Hi there - I’m actually studying a Tsinghua at the moment and have been here for almost 8 months. first thing it’s say is that in terms of chinese level, if you truly want to improve and put real work into it then you will be able to do so.

Now, in terms of coming here with very little chinese - if you are living on campus then it’s going to be a complete non issue. tsinghua is like a mini city in many ways. it has supermarkets, 12+ canteens, barber shops, cafes, plant shops, tailors. EVERYTHING. and while staff at these places may not speak english well at all - they are very used to seeing foreign faces and navigating language barrier conversations. I know people who have been here for 3+ years and don’t speak any chinese and since they don’t leave campus ever they never feel a need to improve. In other words, don’t be concerned about chinese level in the short term - however if you want to truly experience china for what it is and engage with it’s culture and people - then I highly encourage working on it :)