Self-Identity Narratives of Chinese Students in The United States - Sarah Y. Köksal - 2022

Sarah Y.
Köksal
Self-Identity
Narratives
of Chinese
Students in
the United States
Unique, Ambitious, Global
Self-Identity Narratives of Chinese
Students in the United States
Sarah Y. Köksal
Self-Identity Narratives
of Chinese Students
in the United States
Unique, Ambitious, Global
Sarah Y. Köksal
Ludwig Maximilian University Munich
Munich, Germany
Accepted Dissertation for the granting of a doctorate (Dr. Phil), Faculty of Philology
and Literature, Department of American Studies, Chair for North American Cultural
History, Empirical Cultural Research and Cultural Anthropology, Ludwig Maximilian
University Munich, Munich, 2022
ISBN 978-3-658-40626-4 ISBN 978-3-658-40627-1 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40627-1
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Acknowledgements
I am grateful to everyone who has supported me during this journey. I would like
to thank my adviser Prof. Dr. Hochgeschwender for his sincere interest in my
topic, his many insightful comments, numerous recommendation letters he wrote
on my behalf and his kindness and patience throughout this whole process. My
second supervisor Prof. Dr. Ursula Prutsch has also given many thoughtful notes
and helpful feedback during our colloquium sessions that I greatly appreciate.
Fieldwork in the United States would not have been possible without the support
of Prof. Dr. Thomas Gold who graciously welcomed me to the UC Berkeley
Sociology Department in autumn 2019. His input was invaluable and contributed
significantly to the successful implementation of my fieldwork. I loved listening
to stories from his own study abroad adventure in China. I would also like to
thank Dr. Thomas Eppel for generously connecting me to his Chinese students
and telling them about my project. Without Prof. Gold and Dr. Eppel, I may
have returned to Germany empty-handed. I am deeply appreciative of all they
have done for me. Prof. Dr. Björn Alpermann was supportive in navigating the
jungle of data and offered so much constructive feedback that I most certainly
would have been completely lost without him. He has truly gone out of his way
in guiding and reassuring me. For this, I am profoundly grateful. Furthermore, I
would like to thank the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Council) and the
Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation who provided financial funding for this project.
To the other Ph.D. students in Prof. Hochgeschwender’s colloquium and Dr.
Klopfer’s colloquium: thank you for being my community; for your many insight-
ful remarks. I am humbled and grateful to be on this journey with you. This
journey has been made much easier and much more enjoyable by my husband
Kit Yam, my companion at every step of the way. Our many conversations inspire
v
vi Acknowledgements
me and lighten our journey together. I dedicate this book to my two biggest sup-
porters, my father Kemal and my mother Anita. My father was the first to believe
in me and encouraged me to pursue the Ph.D. when I didn’t believe in myself
yet. Without his unwavering reassurances, this book probably wouldn’t exist and
for that I am eternally thankful. My deepest gratitude goes out to my parents for
all they have done for me. Thank you for visiting me during fieldwork, for your
generosity, and most importantly, for being there, always. Your support is the
backbone of my life. In the vastness of space and the immensity of time, it is my
greatest joy to share a lifetime with you both. Finally, I would like to thank the
students who trusted me with their stories and struggles and allowed me to base
this dissertation on their lived experiences.
Glossary of Chinese Words and
Expressions
Notes on transcription:
Transcription follows the Pinyin system of transcription used in the People’s
Republic of China and recognized internationally. Occurrences of Chinese terms
transcribed using the older Wade Giles system such as in historical literature
have been converted to Pinyin (except for direct quotations). All Chinese terms
are written in cursive and not capitalized. Names, institutions, organisations and
places are capitalized and not written in cursive.
In order to avoid confusion and due to the numerous homophones in the
Chinese language, the Chinese characters has been included alongside the tran-
scriptions. The tonal indications have been omitted except in cases where they
are relevant to the meaning or context.
in order of appearance
关系guanxi: network, connections.
四书五经Sishuwujing; four books and five classics.
书院Shuyuan; government-operated academies.
四叔Sishu; private schools
重点zhong dian; key point
改革开放 gaige kaifang; reform and opening
鼓励留学生, 欢迎回国, 来去自由guli liu xiu sheng, huangying hui guo; Support
for foreign study, welcome of return and freedom of movement
中产阶级zhongchan jieji; middle class
中产阶层zhongcan jieceng; middle strata
孝xiao; filial piety
一个不少, 两个正好, 三个多了, yi ge bu shao, liang ge zheng hao, san ge duo
le; One Child isn’t too few, two are just fine, and three are too many
vii
viii Glossary of Chinese Words and Expressions
晚稀少wan, xi, shao ; later, longer, fewer

