Socialization has become a common discourse to view doctoral students' development in long-term academic training. Using this concept and the four-stage model by Stein and Weidman, the research examines the academic socialization of 53 Chinese doctoral students in Germany selected from 8 universities across 7 federal states. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods has been applied. Findings show that the academic socialization takes place in three aspects of students' life, namely the identification of their doctoral status, the interaction with supervisor and their motivation of doing research. Based on that, the clearness of identification, effectiveness of interaction and steadiness of motivation are displayed as necessary conditions for a comparatively high level of academic socialization in German academic field.