Last updated: February 22, 2026
StudyChina.im ("we", "our", or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring the security of your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website at studychina.im and use our services. We operate as an educational information platform providing comprehensive information about universities, majors, cities, and resources for international students interested in studying in China. By accessing or using our services, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with the terms of this policy, please do not access or use our services.
We collect information that you voluntarily provide to us when you register for an account, complete your profile, submit content, or contact us. This information may include your email address, username, password, country of origin, biographical information, and any other information you choose to provide. When you register using third-party authentication services (such as Google OAuth), we receive basic profile information from those services, including your email address and name, in accordance with your privacy settings on those platforms.
When you access our website, we automatically collect certain information about your device and usage patterns. This includes your IP address (which is hashed for privacy protection), browser type and version, operating system, referring URLs, pages visited, time spent on pages, and clickstream data. We use this information to analyze trends, administer the website, track user navigation patterns, gather demographic information, and detect potential security threats or fraudulent activities. For non-logged-in visitors, we implement a daily view limit system that tracks the number of detail pages you view using your hashed IP address, as described in our Cookie Policy.
We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to maintain your session, remember your preferences, and improve your experience on our website. Specifically, we use an essential session cookie to maintain your login state when you are authenticated. For detailed information about our use of cookies, including the types of cookies we use and how to manage them, please refer to our Cookie Policy.
We use the information we collect for various purposes related to providing, maintaining, and improving our services. We use your account information to create and manage your user account, authenticate your identity, and provide you with access to member-only features. Your profile information allows us to personalize your experience and enable you to interact with other users through comments, reviews, and feedback. We analyze usage data to understand how visitors use our website, identify popular content, improve our user interface, and develop new features. We may use your email address to send you important service-related communications, such as account verification emails, password reset links, security alerts, and updates to our policies. We also use collected information to detect, prevent, and respond to fraud, security incidents, and other potentially harmful or illegal activities.
We process your personal information on the following legal bases: (a) with your consent, which you can withdraw at any time; (b) to fulfill our contractual obligations to provide you with our services; (c) to comply with legal obligations; and (d) for our legitimate interests in operating, improving, and securing our platform, provided these interests do not override your fundamental rights and freedoms.
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes. We may share your information in the following limited circumstances. We may share information with trusted service providers who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or providing services to you, such as cloud hosting providers, email service providers, and analytics services. Specifically, we use Umami Analytics (a privacy-focused, open-source platform) and Google Analytics to collect aggregated usage statistics. Umami does not collect personally identifiable information, while Google Analytics may collect anonymized usage data in accordance with their privacy policy. These service providers are contractually obligated to use your information only for the purposes of providing services to us and to maintain the confidentiality and security of your information. We may disclose your information if required to do so by law, court order, or other legal process, or if we believe in good faith that such disclosure is necessary to comply with legal obligations, protect our rights or property, prevent fraud, or ensure the safety of our users or the public.
When you post comments, reviews, or other user-generated content on our platform, that content becomes publicly visible to other users. Please exercise caution and do not include sensitive personal information in your public posts. Your username and any profile information you choose to make public will be associated with your content.
In the event of a merger, acquisition, reorganization, bankruptcy, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred to the successor entity. We will provide notice before your personal information is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
We implement appropriate technical and organizational security measures designed to protect your personal information against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures include encryption of data in transit using HTTPS/TLS protocols, secure password hashing using industry-standard algorithms, access controls and authentication mechanisms, regular security assessments and updates, and secure backup procedures. Our session cookies are set with security flags including httpOnly (preventing JavaScript access), sameSite (protecting against cross-site request forgery), and secure (ensuring transmission only over HTTPS).
However, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is completely secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account password and for any activities that occur under your account. Please notify us immediately if you become aware of any unauthorized use of your account.
We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. When you close your account, we will delete or anonymize your personal information within a reasonable timeframe, except where we are required to retain certain information for legal, regulatory, or legitimate business purposes, such as fraud prevention, dispute resolution, or compliance with legal obligations. Aggregated or anonymized data that cannot be used to identify you may be retained indefinitely for statistical and analytical purposes.
Depending on your location and applicable data protection laws (including the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation and similar regulations), you may have certain rights regarding your personal information. These rights may include the right to access your personal data and receive a copy of the information we hold about you; the right to rectify inaccurate or incomplete personal data; the right to erasure (also known as the "right to be forgotten") under certain circumstances; the right to restrict processing of your personal data in certain situations; the right to data portability, allowing you to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format; the right to object to processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes or based on legitimate interests; and the right to withdraw consent at any time where we rely on consent as the legal basis for processing.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the contact information provided at the end of this policy. We will respond to your request within the timeframe required by applicable law, typically within 30 days. Please note that we may need to verify your identity before processing your request. In some cases, we may be unable to fulfill your request due to legal obligations or legitimate business interests, in which case we will explain the reasons for our decision.
Our services are operated from servers that may be located in various jurisdictions around the world. If you are accessing our services from the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, or other regions with data protection laws that differ from those in the jurisdiction where our servers are located, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored in, and processed in countries that may not provide the same level of data protection as your home country. By using our services, you consent to the transfer of your information to these jurisdictions. We implement appropriate safeguards to ensure that your personal information remains protected in accordance with this Privacy Policy, including the use of standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission where applicable.
Our services are not directed to individuals under the age of 16, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16. If you are a parent or guardian and believe that your child has provided us with personal information without your consent, please contact us immediately. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 16 without verification of parental consent, we will take steps to delete that information from our servers.
Our website may contain links to third-party websites, services, or resources that are not owned or controlled by us. This Privacy Policy applies only to information collected by StudyChina.im. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of third-party websites. When you click on a third-party link, you will be directed to that third party's website, and we encourage you to read their privacy policy before providing any personal information. We use Google OAuth for authentication purposes, and when you choose to authenticate using Google, you are subject to Google's privacy policy and terms of service in addition to ours.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technologies, legal requirements, or other operational factors. When we make material changes to this policy, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page and may provide additional notice through our website or by email if the changes significantly affect your rights. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we collect, use, and protect your information. Your continued use of our services after any changes to this Privacy Policy constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.
If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at: