The Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK; ), translated as the Chinese Proficiency Test, is the standardized test of Standard Chinese (a type of Mandarin Chinese) language proficiency of Mainland China for non-native speakers such as foreign students and overseas Chinese. The test is administered by Hanban, an agency of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. The test cannot be taken in Taiwan, where only Taiwan's TOCFL exam can be taken. In turn, the TOCFL exam is not available in Mainland China. Background Development of the HSK test began in 1984 at Beijing Language and Culture University, and was officially made a national standardized test in 1992. By 2005, over 120 countries had participated as regular host sites and the tests had been taken around 100 million times (domestic ethnic minority candidates included). In 2011, Beijing International Chinese College became the first HSK testing center to conduct the HSK test online. The HSK test is analogous to the English TOEFL, and an HSK certificate is valid without any limitation in China. The test aims to be a certificate of language proficiency for higher educational and professional purposes. It is not uncommon to refer to a standard or level of proficiency by the HSK level number, or score. For example, a job description might ask for foreign applicants with "HSK5 or better." The HSK is administered solely in Mandarin and in simplified Chinese characters; however, if the exam is paper-based, the test-taker can choose to write the writing assignments in simplified or in traditional characters, at their discretion. The test can be either paper-based or Internet-based, depending on what the specific test center offers. With an Internet-based test, the writing part with characters (from HSK 3 on) is subjectively and slightly easier, as one types the pinyin and selects the right character from the list, while with a paper-based test, one must remember the characters, their strokes and their order, and write them out. Test takers with outstanding results can win a scholarship for short-term language study in China. Structure From 2021 In 2020, an internal Chinese academic paper discussed that the Chinese Proficiency Standards would undergo a change: a hybrid paradigm of "Three Stages and Nine Levels" characterized by all-in-one integration. The Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China announced further details regarding HSK 3.0 on April 1, 2021. Among the information shared was a wordlist