About The Real China

What this is

The Real China (TRC) is a review site built for international students picking a university in China. Every review comes from someone who studied, or is studying, at the school they write about.

University brochures give you rankings and campus photos. Our reviews tell you about dorm heating, canteen prices, whether the international office answers emails, and what CSC funding actually covers.

Why it exists

Choosing a Chinese university from abroad is a leap of faith. Agencies earn commissions for steering students to partner schools, and ranking tables say nothing about daily life. TRC exists so students can hear from other students. No sponsorships, no partner placements, no reviews for sale.

Who runs it

TRC is an independent, community-run project. We're not affiliated with any university, agency, or the Chinese government, and universities can't pay to influence ratings or remove negative reviews.

Contact

Email nihao@therealchina.net. We read everything, though replies can take a few days.

If your university's details are wrong (name, city, ranking, website), send us the source and we'll fix it. We don't remove reviews at a university's request — the editorial policy explains why.

Report content

Report fake reviews, spam, harassment, hate speech, private information, impersonation, or anything posted by someone who never attended the university.

Email nihao@therealchina.net with the page URL and what is wrong. Screenshots or links help. A human reads every report, and safety issues go first. Content that breaks policy comes down, and the reporter is never identified to the author. Universities emailing us about negative reviews get pointed to our editorial policy.