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Can you combine scholarships in China? What the rules allow
Most Chinese scholarships prohibit holding two full awards simultaneously, but tuition waivers, assistantships and external grants can often be combined.
Scholarship stacking in China is regulated rather than forbidden. The general rule is that a student may not hold two full government scholarships covering the same costs simultaneously, but a partial award such as a tuition waiver can often be held alongside a research assistantship, and external grants from a home country or foundation are usually permitted.
The reliable approach is to ask the university international office in writing, naming the specific awards, before accepting anything. Policies differ between universities and between provincial schemes.
In practice the most effective structure for a self-funding applicant is a tuition waiver from a provincial or university scheme combined with a research assistantship paid from a supervisor's grant, which together can cover most of the cost of a postgraduate degree in a lower-cost city.