When I first came to Nanjing university, it was very stressful to get registered and fully apply. I’ll try to explain all you need to know from the moment you decide you want to study here to when you get on the plane to China.

The scope of this article is mostly aimed towards people applying as non-degree students, who already have a degree or don’t want to get one in China and just want to learn Chinese in China. Most of this page is applicable to anyone Chinese studying at any university in China, but some details are specific to Nanjing University.

Please note that knowing Chinese makes this much easier. If you don’t know anything, try to find a chinese friend to help. If you speak a little, just practice words and phrases that you expect to say or hear.

About the program

All you need to know should be on this page. You won’t need to worry about placement, classes, or paying tuition until you are in China.

Cost

It will cost 500元 to apply, 9500元 per semester for tuition, 400元 for insurance, and around 1500-2500元 for housing a month if you are not staying in a 3+ person dorm. Meals range from 10元-18元 for something healthy and filling. Transportation is 1元/hour to use a sharebike, and subway/bus trips are 2-4元.

You can apply for a Confucius Institute Scholarship. This will subsidize your tuition and housing, and also give you a stipend for food and fun. You’ll have to already have some previous chinese experience and pass an HSK test.

Everything is much cheaper in China, but costs do add up quick when you don’t have income. You can illegally work teaching english for 200元/hour if you’re a white native english speaker and less if you’re not, but this is legally risky and can make it harder to spend time studying.

Before you self-apply

Before you apply by yourself, if you’re part of a college outside of china, talk to the international office as you might be able to find a way to take actual classes or get more comprehensive help from your school. These people are paid to do this sort of work and aren’t just writing blog posts for fun like me.

Applying online

For NJU, navigate to the registration page. Sign in with your newly created account. Note that they will send your password to you in plaintext via email, so choose a password you haven’t used before and don’t plan to use again.

After applying, they will send you an email within a few weeks letting you know that you have been admitted. They will then send you a JW202 Form. This can take a month or two. If there’s any problem, send them an email or call them at 011 86 25 8359 4535. Be prepared to speak chinese as they usually can’t speak english.

Visa

This part may differ for non-americans. You should be applying for a X1 visa. Only apply for the X2 visa if you are absolutely certain you won’t be staying there for more than a semester. It is much easier to extend your X1 visa in China than reapply for a X1 or X2 visa when you are in china.

Once you get the JW202 form, bring it to your local Chinese consulate along with a V.2013 Form (Visa application form) and a copy of the Admission Notice.

So in short you’ll need to bring the following to the Chinese Consulate:

• Non-expired passport
• A filled-out V.2013 form – This has to be filled out digitally and they will deny anything filled out with pencil/pen!
• A passport photo, taped or glued to your V.2013 application
• JW202, which will be mailed to you by NJU
• A copy of the admission notice, should be sent to you by email or accessible on the web portal
• A photocopy of the main page of the passport
• A credit card to pay for the visa
• Some change in case you need to use a copy machine

After bringing these to the consulate, you should get a receipt and a date to come back and get the passport with affixed visa. Now you’re ready to book a plane and go to China!

Flights, and Prep

When scheduling your trip, try to get there a few days in advance. This is smart for a few reasons.

• No rush in paying tuition or getting housing. There’s a two-day period to sign up for the school and you’ll want to utilize both days. I made the mistake of arriving on the last day of registration and it was hell.
• You can meet other foreigners in advance and learn valuable information about housing and classes. There’s a lot of nuance with the paperwork needed to get your residency permit and register for school, and the earlier you learn this the better.
• You can get housing figured out in advance. NJU lets you live in the Zeng Xianzi Lou dorms a few weeks before classes start.
• You can get tuition money in advance. If you’re taking a bank card, you can only withdraw 2000-3000元 a day, and the costs of tuition and housing can exceed that.

Install the following apps on your phone:

• VPN: Ask friends in china or do some googling. If you know what Linux is, check out Shadowsocks.
• Wechat / 微信: This is facebook for China, but much more useful. Nearly everyone you encounter will use it to communicate and pay for goods and services.
• Pleco: Pleco is your god. Pleco老师 will be the most-used app on your phone. Embrace it but don’t rely on it too much! Besides being the best chinese dictionary app, it’s simply the best language app hands down. You can write characters or type them in, and optionally buy OCR. I’d recommend looking into the flash card functionality. The $60 professional pack is worth the money.
• Baidu Translate / 百度翻译: For longer sentances with grammar, this is helpful, especially in survival situations. As with pleco, when you’re making effort into learning chinese be very careful how much you rely on it.
• Baidu Maps / 百度地图: Google maps for China.
• Alipay / 支付宝: Besides wechat, a useful method of paying that sometimes gives you discounts.

If you install these through the Google App store, you will need a VPN to update them. Otherwise you can download them by going to baidu, searching for them in Chinese, and finding the 普通下载 unless you want baidu spyware all over your phone. Otherwise downloading the Huawei app store is a safe and spam-free way to download Chinese apps in China

Packing

Utilize as much space in your luggage for personal items you can’t get in China. Besides personal items, here’s some things you’ll find useful:

• Bank cards: Try to get a bank card or two since you can withdraw money from Chinese ATMs with providers like Visa. Try to get an extra just in case you lose one. Make sure you call your bank to let them know you’ll be in china. It would be terrible if they block your card due to suspicious activity!
• Domestic Cash: You can definitely just withdraw money from the ATMs with your bank card, but it’s much safer to have cash just in case something doesn’t work. I’d recommend bringing as much as you are comfortable with, or just 1000元 worth. You’ll be safe all the way from the airport to the campus if you conceal the cash well and take a direct route. Note that the airport has the worst currency exchange rates, so try to find a bank.
• Chinese Cash: If you can find a fair rate or have money left over from previous trips, take as much Chinese cash to china. It helps a lot when you get right off the plane since you don’t need to exchange anything.
• Some tissue: Chinese toilets do not usually have toilet paper, and you’ll need some tissue immediately after getting off the flight. One packet of 4-5 tissues should be fine.
• Anti-Diarrhea Medication: I’m sure you can get this in China, but it’s nice to have it on-hand.
• Universal Chargers: You can buy this in China but it’s easier to have it with you from the start.
• JW202 form and NJU acceptance letter: You can probably get these printed out by the people at NJU, but bring them anyways.
• Eatables, specialties and souvenirs from your hometown: It’s great to have a few things to give as gifts that people can’t get in China.
• In-demand goods: Some stuff is just really in demand in China. These work well as gifts too.
• SIM card with international features enabled: You’ll only need international 2/3/4G for the first week or two since you will be purchasing a chinese SIM card quickly in China. But it helps to have 2/3/4G right out of the airport.