How do we PAY the fee?

[LaoDing]

Daft question? Should be! But my daughter and I have been trying all day to pay the registration fee online with no luck whatsoever. We'll ask the college where I teach and my daughter studies Chinese, but it looks like something we should easily be able to do online is impossible. I use UnionPay (Bank of China) with Amazon.cn, CTrip, and other sites, but on the HSK page I am unable to input my password (blacked out). We tried then with her Visa debit card from an American bank (which is almost always accepted). It seemed to be accepted, but then verification page just spun on endlessly and after an hour we gave up. I tried calling chinatest.cn as they have a help number listed but that number is no longer in service. They have an email address which I'll write to, but I wrote here first.

Can't we pay by bank transfer or something? Turns out registering for the test is harder than taking the test itself! : D

 

[889]

Online payment in China is always a bit unpredictable.

 

Sometimes the problem is the browser: Chinese banks can be fussy about this. I've had to install the 360 browser, for example, because it's the only one that works reliably for me. And a blacked-out password section does suggest they don't like the security of the browser you're using.

[abcdefg]

It's also worth trying Internet Explorer. Lots of Chinese interactive websites are optimized for that old workhorse.

[LaoDing]

We use Mac, and have an iPhone and an Android. Nothing works. Obviously, there is no IE or 360 on Mac. The company Confucius hired for the payment and security, chinastudies, could not be bothered to write the extra bit of code required to port.

 

Or so it seems. They have a phone number, but it's no longer in service. I'll try to email them. What is Confucius thinking? Obviously no Chinese people take this exam, and while some taking the fourth level may be able to figure it out, it's doubtful anyone lower than that can, even with popup translations. 

 

I'll try to use my office's Windows machine and see if I have luck. I don't like to ask my FAO.

 

At the top of one dialogue box read that I was registered with UnionPay, but in the password field of all places was a button linking to a security app download!? Typical stuff. Sorry, but the West is MUCH better than this.  

[889]

Yes, you usually need to download that security add-on using a Windows machine.

 

That 360 browser I'm talking about is a Windows browser that actually uses old Internet Explorer code, since some Chinese banks and payment systems are still based on an old version of IE. Getting online payments to go through in China can be frustrating.

[abcdefg]

Agree with 889. He and I have both fought the good fight. In my case at least, that has resulted in some wins but also quite a few losses.

 

...but in the password field of all places was a button linking to a security app download!?

 

 

I must download and install additional proprietary security software to do even relatively simple things, such as access my bank account. I always do it when prompted without even hesitating to wonder why such a clumsy approach is necessary. 

 

The Chinese internet is an odd amalgam of features which are advanced with other that are outdated and backward. We must adapt in order to live here.

[imron]

We use Mac, and have an iPhone and an Android. Nothing works.

I have a Windows VM I run on VMWare Fusion specifically for this sort of thing :-D

[LaoDing]

 

I have a Windows VM I run on VMWare Fusion specifically for this sort of thing :-D

 

Great idea. I'll try that! Never had a need before...

[LinZhenPu]

Obviously no Chinese people take this exam

When I took the exam in Sydney on October, ironically most people there were Chinese-Australian. One girl was from Hong Kong, and there was a lady from Cambodia.

Go figure.

 

I paid the fee to the testing centre directly via bank transfer.

[khakiphantom]

I wonder also how many people take the test in China vs outside of China.  I know when i took the HSK 4 the city I went to had 5 or 6 test centers to choose from.  The one I went to had 36 people taking the test in the morning session (the morning session was the even number tests and the afternoon was the odd number tests and HSKK)  I imagine a lot of people in China have bank card that work and given that the morning session was about 80% HSK6 / 20% HSK4 navigating the website was easier for most of them.