Nguyen Tuong Anh built her university application essay out of classical Chinese poems, and the 18-year-old from Hanoi won a place at Tsinghua University along with a full Chinese government scholarship to Beijing Normal University.
Tuong Anh, a former Chinese-major student at VNU ULIS Foreign Language Specialised School, was admitted to Tsinghua's Chinese-language program with a scholarship covering 50% of tuition.
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Tsinghua ranks 14th in the world in the most recent QS World University Rankings, released in June 2026. Her separate award at Beijing Normal University, known as Beishida, covers tuition, dormitory and living costs in full.
The application capped the personal essay at fewer than 1,000 characters. To fit more into that space, Tuong Anh wrote hers around lines of classical poetry.
For her mother, a Chinese-language lecturer, she chose "run wu xi wu sheng" (nourishing all things softly, without a sound) from Du Fu's "Spring Night Rejoicing in Rain," casting her own drift into the language and toward teaching as something that had soaked in quietly over years.
For her first-year study plan she used "qiu mu zhi chang zhe, bi gu qi gen ben" (to grow a tall, lasting tree, first make its roots firm), from the Tang statesman Wei Zheng's "Memorial of Ten Thoughts to Emperor Taizong."
She also dropped the standard document format, building the essay on a designed layout with color and the university's own emblems. "I thought using poetry would also make my application stand out," she said.
Chinese universities now screen international undergraduates through the China Scholastic Competency Assessment, a standardized entrance exam China introduced in late 2025 and administered for the first time that December, required for government-scholarship programs from 2026.
Applicants sit two subjects tied to their intended major. Tuong Anh scored 85 out of 100 in the compulsory math paper, and 98.75 in Chinese.
Tsinghua's interview put situational questions to her and asked her to weigh in on issues outside her field. "My takeaway is to stay calm, because these questions aren't really about right or wrong answers. They test your language reflexes and how honest your application was," she said.
Tuong Anh grew up around the language through her mother and began formal study in fifth grade. She passed HSK 6, the highest level, the summer after ninth grade and entered her school's Chinese track as its top-scoring applicant.
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She carries a grade-point average above 9, an IELTS score of 7.5, a second prize at the international Chinese Bridge competition and a second prize at Vietnam's national Chinese contest.
Pham Ngoc Ham, an associate professor and former senior lecturer in Chinese and Han-Nom studies at VNU University of Languages and International Studies, credited her with accurate pronunciation, a feel for literature and vivid, flexible expression, and singled out her eagerness and her manners.
"I wasn't surprised she got into Tsinghua and won the Beishida scholarship. This is a deserved result for a student with a strong foundation who has kept moving forward step by step," he said.
