Dear Student,
I am delighted to know that you have decided to enrol in the exchange programme at Tsinghua University in Beijing. I can assure you that it will be an enriching experience academically and culturally. Beijing is one of a kind city, and Tsinghua is considered by the Higher Times Education the best university in Asia.
As a “pioneer” from RuG in doing an exchange programme at Tsinghua University, I feel responsible for telling you how it works and what you should expect.
I’m currently an M.A student of International Relations, with a specialisation on East Asian Studies. As the programme is closely related to the Center for East Asian Studies Groningen ( CEASG ), I was able to apply and enter directly to Tsinghua University via CEASG.
At Tsinghua University, I attended the Department of International Relations and followed some of the limited courses they offer in English. However, you can follow any of the exciting courses available in English, from School Journalism to the School of Economics/Business.
Nonetheless, the Board of Examiners has to accept your choices, so keep that in mind.
During my stay, I took Chinese Foreign Policy; Finance and Chinese Financial Markets and Principles of Area Studies, although Principles of Area studies was everything but
Chinese-related. All of the three courses above were from the Department of International Relations.
The courses were well taught, but don’t expect them to be at the level of the university ranking.
The education in China is still far away from the Dutch ( European ) quality standards, so the courses are in general more accessible. In terms of workload, it will mostly depend on the teacher. Most of my classes had a very light load of work, but in Chinese Foreign Policy we were asked to write a paper of 7000 words. Similar to the workload you expect in one Research Seminar at RUG.
As a student of East Asian Studies, and with a particular interest in China, I decided that I wanted to learn Chinese. With the acceptance to Tsinghua University, that decision came to be very handy as language can be a significant barrier in your daily life in China, especially in Beijing.
Do not expect people to talk English, even at Tsinghua campus. Although it is always
manageable to communicate ( you will feel the wonders of translation apps ), I strongly advise you to start learning Chinese. Before I travelled to China, I took a course in Groningen at the Confucius Center that gave me the basics of Chinese. It won’t get you very far, but it sure helps you to wander around comfortably. Also, you should have in consideration how learning
Chinese is an excellent asset for your future.
At Tsinghua University they give you 1 day per week of Chinese classes, which is quite limited.
The university does not allocate a lot of resources to exchange/visiting students as it offers specific language courses to foreign students that take intensive courses of Chinese.
There are always private tutors that provide private lessons in case you are interested in. They are easy to find around campus.
Regarding the financial aspects of studying in China, Beijing is generally cheaper than
Groningen. In my case, I managed to get a private dorm on campus which cost 80 yuan per day ( at the current exchange rate: 300€ per month ). Since there are more exchange students than dorms available, some stay outside the campus. If that happens to be your case, expect to pay around 600 € per month if you decide to stay close to campus. The area around Tsinghua is costly as there are a lot of tech companies and good universities.
Bear in mind that living in the dorms has some disadvantages. For example, you cannot have guests in your room from 11 pm until 09 am, and you will feel a certain amount of control by the staff. Still, that did not affect me as, and on the plus side, you get your room cleaned 4 days per week.
Since I was living on campus, I ate most of the times on the many canteens the university provides, and the costs were almost none. I believe I spent around 30€ per week on food. If you plan to cook then, prices will increase, especially if you decide to keep a “European diet”.
The nightlife can be either extremely cheap or expensive. Depending on your music taste, you can see yourself spending 30 € per night or 5 € per night. In Beijing, you have a lot of clubs that will let you in and provide you with free alcohol. On the other hand, you have clubs where a drink can cost you more than 10€. Beijing is a cosmopolitan city, so you have high-end clubs and bars that cost as much as one in London or Amsterdam.
Transportation is cheap. A metro ride won’t cost you more than 60 cents, and bus rides will cost you 20 cents. Moreover, it works exceptionally well. You can download apps that will accurately inform you which metro/bus you should take and how much time it takes. Taxis are also very cheap for the amount of km’s and time you spend in a single ride. There is also the Chinese uber which is called Didi and prices are equivalent to regular taxis.
Respecting payments, China is a moneyless society, so expect everything to be paid with WeChat or Alipay. To get an account set you need to have a Chinese bank account, but Tsinghua will provide you with one for free.
Studying at Tsinghua University is a unique experience that you should not miss. You will experience living in Beijing, studying in a different educational system, meet people in a highly multi-cultural environment and you will partially understand China, as China is a very complex society. Do not waste this opportunity. I am glad I did not.
In terms of preparation and contacts before, during and after my stay, I will be fully transparent with you. It can be very stressing, it surely was for me, but after reading this, I believe you will feel prepared.
As you are entering via CEASG, you are going as a visiting student and not an exchange student, which makes a lot of difference bureaucratically.
Do not expect anyone to help you. You have to do everything by yourself. I did not know which courses I was going to take neither which ones were available for me until a month before I was starting, but after several email exchanges with my exchange coordinator, I managed to know at least which options I had. In contrast to a previous exchange I did during my bachelors, the process was more turbulent than usual but worth it. While at Tsinghua, bureaucracy is a nightmare. Nobody knows anything! You will have to ask around the same question 5 times, and you will most likely receive all sorts of answers. Eventually, you will get everything done, but for someone like me that had no previous guidance, it was a complete nightmare. On the bright side, this kind of attitudes reflects a lot on the “face” culture that East Asians tend to have, and that is one of the many impacts that you experience in a cultural clash.
As we are speaking about culture, Chinese culture is one of the most enrichings you will ever feel. Beijing is a fantastic city to live mostly because of the lack of western touch. Cities like Shanghai or Shenzhen are much more Westernised. This will give you a real experience of what China is. It is incredible how little we have influenced a country. Personally, I love Chinese culture, but it can be quite rough. It is profoundly different, and you should expect certain
attitudes that you would never see back home. From spitting to burping in public places to not having a sense of private space. But it is all part of the experience, and I think that as a person you grow a lot from these types of cultural clashes that are hard to find. If you are interested, I have a podcast on Cultural Clash and living in China on Spotify, you can search for “Insight Cathay”, and you will find at least 3 episodes with the topic of living in China through the eyes of westerners.
As I said before, the workload is not as demanding as in the Netherlands, so you do have a lot of free time. I managed to do an internship at an incubator and participate in a student
association, hence the podcast.
But if you feel that you want to explore the real China, I would advise you to travel. Travelling is the best way to get to know places and China has incredible places to visit. The country is wonderful. I had the opportunity to travel a lot before I started my exchange and I loved every single city and countryside I visited.
I hope this short letter will help you reflect on studying in Beijing. As I said before, it was a unique experience that will grant me a lot of benefits in the future.
Best Regards,
Tomás Galamba Martins.
