Uni application: what is a GUARDIAN?

[Tinaaa]

hey there!

i've got two questions:

1) in many uni application criteria on their respective websites, they always want a letter of your "guardian" in China and a copy of the guardian's passport. I'm going to study mandarin in Beijing for a year, but I don't have any relatives there...so do I really need this guardian? and if yes, is a good friend of mine who lives in Beijing also suitable and okay as guardian?

2) i'm a beginner in Chinese and would like to start studying at a university in Beijing in Feb./March 2009. I've already applied at Tsinghua, but I've also taken a closer look at the Chinese Programs at Beida, UIBE and BLCU...I know that there have already been a lot of threads at which university best to apply etc. and I've almost read all of them, but there's still not an exact answer to what I would like to know:

To all those that have studied at one of the above mentioned or any other universities in Beijing:

Which is the best university in Beijing to apply for a Chinese Language Program (one or two semesters) as a beginner?

Thanks a lot for your help in advance ;-)

Best wishes from Austria, Martina

[BrandeX]

A guardian is for children/minors, and refers to either your parents, adoptive parents, or those otherwise legally responsible for you.

[Tinaaa]

Well, this is what I thought, too. But I am 23 yrs old and when I called the lady from Tsinghua's Foreign Students Office and explained to her that I'm 23 and not a minor anymore, she told me that I'll need a guardian nevertheless, but due to her quite poor English she wasn't able to explain me what this guardian exactly is... hmm...

[imron]

Is there a copy of the application form you are using online? If so that might help people make sense of what the form is talking about.

[BrandeX]

In that case, what they are probably wanting is an "emergency contact".

[Tinaaa]

yeah, that's what I found out when I called the 3rd time and fortunately had someone on the other end of the line who spoke english - however, thanks for your help! :-)