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China Scholarships Index

Unofficial index. Applications are made only through the official channels linked on each page.

Police clearance for a Chinese Government Scholarship: the six-month issue window

Sources checked · Unofficial summary

Yes: the Chinese Government Scholarship application guide lists a valid Certificate of Non-Criminal Record (or Police Clearance Certificate) among the required documents, issued by the local public security (such as the police station) and usually issued within six months before the date you submit. The ASEAN-China Young Leaders Scholarship and the MOFCOM Scholarship-CSC Program carry the same six-month wording. None of the three notices says whether the document must be translated, notarized or legalized.

What the three notices actually say

Document What it calls the document Who must issue it Time window
Application Guide for Chinese Government Scholarship, item 13 Certificate of Non-Criminal Record (or Police Clearance Certificate) The local public security (such as the police station) Usually issued within six months prior to the submission date of the application
Guidebook to the ASEAN-China Young Leaders Scholarship, item 11 Non-criminal record report The local public security authority Usually issued within 6 months prior to the submission date of the application
MOFCOM Scholarship-CSC Program (Enrollment Guide), item 9 Non-criminal Record Report The local public security authority Usually issued within 6 months prior to the submission date of the application

The three wordings match on the substance. They differ only in the label used and in the detail that the scholarship guide names a police station as an example of the issuing body. None of the three names a specific office in any particular country, and none gives a form number or a template.

How the six months is counted

The clock runs backwards from the day you submit the application, not from the day your programme starts and not from the day you travel. All three notices use the phrase "usually issued within six months prior to the submission date of the application".

Two details in that wording matter. The word is "usually", not an absolute test stated with a hard deadline, and none of the three notices describes who decides an exception or what counts as one. And the window attaches to the issue date printed on the certificate, not to the date you collect it or the date you upload it.

This is a different construction from the medical examination, which is also a six-month document. The scholarship guide says medical examination results "are valid for only six months", a validity period running forward from the examination, while the police certificate is described as a window counted back from submission.

Does the certificate depend on how long you will stay?

No length-of-stay condition is attached to it. Item 13 of the scholarship guide says "an applicant shall submit" with no qualifier. By contrast, item 12 of the same guide ties the Foreigner Physical Examination Form to applicants who will "study in China for more than six months", and item 9 of the ASEAN-China Young Leaders Scholarship guide does the same for applicants "planning to stay in China for more than 6 months". The MOFCOM enrollment guide lists the physical examination form as item 6 without a length condition in the text supplied here.

Translation, notarization and legalization: the notices do not say

None of the three notices states whether a police clearance certificate issued in a language other than Chinese or English must be translated, notarized, or legalized, and none mentions an apostille or consular authentication. That gap is worth reading against what the same documents do require elsewhere:

  • The scholarship guide requires a notarized photocopy of the highest diploma (item 3) and notarized Chinese or English translations for academic records in other languages (item 4). Item 13 contains no comparable instruction.
  • The ASEAN-China Young Leaders Scholarship guide requires notarized translations for the diploma (item 3) and the academic report (item 4). Item 11 contains no comparable instruction.
  • The MOFCOM enrollment guide carries a general reminder that all documents submitted should be in Chinese or English and that otherwise a notarized copy in Chinese or English is required. That is a document-wide rule, not a statement about the police certificate, and the notice does not restate it in item 9. The same reminder lists degrees, transcripts, the Foreigner Physical Examination Form and language certificates as items whose originals must be presented for on-site verification; the non-criminal record report is not in that list.

What the documents do say is where to ask. The scholarship guide refers applicants to the application receiving agency, and the MOFCOM enrollment guide tells applicants to consult the application receiving authority. Beyond that, the notices leave the question open, and this page cannot answer it from them.

What the CLEC line says

The eligibility section of the International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship 2025 guidelines requires applicants to "be friendly to China, have no criminal record, abide by the laws and regulations of China and the rules and regulations of the Host Institution". That is an eligibility condition, written as a statement about the applicant rather than as a document request. The supplied excerpt covers only the eligibility section, so this page cannot say whether CLEC asks applicants to upload a police certificate, or how recent one would have to be.

Which cycle these texts belong to

  • The scholarship guide page carries no publication date and no academic year.
  • The ASEAN-China Young Leaders Scholarship page heads its focal point list "As of 2026" and gives no application deadline date.
  • The MOFCOM enrollment guide gives no academic year and no deadline date, and directs applicants to the application receiving authority for the deadline of each year.
  • The International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship guidelines are dated January 2025 and were written for programmes starting between July 2025 and March 2026, with age measured on 1 September 2025. Those are the dates of that cycle, and they have passed.

Questions people ask

Do I need a police clearance certificate for a Chinese Government Scholarship application?

Yes. Item 13 of the Application Guide for Chinese Government Scholarship requires a valid Certificate of Non-Criminal Record, also called a Police Clearance Certificate, issued by the local public security such as the police station.

How recent does the certificate have to be?

The guide says it is "usually issued within six months prior to the submission date of the application". The ASEAN-China Young Leaders Scholarship and MOFCOM guides use the same six-month window counted back from the submission date.

Is it required if my programme is shorter than six months?

The requirement as written carries no length-of-stay condition. Item 13 of the scholarship guide says an applicant shall submit the certificate, while the medical examination requirement in item 12 is limited to applicants studying in China for more than six months.

Does the certificate need to be translated or notarized?

The notices do not say. None of the three mentions translation, notarization, legalization or an apostille for this document, even though the same documents require notarized translations for diplomas and academic records.

Who issues the certificate?

The local public security authority; the scholarship guide gives the police station as an example. No notice names a specific office in any particular country.

What happens if my certificate is older than six months when I apply?

The notices do not describe that situation. They state the six-month expectation and use the word "usually", without setting out a consequence or an exception process.

Sources

Checked 10 October 2026.

This page is an unofficial summary, is not published by the China Scholarship Council, Campus China or the Center for Language Education and Cooperation, and the official notice prevails if the two differ.

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