Everything You Need to Know About Tsinghua University as an International Student
- Stella Beckmann
- Jul 31, 2024
- 10 min read
I went to Tsinghua University, the top university in China, on exchange for the Spring Semester 2024. It was incredible to experience such a drastically different culture and way of life. With language barriers and new systems, there was a lot to learn initially. This article will share all my insights about life at Tsinghua, particularly for those of you interested in doing an exchange or language programme there.
I will cover:
1. Campus
2. Campus Life
3. Facilities
4. Weather
6. Location
7. Friendships
8. Courses
9. Costs
10. Scholarships
11. Technology
1. Campus
Size
The campus is enormous, functioning like a city with supermarkets, banks, parks and ponds.
Biking
Everyone bikes around campus. You can buy second-hand bikes on-campus or bike subscriptions from Alipay, Didi, or Meituan.
There’s no culture of wearing helmets, but do bike carefully, because most of my friends, including myself, have had fender benders. Two of my friends had to go to hospital from bike crashes. I had my pants split open by someone swerving into me – thank goodness for Tsinghua’s great tailor in C-building.
2. Campus Life
Clubs
There’s a club fair in the first few weeks. Join everything you’re remotely interested in because some groups won’t let you join partway through the semester. There was social horse-riding I missed out on, not joining the club initially because I assumed it was for experts. You may end up in millions of WeChat groups but mute them.
I would recommend joining the language exchange WeChat group, with 400-500 students mostly wanting to practise English or Chinese. A few want to practise different languages. Ask around to find this group if you're interested in boosting your Chinese skills. It’s also a great way to make friends.
Partying
International students tend to be more open to partying than local Tsinghua students.
We often went to Sanlitun on Fridays and Saturdays, although the Didi is often about 60-80 yuan one way, about a 30-50 minute drive. Apparently, the nightlife is also bustling on other days of the weeks, although I forgot we’re not in Auckland, and only considered going out on weekends.
A few Sanlitun spots:
Martini – hosted crossover party nights with Peking University and Tsinghua University
PH – put this in the map and you’ll end up at road with several clubs to choose from
Bacardi – a rooftop bar at a Sanlitun shopping mall
3. Facilities
Sports
The North Gymnasium opened in 2023. It is grand and shiny, with table tennis rooms, basketball courts, a gym, and even a skiing room. Its ice-skating rink is free for students on weekdays 8-9am. All the gear is provided for you.
There are countless fields and tracks. One popular track is Zijing Field, a spot that blends socialising and sports. Groups of friends often hangout to chat or play music together in the evenings while others go for runs, walks, or play frisbee or football. One time I accidentally filmed a baby pooping on the track (on cardboard) here as well – the shenanigans are endless.
Canteens
Tsinghua has 16 different canteens, including Muslim and Western food. Each canteen will have its speciality dish. Many international students’ favourite canteen was Zijing or Taoli.
Zijing has four floors. The third floor has a healthy salad section. Every canteen closes at 7pm, except for Taoli, which is open until 11pm – suiting many Europeans’ later lifestyles.
C-building
C-building has a small, convenient supermarket. It has a lot of admin offices, like China Mobile (get your Chinese mobile number and plan here), delivery services, the bank, and a hair salon. But based on word-of-mouth, do not get your hair cut at C-building.
It is also the only building open all night, which means local students often study there since their electricity cuts off at 12am (international dorms don’t cut off electricity). However, if you’re there at late hours, there may or may not be local couples kissing nearby while you’re trying to study. Just a warning.
Libraries
There are also several libraries to explore. They all have a seat booking system. The first time I went to the library I didn’t understand it. I left the library without swiping out, which meant I couldn’t swipe back upon return; the librarian kindly explained this to me and let me back in.
I eventually figured out how to use the seat-booking system, excitedly sitting down and beginning to study. An hour later, I went to the café downstairs to grab a coffee and returned to my seat. Lots of students come and go to grab Meituan-delivered food or buy drinks nearby.
A student came over searching for their booked seat number, landing on my spot. In my broken Chinese, I told them I’d booked the seat number for the day already and showed them photo evidence, so they left. Ten minutes later, another student came wandering, checking the seat numbers. They had also apparently booked my seat. I told them there must be a glitch in the system, so they left as well. Five minutes later, a third student came over searching. The professor sitting next to me, and I locked eyes with a little laugh.
