Teacher Chen 🔥 43
@teacherchen
15 years getting students into Chinese universities. The dorm, the visa line, that first freezing winter. Ask me the awkward stuff, I have heard it all.
22 Articles
1 Followers
A beginner-level look at China's famously cheap university canteens: dumplings, roast duck, and hot pot for around 30 yuan a meal.
Universities
中国大学的食堂：便宜又好吃
China's University Canteens: Cheap and Delicious
HSK 1 · 2 min read
HSK 3.0's second global sitting is set for September 20, with computer-based registration closing September 10. The big change: levels 3-6 now require simultaneous written and oral registration -- no more skipping the spoken part.
Universities
HSK3.0第二次全球试考：9月20日开考，3至6级须与口语同时报名
HSK 3.0's Second Global Trial: Exam Set for September 20, Levels 3-6 Now Require Simultaneous Oral Registration
HSK 5 · 5 min read
From 8 a.m. classes to 11 p.m. lights-out: real class and meal schedules from Xiamen University, Central South University, and Fudan University show what a day at a Chinese university actually looks like.
Universities
大学生的一天
A Day in the Life of a Chinese University Student
HSK 2 · 2 min read
Chinese universities increasingly use big data on canteen spending to quietly identify students facing financial hardship and deposit aid directly onto their meal cards, no application needed. Nanjing University of Science and Technology's nine-year-old program has helped students over 37,000 times, and Jiangsu province alone distributed nearly 4 billion yuan this way in 2025.
Universities
饭卡里悄悄多出的钱：中国高校的隐形资助
The Money That Quietly Appears on a Meal Card: China's Invisible Student Aid
Native · 4 min read
Tsinghua University welcomed its 2026 freshman class on August 19 — more than 4,000 students in total, including over 300 international students from 45 countries. A simple, numbers-driven move-in day story for beginner readers.
Universities
清华大学开学了：新生里有300多名留学生
Tsinghua Starts the Semester: 300+ New Students Are From Abroad
HSK 3 · 2 min read
Two deadlines start the day an international student enters China: accommodation registration within 24 hours, and converting an X1 visa into a study residence permit within 30 days. Peking University and Fudan set out the documents, fees and waiting times, and the National Immigration Administration has been piloting online accommodation registration in seven provinces since March.
Universities
落地以后：24小时和30天
After you land: a 24-hour clock and a 30-day clock
HSK 4 · 5 min read
Move-in season across China comes with one small essential: the campus card. Drawing on 2026 orientation notices from Hebei Normal University and Shenzhen University, this HSK3 piece explains what the card pays for, how to activate it, and how to top it up.
Universities
新生的第一张卡
A Freshman's First Card
HSK 3 · 2 min read
A practical checklist for international students arriving in China this month: which documents you actually need for registration day, how much cash to bring, and what the dorm already provides.
Universities
留学生报到那天：包里应该放什么
Registration Day for International Students: What Should Be in Your Bag
HSK 4 · 4 min read
China's University of Science and Technology (USTC) welcomes its 2026 freshman class in Hefei today, with a placement test tomorrow and a 15-day military training stretch before classes start September 7.
Universities
中国科大新生：8月21日报到，还要军训十五天
USTC Freshmen Check In August 21 — Then 15 Days of Military Training
HSK 3 · 3 min read
Zhejiang University's freshmen check into their dorms on August 21, the first of a wave of freshman move-ins across Zhejiang province this August and September.
Universities
浙江大学新生：8月21日报到
Zhejiang University Freshmen Move In on August 21
HSK 2 · 3 min read
In a pilot zone inside Hainan's free trade port, 30 Chinese and foreign universities share courses through one app, and the first graduating class shows what a dual degree earned without leaving China actually looks like.
Universities
海南自贸港黎安试验区：不出国也能拿两校学位
Hainan's free-trade-port pilot zone: a degree from two schools without leaving China
HSK 5 · 4 min read
China's national rail platform now lets 2026 freshmen reserve discounted train tickets to campus with only an ID card and admission letter — before they hold a student card at all.
Universities
没有学生证也能买优惠票：12306上线新生预约购票功能
No student ID yet? 12306 launches advance ticket booking for incoming freshmen
HSK 5 · 4 min read
The 2026 ShanghaiRanking puts 234 mainland Chinese universities in the global top 1000 — more than any other country — with Tsinghua climbing to 18th worldwide.
Universities
2026软科世界大学学术排名发布：清华全球第18，内地234所高校上榜居世界首位
2026 ShanghaiRanking published: Tsinghua rises to 18th, mainland China leads the world in university count
Native · 3 min read
A whole category of Chinese university has grown from 15 schools to 124 in seven years. Its degrees are bachelor's degrees by law — and its name differs from a junior college by two characters.
Universities
124所职业本科：是本科，但不是普通本科
124 vocational universities: a Chinese bachelor's degree, but not the usual kind
HSK 5 · 6 min read
Huaqiao University just opened a joint graduate school with a Thai university — new-energy research, and students never have to leave China.
Universities
华侨大学新能源学院揭牌：不出国，也能读中泰合办的硕士
Huaqiao University opens a new-energy school: a China-Thailand master's program without leaving China
HSK 3 · 2 min read
Peking University's incoming class reports on August 18 — and a twelve-day military training course comes before their first lecture.
Universities
北京大学新生：8月18日到校，军训十二天
Peking University freshmen: move-in on August 18, then twelve days of military training
HSK 2 · 2 min read
The largest single batch of joint university programs China has approved in years is mostly engineering and data science now, not business.
Universities
教育部一次批准219个中外合作办学机构和项目，理工科占七成以上
China approves 219 new Sino-foreign university programs in one batch — over 70% are STEM
Native · 6 min read
What it actually pays, what it does not cover, and the annual review nobody mentions until it takes the money away.
Universities
中国政府奖学金：钱、门槛和两个渠道
The Chinese Government Scholarship: the money, the bar, and the two doors
HSK 4 · 3 min read
The list is short. Three of the items expire, and that is what catches people out.
Universities
申请中国大学要准备什么材料
What documents you actually need
HSK 3 · 2 min read
Forty-odd partner universities, a school that opened in 1920 teaching in Russian — and January nights at minus thirty.
Universities
哈工大：俄罗斯学生最多的中国大学
Harbin: the Chinese university with the most Russian students
HSK 4 · 7 min read
Lectures in Russian, diplomas from both sides, and tuition several times the public-university norm. What the applicant actually needs to know.
Universities
深圳北理莫斯科大学：一所两国合办的学校
Shenzhen MSU-BIT: a university run by two countries
HSK 5 · 7 min read
Most rejected applications are not weak, they are late. Fourteen months, in the order they actually happen.
Universities
申请留学的一年：什么时候做什么
The application year, month by month
HSK 4 · 7 min read
