Overview
The Joint Entrance Examination for Overseas Chinese and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Students (华侨港澳台学生联合招生考试, often shortened to "Huaqiao Liankao" or "the 联招 exam") is a separate university-entrance exam for mainland Chinese higher education, run alongside the mainstream Gaokao rather than as part of it. It exists specifically for Hong Kong and Macao residents, Taiwan residents, and overseas Chinese nationals who meet set residence conditions abroad — groups who are not required to sit the Gaokao. The exam is organised under the Ministry of Education, with a joint admissions office run by Jinan University and Huaqiao University coordinating registration and recruitment information, and provincial education examination authorities (including Guangdong's) and the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority handling test centres in their own regions.
The paper content and pass marks sit below the Gaokao's: the exam covers a smaller set of compulsory subjects with less demanding syllabi than the Gaokao papers set for mainland students, and historically its admission score lines have been well below equivalent Gaokao cut-offs for similar universities, though the gap has narrowed in recent years. Candidates who pass gain access to a dedicated admission track at mainland universities, separate from the Gaokao's own batches and quotas. See the separate Gaokao programme page for mainland China's general university-entrance exam, which this exam exists alongside, not instead of.
Who can apply
A candidate must have completed senior secondary school (or hold an equivalent qualification) and fall into one of these groups:
Hong Kong residents: hold a Hong Kong and Macao Residents' Travel Permit for the Mainland (or a Hong Kong and Macao Residents' Residence Permit) plus a Hong Kong identity card.
Macao residents: the same Mainland travel or residence permit plus a Macao identity card.
Taiwan residents: hold a Mainland Travel Permit for Taiwan Residents (or a Taiwan Residents' Residence Permit) plus valid proof of residence in Taiwan.
Overseas Chinese: the candidate and one parent must hold long-term or permanent residence rights in their country of residence, with at least 2 years of continuous residence there and a cumulative stay of at least 18 months within the 2 years immediately before registration. Candidates who do not hold long-term or permanent residence rights may still qualify if they have held legal residence status abroad continuously for 5 years or more, under a longer cumulative-residence rule the admissions office sets each year.
Candidates already enrolled in a full-time higher-education programme are not eligible to register.
Exam pattern
Every candidate sits Chinese, Mathematics and English, plus two further subjects that depend on whether they register in the arts/humanities stream or the science/engineering stream. Each subject is marked out of 150, for a stream total of 750.
| Stream | Subjects | Marks per subject |
|---|---|---|
| Science/engineering (理工类) | Chinese, Mathematics, English, Physics, Chemistry | 150 each |
| Arts/humanities (文史类) | Chinese, Mathematics, English, History, Geography | 150 each |
For the 2026 sitting, the papers are scheduled as: Chinese on the morning of day one, English on the afternoon of day one; Mathematics on the morning of day two, Physics or History on the early afternoon of day two, and Chemistry or Geography on the late afternoon of day two. The exam is a written, paper-based test held at designated centres in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and other locations the admissions office announces.
Marking and results
Each of the five papers a candidate sits is marked on its raw score out of 150, and the five scores are added to a single total out of 750 — there is no percentile conversion of the kind used for some Gaokao elective subjects. Because the syllabus and question difficulty are set specifically for this exam rather than shared with the Gaokao, results are not directly comparable to a Gaokao score from the same year.
Provincial authorities (Guangdong's education examination academy publishes the figures most widely cited) set minimum admission score lines each year, separately for the arts and science streams and separately by admission batch. For the 2025 sitting, the published minimum lines for ordinary bachelor's-degree programmes were 430 out of 750 for the arts stream and 460 out of 750 for the science stream, with a number of more selective universities (including project-211 institutions) setting their own higher lines, commonly around 510 (arts) and 560 (science); separate, lower lines applied to preparatory-year, arts-specialism and sports-specialism programmes. These lines rose sharply compared with 2024 as the candidate pool grew, so a given year's line is not a reliable guide to a later year's.
Important dates
For the 2026 sitting, online registration opened on 1 March 2026, with a first registration window running through 15 March 2026 and a registration-confirmation window from 11 to 31 March 2026. The written exam itself was held on 23–24 May 2026 — several weeks before the mainland Gaokao's early-June dates. Each year's exact registration and exam dates are reconfirmed in that year's prospectus, published on the joint admissions information site and mirrored by provincial education examination authorities and the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority for their own test centres.
How to apply
Registration is online, through the joint admissions information site run by the Jinan University and Huaqiao University admissions office, or through the relevant regional body (the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority for Hong Kong candidates, or a province's education examination authority for a mainland test centre). After the initial online registration window, candidates confirm their registration and submit supporting documents (identity and residence proof matching their eligibility category) within a separate confirmation window before paying the exam fee.
For the 2025/2026 cycle, the exam fee at mainland test centres was reported at 550 yuan per candidate, payable online during registration and non-refundable once paid; Hong Kong's test centre charged HK700. Candidates who fail to pay within the window set by their registration point are not permitted to sit the exam.
After the exam
Candidates who pass are admitted through a dedicated track open to several hundred mainland Chinese universities (reported at 291 institutions for recent cycles), separate from the Gaokao's own admission batches and quotas, and generally with a lower score threshold than the equivalent Gaokao admission line for a comparable university. Once enrolled, students pay the same tuition fees as mainland students admitted through the Gaokao and must join the basic medical insurance scheme for urban residents in the city where their university is located.
Preparation tips
Because this exam's syllabus and difficulty are set independently of the Gaokao, preparing with Gaokao-level study material can be more demanding than the exam actually requires — candidates are better served by past papers and syllabus guidance published specifically for this exam each year.
Confirm your own eligibility category (Hong Kong/Macao resident, Taiwan resident, or overseas Chinese by residence) and its specific documentary requirements early, since the registration-confirmation window is short and residence-proof requirements differ by category and can change from year to year.
Note
Mainland Chinese government sites for this exam were not reachable directly while researching this page, so the facts above are drawn from provincial education authority notices, Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority pages and other reports about the official prospectus, rather than read first-hand from the originating ministry site. Confirm current-year eligibility, dates, fees and score lines on the official joint admissions information site or your regional exam authority before relying on them.
Is this the same exam as the Gaokao?
No. The Joint Entrance Examination for Overseas Chinese and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Students is a separate exam from the Gaokao, with its own eligibility rules, subjects, dates and admission track. It exists for Hong Kong and Macao residents, Taiwan residents and qualifying overseas Chinese, who are not required to sit the Gaokao.
Who is eligible to take this exam?
Hong Kong and Macao residents (holding the relevant Mainland travel or residence permit and a Hong Kong/Macao identity card), Taiwan residents (holding a Mainland travel or residence permit for Taiwan residents and valid Taiwan residence proof), and overseas Chinese candidates who, together with one parent, meet set long-term residence conditions in their country of residence.
What subjects are tested?
Every candidate sits Chinese, Mathematics and English. Science/engineering-stream candidates add Physics and Chemistry; arts/humanities-stream candidates add History and Geography. Each subject is marked out of 150, for a stream total of 750.
Is this exam easier than the Gaokao?
Its syllabus and papers are set independently of the Gaokao, at a level generally considered less demanding, and its admission score lines have historically sat well below equivalent Gaokao cut-offs, though recent years have seen those lines rise. Results are not directly comparable to a Gaokao score, since the two exams are marked on different papers.