The student insisted that she had booked the table in a stern voice and took me from my seat back to the booking screen. I thought I was being dragged to my death by a Karen. Turns out when you leave the library, you need to tell the system via the screen that you’ll be returning within an hour. I’d swiped out of the library – as I’d previously learned – but this gave up my seat, soon making it the only available seat in the entire library out of a few hundred. I was thankful that she taught me how it worked and let me rebook my seat again.
4. Weather
Seasons
Tsinghua campus is incredibly beautiful. Actually, it’s kind of ugly in winter – grey, dry, bland… But throughout the spring, you see it transform into a lush, green setting with cherry blossoms blooming in April or lotus flowers in the ponds in June. Chinese landscaping is outstanding and a completely different experience to New Zealand. Purely because of this, I’d recommend going on exchange in the Spring semester instead of the second half of the year.
The first day I arrived in Beijing in late February, it snowed, which was a warm – or rather cold – welcome. This was the final snowfall of the season and decorated the campus for the next couple weeks.
Temperatures
February and March are cold, around 0 or a few degrees Celsius. It gradually increases to about 20 degrees Celsius in April, which is the best month of weather of the entire year. Everyone froths it. Also, the weather will jump from 2 to 22 degrees in one day for a while, giving you summer and winter simultaneously. May and June get very hot, going to around 30 degrees and eventually 35+ degrees.
5. Accommodation
Most people stay in accommodation on-campus.
Prices
It is 40RMB a day for a double room (with a roommate) and 80RMB for a single (individual room, own bathroom) or AB room (two individual connected rooms, so you have an indirect roommate).
Dorms
Buildings 20-23 are the international dorms. Building 23 is the newest building, having all double rooms. The corridors and facilities are the nicest. Building 20 was AB rooms, while building 21 was single rooms. Building 22 was under construction during my exchange and building 21 is going into construction next. 20 and 21’s corridors looked like a Korean horror tv-show’s hallways, dark and spooky, with flickering lights.
Let's not talk about non-international dorms here.
6. Location
Haidian District
Most of the Beijing universities are in similar area in Haidian district. This is on the outskirts of the city, so it takes about 1 hour to metro anywhere interesting. However, the metro is very efficient, well air-conned, and clean.
Wudaokou
Wudaokou is a nearby area, popular amongst students with its restaurants, bars and clubs.
7. Friendships
Locals
You must be proactive to interact with Chinese local students, especially because of the language barrier. Chinese students can be shy to interact because they’re self-conscious about their English being bad, but they are literally some of the smartest, most hard-working students in China.
The School of Economics and Management (SEM) had a buddy programme. My buddy became a great friend and was also super helpful, especially when first arriving at Tsinghua. I recommend joining this if you’re a business student.
Internationals
You are also in a bubble of a few hundred international students all staying in the same dorms, taking the same classes, and so on. It is a great opportunity to meet people from all around the world.
8. Courses
Semester Format & Holidays
The semester is 16-weeks long, with no specific university holiday. Instead, we got a break during the national holidays, giving us one or two long weekends and one five-day holiday. Many travelled around China during this five-day holiday, I did a Zen retreat with Tsinghua (read about it here), and a few went overseas. Heading overseas may require you to reapply for your visa since the X2 visa (180 days) only allows one entry into China. This holiday also meant a couple classes scheduled make-up lectures to attend the following Saturday.
Oh yeah, there are also Saturday and Sunday classes, but I think only local students enrol in these.
Class Format
Classes have no online recordings, so you must go in-person to not miss content. Some classes take attendance. Many classes have weekly homework. Yes, it sounds a bit like high-school again, doesn’t it.
During the first international-student welcome ceremony, a dynamic, piano music sound went off a couple times during speeches in the big lecture hall. Each time, the speaker would continue unphased while us exchange students all giggled and looked around like little children, having no idea that this interesting music was simply the bell.
Like high-school, classes run on a timetable with the bell ringing every 45 minutes. The first period begins at 8am, while the last class ends at 8.55pm. 3-credit classes are 2h25minutes long, while 2-credit classes are 1h35minutes long. There is a 5-minute break every 45 minutes.
