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Fully funded scholarships in China: what 'full' covers in each notice

Unofficial summary · Sources checked

A 'full' scholarship in China is not one fixed package. Each notice lists its own coverage lines, and the lines differ: the Application Guide for Chinese Government Scholarship lists four items, while the MOFCOM Scholarship — CSC Program (Enrollment Guide) names eight. Read a 'full' award by matching the notice's own list against your costs, item by item.

None of the five notices uses the phrase 'fully funded'. The ASEAN-China Young Leaders Scholarship guidebook and the Chinese Trade Unions Silk Road Scholarship notice each describe 'a full scholarship award covering all program-related expenses', and the MOFCOM guide says students who pass the annual review 'may continue to enjoy full scholarships in the next year'. Those are the words on those three pages; they are not a shared definition.

The scholarship match on this site takes your study level, citizenship, programme language and HSK level and prints the national scholarship entries that fit what you entered, each with a link to the official notice it came from; a result is not an award or an eligibility decision.

The five notices, side by side

One column per notice. A cell reads 'not stated' where the notice is silent on that line. Amounts are as printed in each notice; this page does not add them together and does not rank the programmes.

Line Chinese Government Scholarship (Application Guide, III. Scholarship Coverage) ASEAN-China Young Leaders Scholarship (Guidebook, 2. Coverage and Standard) MOFCOM Scholarship — CSC Program (Enrollment Guide, IV. Scholarship Coverage) Chinese Trade Unions Silk Road Scholarship (Coverage and Standard) International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship 2025 (Appendix 1)
Tuition Tuition fees. No amount stated. Entirely covered; funds paid direct to the host university. Majors with exceptionally high tuition (the notice gives MBA as an example) are decided case by case. Exempt from tuition fee, teaching material fee, research and survey fee, allowance of English-taught program, dissertation guidance fee. Entirely covered; funds paid direct to host universities. Stated in the coverage table as 25,000 CNY per person per academic year. Covered. Host institutions use tuition fees for education and management, cultural programming and HSK tests. Online programmes: tuition fees only. No per-person amount stated.
Accommodation Free university dormitory or accommodation subsidy. University dormitory, one single room per recipient. Free on-campus accommodation. Free university dormitory; funds paid direct to host universities. Stated in the coverage table as 8,400 CNY per person per academic year. Free on-campus accommodation, typically double rooms. Off-campus with host institution approval: RMB 1,000 per person/month for doctoral students, RMB 700 per person/month for other students, paid monthly or quarterly.
Stipend Undergraduates CNY 2,500/month; master's students and general scholars CNY 3,000/month; doctoral students and senior scholars CNY 3,500/month. Master's students 4,000 RMB/month; doctoral students 5,000 RMB/month; research scholars 5,000 RMB/month. 36,000 RMB per year per master's student; 42,000 RMB per year per PhD student. 36,000 CNY per person per academic year, paid monthly by the host university. RMB 2,500 per person/month for undergraduates, one-year study and one-semester study students; RMB 3,000 for master's students in International Chinese Language Education; RMB 3,500 for doctoral students in that field. Four-week study programme students excluded.
Medical insurance Comprehensive medical insurance: CNY 800 per person per year; CNY 400 per person for programmes lasting less than six months. Covered by the programme. Amount not stated. Free medical insurance for international students. Amount not stated. Covered by the programme; 800 CNY per person per academic year. Purchased by host institutions under Ministry of Education regulations on overseas students: RMB 100 per person (four-week), RMB 400 per person (one-semester), RMB 800 per person per year (more than one year).
International travel Not stated. Round-trip air fare, economy class only, between home country and the host university city; use of the fund and reimbursement are set out in Chapter VI of the guidebook. One-time round-trip airfare for all students (first flight to China after enrolment, and flight home at graduation), plus a maximum of 'n-1' round-trip airfares for home visits, one per year at the end of an academic year, where 'n' is the length of schooling in years set at enrolment and is maximally three. One-time international round-trip air fare, economy class only; the return ticket is provided only upon completion of study. Not stated.
Other items the notice names Not stated. One-time settlement fee of 3,000 RMB per person for master's students, doctoral students and research scholars, issued on registration. Annual review of performance; failure may result in expulsion and cancellation of the scholarship. One-off resettlement fee of 3,000 RMB per person. Compulsory annual review; passing it allows the student to continue in the next year. Other expenses are managed by the Ministry of Commerce or the universities as a whole and are not distributed to students. Sponsorship runs only within the enrolled academic duration; students who postpone graduation do not receive continuing sponsorship. Funded by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions. One academic year (12 months) of Chinese Language study at Beijing Language and Culture University, taught in Chinese, for trade union officials from countries along the 'Belt and Road'. Scholarships support tuition, accommodation, living allowance (excluding four-week study students) and comprehensive medical insurance. Registration must happen within the period in the Letter of Admission, or the scholarship is revoked.

