Hello. I am an Irish citizen and wish to study in Beijing for one semester. The language course in the university starts in March. I wish to go to China to travel in mid January for one month before beginning university. However I will not be able to live on the university campus until the end of febuary. This means that I cannot confirm residency until Febuary 27th. So I cannot go directly with a student visa. I know that I have to apply for a student visa to study in China until July, but I want to know if it is possible to go to China with a tourist visa for one month so that I can travel, and apply for the chinese student visa from Hong Kong (instead of returning to Ireland) in Febuary before the course begins.

Thank you so much for your help.