Abstract
This thesis focuses on the recent wave of Chinese international students moving to the Western world in the last decade. It analyses the aspirations of new cohorts of Chinese international students in pursuing international education, explores their transient living experiences during their stay in the host societies, and examines their reflections on the overseas experience and change of worldview and identity.China has emerged as the largest source country for international students. Since the 1980s, a significant number of young Chinese have chosen to pursue education abroad, representing a notable strand of new Chinese migrants. A large body of scholarship understands their outbound education pursuits as a steppingstone to migrating to developed nations. However, this study contests such arguments. Drawing on the ethnographic data gathered in the cities of Vancouver, Canada; Sydney, Australia; and Manchester, United Kingdom in 2022, 2023, and 2024, the study argues that rather than gaining a strong foothold in the West, recent Chinese international students consider studying abroad a means to gain sufficient qualifications to fulfil their dreams back in China.
The thesis provides a ground-level exploration of the transient overseas living experience of Chinese international students. Experiencing a temporary educational exile away from their comfort zone in China, the students find themselves embedded in an unfamiliar foreign environment where they face different forms of stigmatisation, alienation, and discrimination. However, the constant transnational connections back to China through social media and digital platforms and strong co-ethnic support in the host society smooth the hardships and help them build a home environment and maintain a way of life reminiscent of that in China, which significantly nourishes their social world. Their material life has also been enriched by Chinese-established enterprises which provide all-round services catering to all aspects of their daily needs. Thus, while studying abroad, most students felt pretty much ‘at home’.
Furthermore, studying in the Western world offers them an opportunity to reflect on their worldviews and identities. Drawing on their inter-ethnic interactions with locals, international students from other nations, and other types of Chinese migrants, the study reveals how these students perceive their positions in both China and the Western world, why they refrain from making deep connections with the host societies. This study also discusses the subtle changes in Chinese students’ identity.
The thesis argues that Chinese international students are a group in ‘suspension’ — a theoretical concept coined by anthropologist Xiang Biao to describe the state of being of Chinese individuals in and beyond China. They undergo a liminal life stage in which they are out of sync with the social environment of the host nations. However, unlike migrant workers, who endure painful and delusional suspension, these students enrich their daily lives ‘in suspension’ through their transnational connections with Chinese society and the construction of a closely knit co-ethnic community. Most overseas students studied in this research yearned to return to China after their graduation, to live and work there. Overall, their dream lies in China, rather than in the West. The passage of overseas studies has been a practical way for them to achieve their ‘Chinese dream’ — a dream nourished by a generation of young, well-off Chinese who have aspired to reproduce the social status and powers established by their parents.
| Date of Award | 6 May 2025 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Supervisor | Yuk Wah CHAN (Supervisor) |