Discover China

The parts of China that students talk about after they arrive: the food, the landscapes within a train ride, the technology that runs daily life, and the economy they will connect to when they graduate. Photographs are of real places.

A country that fits in one visa, not one trip

China is about the size of a continent. In the north you get dry winters and dumplings; in the south, subtropical summers and rice noodles; on the coast, seafood and skyscrapers. The same country holds deserts, glacier plateaus, karst river valleys and tropical islands.

For a student this is practical rather than exotic: everything below is reachable by train on a student budget, and the visa and residence permit you get for study is what lets you see it during term breaks.

China in pictures

Infrastructure, energy, space and trade at national scale

These are not isolated showpieces: they are systems that move people, goods and ideas across the country every day.

Maglev train at Pudong airport, Shanghai — Shanghai's maglev covers the 30 km from the airport to the city in about eight minutes.

Solar power plant with rows of panels — Solar is now one of China's biggest industries — panels, power plants and exports.

Rocket launch at night in China — China runs crewed and cargo launches several times a year — engineering students watch them live.

Container freight train at a rail terminal — Rail freight terminals move goods across Asia and Europe

Shenzhen skyline at night — Shenzhen: a fishing town in 1980, a technology metropolis today.

Canton Tower and the Guangzhou skyline at night — Guangzhou: the Pearl River Delta is the export engine behind a lot of global trade.

Food: eight great cuisines, and a night market at every campus gate

Chinese cooking is regional. Sichuan and Hunan are hot and numbing; Guangdong is steamed and light; the northwest runs on lamb, hand-pulled noodles and bread; the coast is seafood. Eating in one city does not mean eating one cuisine.

University canteens are subsidised and cheap, street stalls and night markets open after evening classes, and every city has a dish worth travelling for. Vegetarian, halal and allergy needs can be met — you just have to explain them clearly.

Chef carving a roast duck — Peking duck, carved at the table — Beijing's signature dish

Baozi and soy milk on a table — Baozi and warm soy milk: breakfast for a couple of yuan

Shelves of teapots and tea utensils in a tea shop — Tea is a daily habit, not a ceremony reserved for guests

A crowded hot pot restaurant — Hot pot is the meal you share, and the one you will remember

Street food vendor cooking at a night market — Night markets run late, and cost almost nothing

Landscape: mountains, lakes and gardens, all a train ride away

The famous places — the Great Wall, Guilin's karst rivers, Zhangjiajie's sandstone pillars — are spread across the country, which means a different trip each holiday rather than one long tour.

What students underestimate is the everyday scenery: classical gardens in Suzhou, lakes inside Hangzhou and Wuhan, mountains two hours from Shanghai. Student tickets are cheap, and high-speed rail turns a long weekend into a real journey.

Mountain peaks above a sea of clouds — A sea of clouds in the Huangshan mountains, Anhui

Boats on a lake with hills behind — West Lake, Hangzhou — an hour from Shanghai by train

Classical Chinese garden with a pond and pavilion — Classical gardens in Suzhou, designed to be walked slowly

The Great Wall on a forested ridge — The Great Wall at Mutianyu — a day trip from Beijing

Karst mountains along a river — The Li River near Guilin, in the south

Tall sandstone pillars rising from forest — Zhangjiajie's sandstone pillars in Hunan

Technology: what the future looks like on an ordinary Tuesday

China runs the world's largest high-speed rail network, the largest electric-vehicle market and the busiest delivery system anywhere. Mobile payment is so standard that many shops no longer keep cash.

For students this is not a museum exhibit. You will pay, travel, order and register for everything with a phone, and engineering or computer-science students will be studying next to the companies doing the work.

High-speed railway line running through a city — High-speed rail: most major cities are hours apart

QR code payment terminal on a counter — A phone is the default way to pay for anything

Robotic arm at a technology exhibition — Robotics and automation are mainstream careers here

Interior of Beijing Daxing International Airport — Beijing Daxing International Airport — one of the largest airport terminals in the world.

Metro platform in Shanghai — Shanghai Metro: the longest metro network in the world, and most students' daily commute.

Economy: the partner behind a lot of your country's trade

China is the world's second-largest economy and the largest trading partner of most countries in Africa, Central Asia and Southeast Asia. That trade needs people who can work in both languages and both business cultures — which is precisely what a graduate who studied here offers.

The visible side is Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing. The side that hires is manufacturing, logistics, energy and construction companies running between China and your home country.

Modern office towers and an elevated road in Beijing — Beijing's central business district

Shanghai financial district at night — Shanghai's Lujiazui financial district

A modern city skyline behind a lake — Hangzhou: a tech hub that still has a lake in the middle

Container cranes at a deep-water port — Container ports handle the trade that employs graduates

Electric bus at a charging station — Electric buses and cars are normal city transport

Car factory assembly line — Car plants build both the vehicles and the battery supply chain behind them.

Wholesale market halls in Yiwu — Yiwu: the wholesale market that supplies small shops across Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.

Hangzhou Bay Bridge over the sea — The Hangzhou Bay Bridge: 36 km linking Shanghai and Ningbo.

Research first, then verify at the source

VisChat is an independent information and data site. Compare programmes here, then use current university and government pages to confirm the details that apply to you.

Research first, then verify at the source Browse universities

Photo credits

Photographs on this page come from Wikimedia Commons contributors and are used under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA licences. Attribution, licence and source for every image are listed in the site credits file.

/credits.txt