The Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-financed Students Abroad [Chinese Title: 国家优秀自费留学生奖学金] is the highest government award granted by the Chinese government to Chinese students overseas, first established in 2003 by the China Scholarship Council (short name: CSC) of Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China.
The number of Chinese students studying abroad is more than half a million each year, the Academic Committee only considers doctoral students with outstanding academic achievements or great research potential during overseas study, and every year globally selects 650 young talents from different disciplines (500 before 2021), thus making this award highly competitive.