「一带一路」与区域奖学金：多数申请者会错过的项目

Multilateral and institutional schemes

The Alliance of International Science Organizations (ANSO) runs a scholarship for master's and doctoral students at Chinese Academy of Sciences institutes and affiliated universities. The New Silk Road scholarship operates at a set of western Chinese universities. Several UN agencies, the World Academy of Sciences and regional bodies also nominate candidates for Chinese funding.

If you are from a country with a bilateral education agreement with China, your ministry of education or national scholarship agency may have an allocated CSC quota that is much easier to obtain than the open embassy route.

Provincial and municipal schemes

Almost every province operates its own scheme: Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Hubei, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Henan, Liaoning, Jilin, Anhui, Fujian, Tianjin and Chongqing all fund international students. Coverage ranges from a tuition waiver to a full package with a stipend, and the application usually runs through the host university.

Municipal governments in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, Chengdu, Xi'an, Qingdao and Shenzhen all add their own top-ups. Nanjing's "Jasmine Jiangsu" programme bundles an internship with the funding, which is unusual and useful.

University and industry funds

Named university awards include the Schwarzman Scholars programme at Tsinghua, the Yenching Academy at Peking University, the Peking University HSBC Business School fellowships, the Southern University of Science and Technology Presidential Fellowship and the Confucius Institute host-university grants.

Industry-funded schemes exist too, particularly in engineering and ICT, where companies sponsor postgraduate students in exchange for research collaboration. These are usually advertised on laboratory pages rather than central scholarship pages — so contact prospective supervisors directly.

How to search properly

Work from three directions at once: the national route (your embassy or ministry), the provincial route (the province of your chosen university) and the institutional route (the university and the specific school or laboratory). Applying to all three costs little extra effort and multiplies your chances substantially.