but you have to pay the tuition...= =
I would suggest you go for ms in China, then phD...otherwise your chance of getting assistantship is extremely low...if not impossible...
other countries, you also need to pay the tuition by yourself
You friend in China has no idea how hard for you to apply for good school now, american now is in deep trouble in recession, report of last week suggests that the economic decline is even worse than expected, under this circumstance, it is impossible for school to support MS student but on the contrary, many people once worked, came back to school for ms since they cannot find job and decide to go for study in the mean time.