Chinese curriculum.

 

Also, keep in mind that one year of language studies will not be enough to allow you to comfortably study your program without any language barrier challenges, so make sure the scholarship provides at least two years of Chinese language studies.

 

Although I am not studying humanities, but rather a business major taught in Chinese, I can assure you that you will most likely be the only foreigner in your class, but this should not be an issue if your primary goal is to learn and complete your major.

 

Good Luck!

[Meihua16]

Hi Eibar!

 

I am looking also looking at doing an MA in a humanities field next year and applying for the type A CSC scholarship. Can I ask you how your application went? Any information you could share/ any tips or tricks would be most welcome!