⚡Flash Mandarin⚡

The Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi,

abbreviated as HSK, is the People's Republic of China's only standardized test of Standard Chinese language proficiency for non-native speakers, namely foreign students, overseas Chinese, and members of ethnic minority groups in China. It translates literally to "Chinese Proficiency Test".

Development began in 1984 at Beijing Language and Culture University and in 1992 the HSK was officially made a national standardized test. By 2005, over 120 countries had participated as regular host sites and the tests had been taken around 100 million times (including by domestic ethnic minority candidates). The general count outside of China is stated as being around 1.9 million. In 2011 Beijing International Chinese College became the first HSK testing center to conduct online HSK test.

The HSK test approximates the English TOEFL, and an HSK certificate is valid without any limitation in The People's Republic of China. The test aims to be a certificate of language proficiency for higher educational and professional purposes.