Documents for under-18 applicants to Chinese universities
If you are under 18, check two separate rules. The first is a condition of the Chinese Government Scholarship: section VI, item 11 of the Application Guide for Chinese Government Scholarship says that an applicant under the age of 18 shall submit the legal documents of his or her legal guardian or guardians in China. The second applies to schools: the first paragraph of Article 38 of Order No. 42 says what a school must require when it admits an international student under eighteen whose parents do not live permanently in China.
Scholarship applicants: section VI, item 11
Item 11 reads, in the guide's own English: "An applicant under the age of 18 shall submit the legal documents of his/her legal guardian(s) in China." The guide is published in English, so this is its original wording.
Item 11 names no form for those legal documents.
Item 11 is part of the document list in section VI, which belongs to the scholarship application. For a self-funded applicant, this item is not a general admission rule. The rule belongs to the scholarship.
Schools: Order No. 42, Article 38, first paragraph
Order No. 42 is published in Chinese. The English below is this site's translation of the first paragraph of Article 38.
Article 38, first paragraph: a school that admits an international student under eighteen whose parents do not live permanently in China must require the parents to formally entrust a foreigner or a Chinese person who is permanently resident in China as the student's guardian, and must require the parents to provide the relevant supporting documents.
Article 38 names no form for those supporting documents.
The paragraph applies to schools that recruit international students. It addresses the school's duty to require the guardianship arrangement. It does not set a form for the guardian or for the documents.
How the two rules differ
The two provisions come from different documents, and each one states a different thing. Item 11 is a document requirement of the scholarship. Article 38 is a duty placed on the school.
Item 11 gives no date by which the legal documents must be submitted. Article 38, first paragraph, gives no date either.
Neither item 11 nor Article 38, first paragraph, states what happens if the documents are missing.
Planning suggestion (not a requirement)
As a suggestion only, start the guardian paperwork early. Section VI, item 11 gives no timeline for it, and Article 38, first paragraph, gives none either. Each university publishes its own admissions brochure, so check the brochure of every university you plan to apply to for its own conditions.
Sources
- Application Guide for Chinese Government Scholarship, China Scholarship Council (Campus China)
- Measures for the Administration of Schools Recruiting and Educating International Students (Order No. 42), Ministry of Education of the PRC
Checked 11 October 2026
This page is an unofficial summary. It is not published by or affiliated with the Ministry of Education, the China Scholarship Council or any university, and it is not legal advice. If the official text differs from this page, the official text and the current notice of the university or authority handling your case prevail.