What the International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship pays: allowance, housing and insurance
Sources checked · Unofficial summary
Under the 2025 guidelines for the International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship, the award covers tuition, accommodation, a monthly living allowance and comprehensive medical insurance — with four-week study students excluded from the living allowance. The monthly living allowance is RMB 2,500 per person for undergraduates and for one-year and one-semester study students, RMB 3,000 for master's students in International Chinese Language Education, and RMB 3,500 for doctoral students in International Chinese Language Education.
All of the figures below come from Appendix 1 of the Application Guidelines for International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship 2025, published by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation (CLEC). That edition was written for programmes starting between July 2025 and March 2026; those dates belong to that cycle and have passed, so check chinese.cn for the edition currently in force.
What the scholarship covers
Appendix 1 lists four items: tuition, accommodation, living allowance (excluding four-week study program students) and comprehensive medical insurance. A separate rule applies to online study: scholarships for online programmes provide support for tuition fees only.
Tuition: what the money is used for
Host institutions use the tuition fees for the education and management of scholarship recipients, for cultural programming, and for HSK tests. The scholarship is not paid to the student as a tuition cheque; the money goes to the host institution and is spent on those purposes.
Accommodation: a free double room, or the off-campus allowance
Host institutions use the accommodation fees to provide scholarship recipients with free on-campus accommodation, typically double rooms. Living off-campus is possible, but only upon application and approval from the host institution.
If approval is granted, the accommodation is replaced by a cash allowance paid monthly or quarterly by the host institution:
| Category | Accommodation allowance |
|---|---|
| Doctoral students | RMB 1,000 per person/month |
| Other students | RMB 700 per person/month |
Living allowance by category
The living allowance is paid to recipients by the host institution on a monthly basis.
| Category | Monthly living allowance |
|---|---|
| Undergraduates | RMB 2,500 per person |
| One-year study programme students | RMB 2,500 per person |
| One-semester study programme students | RMB 2,500 per person |
| Master's students in International Chinese Language Education | RMB 3,000 per person |
| Doctoral students in International Chinese Language Education | RMB 3,500 per person |
The appendix gives rates for those categories only. It does not list a separate rate for any other category, and it states that four-week study students are excluded from the living allowance altogether.
Programme pages on this site: bachelor's, master's, doctoral, one-year study, one-semester study, four-week study.
Payment rules for the living allowance
Appendix 1 sets out five rules that change how much of the allowance you actually receive:
- Recipients must register with the university within the period stipulated in the Letter of Admission; otherwise the scholarship is revoked.
- Students who register before the 15th of the month (the 15th included) receive the full allowance for that month; those who register after the 15th receive half.
- If a recipient leaves China for more than 15 days for personal reasons during the study period — summer and winter vacations excluded — the allowance is suspended for the period of absence.
- If a recipient is suspended or withdraws from school for personal reasons, or is subject to disciplinary action by the host institution, the allowance is suspended from the date of suspension, withdrawal or notification of disciplinary action.
- Graduating students are paid until half a month after the graduation date set by the host institution.
Medical insurance
Comprehensive medical insurance is purchased by the host institution, in accordance with the regulations on overseas students stipulated by the Ministry of Education of China. The premium depends on programme length:
| Programme length | Insurance premium |
|---|---|
| Four-week study | RMB 100 per person |
| One-semester study | RMB 400 per person |
| More than one year | RMB 800 per person/year |
The appendix does not state a premium for one-year study students as a separate line.
Questions people ask
Do four-week study students receive a living allowance?
No. Appendix 1 covers the living allowance "excluding four-week study program students", and the listed monthly rates cover undergraduates, one-year, one-semester, master's and doctoral categories instead.
Can I take the housing money and rent my own place off campus?
Only with the host institution's approval. The appendix allows off-campus living upon application and approval, in which case doctoral students receive RMB 1,000 per person/month and other students RMB 700 per person/month, paid monthly or quarterly.
Do online scholarship recipients get the same package?
No. The appendix states that scholarships for online programmes provide support for tuition fees only.
Are the 2025 figures what I will be paid?
They are the figures of the 2025 edition, written for programmes starting between July 2025 and March 2026. For a later cycle, read the current edition on chinese.cn, since amounts and rules are set edition by edition.
Sources
- Application Guidelines for International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship 2025 — Center for Language Education and Cooperation (CLEC, chinese.cn)
- chinese.cn — Center for Language Education and Cooperation (CLEC)
Checked 10 October 2026
This page is an unofficial summary, is not published by CLEC, the Ministry of Education of China or any host institution, and the official notice prevails if the two differ.