Does one semester exceed 180 days? Count the dates on your admission notice

A semester is short-term or long-term depending on how long you study at the Chinese school, measured against the 180-day line. Article 45 of the Measures for the Administration of Schools Recruiting and Educating International Students (Order No. 42) sets that line. See also Terms on this site.

The 180-day line

Article 45 of Order No. 42 reads as follows. The Chinese text is rendered in English by this site; this English is the site's translation, not an official English text.

Short-term study means study at a Chinese school for no more than 180 days (the 180th day included). Long-term study means study at a Chinese school for more than 180 days.

The Regulations on Administration of the Entry and Exit of Foreigners (State Council Decree No. 637) use the same 180-day figure in Article 36, in different words. The English text of Article 36 reads:

• Article 36(4): "Short-term means staying in China for a period not exceeding 180 days (including 180 days)."
• Article 36(5): "Long-term or resident means residing in China for a period exceeding 180 days."

Order No. 42 measures study time at the school. The Regulations measure stay and residence. Both use 180 days.

Which visa follows

Article 6(11) of the Regulations, in the English text published by the National Immigration Administration, reads: "The X1 visa is issued to persons who apply for long-term study in China; the X2 visa is for persons who apply for short-term study in China."

So Article 6(11) ties X1 to long-term study and X2 to short-term study. The 180-day line in Article 36 and Article 45 decides which of the two applies. For visa steps, see Visa on this site.

Counting against your admission notice

Article 45 measures time studying at the school. This site reads the line as applying to the study period printed on your admission notice. That period is the figure to compare with 180 days.

• A study period of 180 days falls in the short-term group, because the 180th day is included.
• A study period longer than 180 days falls in the long-term group.

One-semester programmes in the 2025 guidelines

Item 5 of the Application Guidelines for International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship 2025, published by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation (CLEC), is the Scholarship for One-Semester Study Program. Item 5 says the scholarship "is provided for a maximum of five months."

• Item 5 gives no number of days. This page does not convert the five months into days.
• Item 5 does not classify the programme under the 180-day line.
• The programme start dates in item 5 (September 2025 or March 2026) belong to the 2025 cycle, and those dates have passed. Read the current year's guidelines for dates.
• Item 5 sets conditions for that scholarship only. The Chinese Government Scholarship is not covered here.
• The figure 180 in item 5 is an HSK score for certain programme groups. It is not a number of days.

This site does not describe HSK tests. For where a score is asked for, see HSK on this site.

Questions

Is a semester always short-term?

No. The 180-day line is applied to the study period, not to the word "semester". Article 45 of Order No. 42 sets the line, and the study period on your admission notice is the figure to compare with it.

Which visa is linked to the line?

Article 6(11) of the Regulations links the X1 visa to long-term study and the X2 visa to short-term study.

Sources

• Measures for the Administration of Schools Recruiting and Educating International Students (Order No. 42). Ministry of Education of the PRC.
• Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Administration of the Entry and Exit of Foreigners (State Council Decree No. 637), English text. National Immigration Administration.
• Application Guidelines for International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship 2025. Center for Language Education and Cooperation (CLEC).

Checked 11 October 2026 for Order No. 42 and the Regulations, and 10 October 2026 for the 2025 guidelines.

This page is an unofficial summary. It is not legal or immigration advice, and it is not published by the bodies named. If the official text or the instructions of the body handling your case differ from this page, the official text and those instructions prevail.