Grading
The grading is always curved, so you may not receive many grades during the semester for specific assignments and tests since those marks weren’t necessarily reflective of your overall grade. The exams difficulty will also sometimes be adjusted based on the class performance.
9. Costs
Everything was very cheap compared to NZ. Accommodation prices were low, as previously mentioned. My canteen meals would cost on average 15-20 yuan (3.5-4.7NZD) but could be 3-4 yuan (0.7-0.9NZD) if you go to the second floor of Zijing canteen for example. A coffee from Luckin coffee can be 9.9 yuan (2.3NZD). A meal delivered to your dorm may be about 30 yuan (7NZD) including delivery and take about thirty minutes. Going out for meals might be about 100 yuan (23NZD) per meal. Buying things online like clothes, stationary, and accessories is also very cheap, and items can often arrive in two days.
10. Scholarships
China Link Scholarship
I applied for the China Link Scholarship. The Chinese Council had said you had to submit your application at least two months before the exchange, but my Tsinghua admission slip didn’t arrive in the mail until a few weeks before. I prepared and submitted the application late anyway and it was approved a few days later. I found out it was successful through an email from Tsinghua saying I’d be couriered a new admission letter since my status had changed to general scholar status.
The scholarship gave a 3000RMB monthly allowance, medical insurance, a tuition waiver (although I still paid for courses directly to UoA), and free double-room accommodation.
Prime Minister's Individual Scholarship to Asia
You can also apply for the Prime Minister’s Individual Scholarship to Asia programme.
11. Technology
Technology in China is a major culture shock.
WeChat & Alipay
Everything is paid via QR codes with Alipay and WeChat. Cash almost doesn’t exist.
I recommend setting up WeChat in your home country and attaching a Wise card to it if you can. That being said, WeChat gave me so many problems that I had to set up a new one in China on my first day with my new Chinese phone number. I opened a new Chinese bank account and attached that to my WeChat and Alipay.
Phone Battery
Definitely have a portable charger because your phone battery is everything. If your phone dies in public, you won’t be able to catch the metro home, call a taxi, hire a bike, or translate your cry for help. Actually, you could probably just hire from one of the portable charging stations before it dies or ask a nearby store. But have a portable charger.
Must-have apps:
Alipay – ordering Didis, taking transport like metro/bus, translation, payments etc.
Wechat – web browsing, finding official accounts to buy attraction tickets, socialising, payments etc.
VPN – download a few apps before you arrive; letsVPN and Astrill VPN were most widely used amongst internationals, but VPN reliability can change over time.
Baidu ditu (百度地图) or Gaode ditu (高德地图) – maps.
Xiao Hong Shu – like Chinese Instagram, use to build travel itineraries and gather information. Google's information about travel in China are outdated and often untrustworthy.
Meituan - food delivery. This app may become a best frenemy that you love but takes all your money.
Optional apps:
Railway12306 – official gao-tie train booking app. Tickets may run out faster than third-party apps. Initial account set-up may be painful.
Xie Cheng (携程旅行) – dolphin travel app for booking flights, trains, accommodation. Adds on extra fees compared to when you buy directly e.g. at Railway12306.
Baidu – web browsing if you can read Chinese.
Microsoft Edge - VPN-free browsing (Bing, I know).
LearnX – access your Tsinghua courses on your phone
Taobao – general online shopping.
Douyin – Chinese TikTok.
Bilibili – Chinese Youtube.
Didi – official app has more function than the in-Alipay version.
These apps tend to only have Chinese interfaces, so look forward to your photo library being filled with hundreds of screenshots for translation. You can translate screenshots within the photos app by pressing the button on the bottom right then clicking “Translate”. However, Google Translate works better than Apple translate.
Conclusion
If you have a passion for new cultures or a connection to China, I really recommend choosing Tsinghua. Being in a country so starkly contrasting the West comes with challenges, but also a lot of insight that can shape your understanding of the world.
I think there are a lot of false perceptions about China that create a certain stigma about going there from politics to pollution. I thought Beijing would be chaotic and dirty, only to find it peaceful and green. I thought there might be theft and crime, only to find millions of cameras watching you at every angle, making it one of the safest places you could be (although questionable, yes). I’d heard scary stories about Covid-19 and the government, but never once experienced anything dodgy. My experience was often surprising, occasionally shocking, but overall enriching and fulfilling. I hope it will be the same for you.