青年- qing nian; youth
初中chuzhong; junior high school
高中gaozhong; senior high school
高考gaokao; university entrance exam
初考chukao; senior high school entrance exam
人才rencai; human talent
面子mianzi; face
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Chinese Students and International Mobility Trends . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Research Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3 Research Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2 Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.1 Study Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.2 Selection and Recruitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.3 Description of the Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.4 Data Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.5 Characteristics of Sample . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.6 Reflection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3 Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.1 The Development of the Modern Concept of Identity . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.2 Giddens’ Reflexive Project of the Self . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.3 Critical Voices on Giddens’ Theory of Self-Identity . . . . . . . . . . . 51
3.4 Giddens’ Theories in the Chinese Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4 Chinese Education and Study Abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.1 Classical Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
4.2 Missionary Education in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
4.3 Chinese Study Abroad in the 19th Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4.4 Education and Study Abroad in the Early 20th Century . . . . . . . . 67
4.5 Education and Study Abroad 1949–1978 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
4.6 Chinese Study Abroad After 1978 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4.7 Chinese Student Mobility: Contributing Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4.8 Chinese Students and the U.S. Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
ix
x Contents
5 The Self and the Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

5.1 The Family in Modern China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
5.1.1 One-Child Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
5.1.2 Intergenerational Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
5.1.3 Gender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
5.2 Autonomy and Decision-making in the Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
5.2.1 “It was my Idea—then I Convinced my Parents.” . . . . . . . 97
5.2.2 “What can my father do? He can only pay for me” . . . . . 98
5.2.3 “I’m kind of Independent, maybe you can tell” . . . . . . . . 100
5.2.4 “I just want to stay in my Safety Zone” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5.2.5 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
5.3 Education and the Family in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.3.1 Cultural Model of Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
5.3.2 Dissatisfaction with the national Educational System . . . . 112
5.3.3 Idealization of “Western” Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
5.4 Narratives of Exceptionalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
5.4.1 “I don’t fit into the Chinese System” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
5.4.2 “American Universities really value my other type
of Skills” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
5.4.3 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
6 The Self and the Peer Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
6.1 Developments of Individualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
6.1.1 Loneliness, Isolation, and Competition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
6.1.2 Positioning within the Peer Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
6.2 Enthusiastic Learner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
6.2.1 Definition and Discourse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
6.2.2 “I’m Curious about the Truth” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
6.2.3 “I’m Interested in all Subjects—I Want to Choose
What I Learn” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
6.2.4 “I’m More Dedicated and Hard-Working
than Others” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
6.2.5 “I want to get an M.A. or Ph.D.” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
6.2.6 “Others are Better than me” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
6.2.7 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
6.3 People Person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
6.3.2 “I Love People—I am Outgoing” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
6.3.3 “I want to Influence People” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Contents xi
6.3.4 “I am Shy” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

6.3.5 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
6.4 Global Citizen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
6.4.2 “Global Citizen” in the Chinese Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
6.4.3 “I Really Like Learning Languages” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
6.4.4 “Just See Where the Opportunities Come from” . . . . . . . . 172
6.4.5 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
7 The Self and the Country . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
7.1 Literature and Media Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
7.2 Position as a 3rd Country Researcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
7.3 China—National Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
7.3.1 China as an Emotional Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
7.3.2 China as a Political System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
7.4 USA—a new National Identity? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
7.4.1 USA as a Land of Freedom and Human Rights . . . . . . . . 192
7.4.2 USA as a Land of Racism and Violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
7.5 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
8 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
List of Figures
Figure 1.1 Growth in international or foreign enrolment in tertiary