How the stipend is actually paid

Three notices set the same mechanics for the monthly payment; two are silent on them.

  • Register on or before the 15th of the month: full month. After the 15th: half of that month. (Guidebook to the ASEAN-China Young Leaders Scholarship, 2. Coverage and Standard; Chinese Trade Unions Silk Road Scholarship, Coverage and Standard; Application Guidelines for International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship 2025, Appendix 1, item 3.)
  • Graduating students: stipend runs for another half month after the graduation date — in the 2025 guidelines, after the date set by the host institution. Same three notices.
  • Absence from China for more than 15 days for personal reasons, school holidays excluded: the stipend stops during the absence. Same three notices. The 2025 guidelines add that the living allowance is also suspended from the date of suspension, withdrawal, or notification of disciplinary action by the host institution.
  • Bank account: the ACYLS guidebook says host universities may require recipients to have a RMB bank account in China to receive the stipend, and tells enrolled students to contact their host university for details.
  • Neither the Chinese Government Scholarship Application Guide nor the MOFCOM guide says how the monthly amount is prorated for registration date, graduation or absence.

Where each notice is silent

Silence matters as much as the listed lines, because a gap in one notice cannot be filled from another programme's notice.

  • The Chinese Government Scholarship Application Guide, III. Scholarship Coverage, names four items and nothing else: no airfare, no settlement or resettlement fee, no teaching material fee, and no statement of how the accommodation subsidy is calculated.
  • The ACYLS guidebook states that medical insurance is covered but gives no premium, and the tuition line is qualified by the case-by-case rule for high-fee majors such as MBA.
  • The MOFCOM guide gives the insurance only as 'free medical insurance for international students', with no premium, and does not describe the on-campus accommodation beyond calling it free.
  • The Silk Road notice gives per-person academic-year figures in its coverage table and, separately, describes accommodation and tuition as provided free and paid direct to host universities; the notice does not say whether the 25,000 CNY tuition and 8,400 CNY accommodation figures are ceilings or fixed allocations.
  • The 2025 International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship guidelines name no travel item, no settlement fee, and no per-person tuition amount.

Dates, cycles and what the pages do not cover

  • Application Guide for Chinese Government Scholarship: the page carries no publication date and no academic year.
  • Guidebook to the ASEAN-China Young Leaders Scholarship: the focal point list on the page is headed 'As of 2026'; the page gives no application deadline date.
  • MOFCOM Scholarship — CSC Program (Enrollment Guide): no academic year and no deadline date. The notice says to consult the application receiving authority for the deadline of each year.
  • Chinese Trade Unions Silk Road Scholarship: no academic year and no deadline date. In the page's 'Tips for Coming to China' section the first sentence reads 'ACYLS winners'; that is the wording as it appears on the page.
  • Application Guidelines for International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship 2025: dated January 2025 and written for programmes starting between July 2025 and March 2026. Those dates belong to that cycle. The application website named in it is http://www.chinese.cn.

Questions people ask

Do any of these notices call the award 'fully funded'?

No. None of the five notices uses that phrase. The ACYLS guidebook and the Silk Road notice both write 'a full scholarship award covering all program-related expenses', and the MOFCOM guide writes that students who pass the annual review 'may continue to enjoy full scholarships in the next year'. The coverage section (Section III) of the Chinese Government Scholarship guide and Appendix 1 of the 2025 ICLT guidelines list coverage without either wording.

Is airfare part of every 'full' award?

No. The ACYLS, MOFCOM and Silk Road notices name an international airfare item; the Chinese Government Scholarship Application Guide (Section III) and the 2025 International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship guidelines (Appendix 1) do not name one. For the Silk Road scholarship the return ticket is provided only upon completion of study.

Can I get cash instead of a dormitory?

It depends on the notice. The Chinese Government Scholarship guide offers 'free university dormitory or accommodation subsidy'. The 2025 International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship guidelines allow off-campus living on application and approval, with RMB 1,000 per person/month for doctoral students and RMB 700 per person/month for other students. The ACYLS, MOFCOM and Silk Road notices describe a university dormitory, and none of the three says what happens if a recipient declines it.

Does the stipend keep coming if I leave China for a month?

Under the ACYLS, Silk Road and 2025 guidelines, more than 15 days out of China for personal reasons stops the payment during the absence; school holidays are excluded. The Chinese Government Scholarship Application Guide and the MOFCOM guide do not say.

Do the notices give a total value for the award?

No. Each notice lists lines and, in some cases, per-item amounts. None of the five totals them, and this page does not add them up either.

Sources

Checked 10 October 2026. This page is an unofficial summary, is not legal or immigration advice, is not published by the bodies named above, and where the official text or the instructions of the body handling your application differ, those prevail.

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