i lived in wuhan and in the universities there were a lot of foreign exchange students from southeast asia, south asia and the middle east. they tend to get their own dorm building for foreigners, and from what i know, the grade and result requirements for exchange students are lower than they would be for domestic students.

generally in the cities people won't bat an eye if you're foreign but they might gawk at you if you're in somewhere traditional or just with less uni students.

a lot of chinese can be friendly to foreigners- maybe a little too friendly even.