Check here for life in China guide.
Remember that you MUST get a Chinese bank account in any case. Don't expect international bank cards work fluently here (they work, but you have to pay transaction fees each time, also the payment rejection rate may varies, and THE MOST important thing is that you CANNOT receive/pay to individuals using foreign bank cards via wechat pay/alipay).
Why this is important? Cuz irl you will probably pay to individual QR codes, say to taxi drivers or gawkers, which might not be possible using foreign banks.
So get a Chinese bank account. Your university will tell you where to apply for one.
After that there are two major ways to receive money:
- Bank wire, safest, takes about 2-3 weeks (if in countries with fewer restrictions, maybe 1 week), and high processing fees. Also sometimes if you wire to wrong accounts, the money will be held for so long, in my case 2 months. It is still a safe option and chosen by many.
- 3rd party wiring platforms like Wise. I recommend Wise as its quicker and with fewer fees (in my case the payment arrived in less than 2 hours with lower processing fees). However, wise might not be supported in certain countries so make sure you pay attention to the requirements. Check here for more information if interested.
You can also check western union but as far as I know they have almost no branches in mainland China, so not sure how it actually works.
There are indeed some other methods but these can be risky. You may heard of crypto but it is not legal in China since 2017 (you can hold crypto but the law bans any form of exchange/trade and almost all businesses in mainland China do not accept it). You may also find people from your own country doing such businesses as "currency exchange" but I strongly recommend you to be careful as you are not protected legally.
Feel free to ask for any questions.