Simplified or Traditional — not interchangeable
The first question is which script the destination uses, because submitting the wrong one signals immediately that the document was prepared without attention.
Mainland China uses Simplified characters. Taiwan and Hong Kong use Traditional. These are not stylistic variants; many characters differ in form, and a Traditional document submitted to a mainland authority reads as foreign.
Tell us the destination rather than asking for “Chinese”. If documents may go to more than one — a student considering both mainland and Taiwanese universities — say so, and we will advise whether one set serves both or two are genuinely needed.
Terminology differs too. Mainland and Taiwanese usage diverge in academic and technical vocabulary, so the right script alone is not sufficient for a document that must read naturally to its reader.
Apostille now applies to the mainland
This changed relatively recently and a great deal of older guidance has not caught up. China acceded to the Hague Apostille Convention with effect from November 2023.
Before that, Indian documents for mainland use required consular legalisation — state authentication, the Ministry of External Affairs, then the Chinese mission in India. Since accession, the apostille route generally applies instead, which is materially shorter and cheaper.
If you are working from guidance written before that change, or from an agent quoting the old chain, check. There is no reason to pay for consular legalisation where an apostille now suffices.
Hong Kong and Macao were already covered separately through earlier arrangements, and Taiwan is not a Convention party, so documents for Taiwan follow a consular route. The destination determines the process, as always.
Notarial certificates
Mainland institutions frequently expect documents to arrive as notarial certificates rather than as a translation alone — a format in which a notarial office issues a bound document incorporating the original and its translation under one certification.
This is a different product from a certified translation, and where it is required, an Indian certified translation may serve as an input rather than as the deliverable. Ask the receiving institution what format they require before commissioning, because the answer determines what is worth paying for.
Names and rendering
Rendering an Indian name into Chinese characters involves choosing characters for sound, and different choices produce different written names. As with Arabic, consistency across your documents matters more than any individual choice.
If you already hold a Chinese rendering of your name — on a previous visa, a student record, an employment contract — send it so we can match it. A second rendering introduced midway through a residence process creates an identity mismatch that is tedious to unwind.
Send complete pages including seals and reverse sides, and tell us the destination institution so the script, terminology and format are right the first time.