education worldwide (1998–2017) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Figure 2.1 Initial Coding of relevant themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Figure 2.2 Self-Positioning on the Meso-Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Figure 2.3 Self-Positioning on the Macro-Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Figure 2.4 Geographical overview of the students’ hometowns . . . . . . . . 33
Figure 2.5 Students’ Area of Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Figure 2.6 Interviewees’ Phase of Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Figure 4.1 Students from the first detachment of the Chinese
educational mission after arriving in San Francisco
in 1872 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Figure 4.2 Global Flow of Tertiary-Level Students from China . . . . . . . . 77
Figure 5.1 A poster advertising the one-child policy: “Carry
out family planning, implement the basic national
policy.” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
xiii
Introduction
1
To be a good
ex/current friend for R. To be one last
inspired way to get back at R. To be relationship
advice for L. To be advice
for my mother. To be a more comfortable
hospital bed for my mother. To be
no more hospital beds. To be, in my spare time,
America for my uncle, who wants to be China
for me. To be a country of trafficless roads
& a sports car for my aunt, who likes to go
fast. To be a cyclone
of laughter when my parents say
their new coworker is like that, they can tell
because he wears pink socks, see, you don’t, so you can’t,
can’t be one of them. To be the one
my parents raised me to be—
a season from the planet
of planet-sized storms.
To be a backpack of PB&J & every
thing I know, for my brothers, who are becoming
their own storms. To be, for me, nobody,
homebody, body in bed watching TV. To go 2D
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden 1

GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2023
S. Y. Köksal, Self-Identity Narratives of Chinese Students in the United States,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40627-1_1
2 1 Introduction
& be a painting, an amateur’s hilltop & stars,

simple decoration for the new apartment
with you. To be close, J.,
to everything that is close to you—
blue blanket, red cup, green shoes
with pink laces.
To be the blue & the red.
The green, the hot pink.1
The Chinese American poet Chen Chen describes the often awkward positioning
process that pondering central identity questions entails. He touches upon themes
that will also be discussed in this thesis: our position within the family, the
community of friends, or the imagined community of the nation. He asks not
only: “Who am I?” but also, “Who do I aspire to be?” He artistically shows the
added challenge of navigating several cultures which young Chinese in America
are confronted with. Questions of identity and belonging are urgent for this group
as well as intriguing for me as a researcher who has chosen this topic for my
Ph.D. project.
I first became interested in this topic while working for an international NGO
in Beijing in 2015. I spent most of my days conversing with young Chinese as
part of my organization’s educational activities. Their shared dreams to study
in the United States were surprising for me. While the appeal of world-class
American universities was understandable, I was puzzled as to why these teens
didn’t first strive to study on the beautiful campuses of their nation. There were
plenty of excellent institutions to choose from, after all. Their stories of relentless
familial pressure and grueling entrance examinations opened my eyes to the grim
reality. The notorious case of Yunyao “Helen” Zhai, Xinlei “John” Zhang, and
Yuhan “Coco” Yang in 2016 fueled my curiosity to explore the complexities
of the study abroad experience in more detail. The teens living without their
families in southern California’s San Gabriel Valley are currently serving prison
time for the torture, kidnapping, and assault of a fellow student.2 Even though
they attended an expensive private high school and lived in material luxury, their
situation was nonetheless taxing from a social and emotional point of view. Their
1 Chen Chen, When I Grow up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities. (Hexham,
Norththumberland: Bloodaxe Books, 2019).

2 Catie L’Heureux, “A Group of Teens Living by Themselves in Los Angeles Are Going to
Prison for Starting a Bullying Ring,” The Cut, July 12, 2016, https://www.thecut.com/2016/
07/chinese-parachute-students-la-california-sentenced.html. Accessed 16.7.2021.
1.1 Chinese Students and International Mobility Trends 3
case exemplifies that students are challenged to form a stable identity and sense
of belonging as well as the dire incidents that can occur if they do not manage
to do so. This group of students is also exemplary of the trend of young Chinese
and young people all over the world, increasingly choosing to study outside of
their home countries, which will be introduced in the following section.
1.1 Chinese Students and International Mobility Trends
In recent years, U.S. colleges have seen a rise of Chinese students who form
the largest proportion of international students (31%). Undergraduate enrollment
has increased more than eightfold in just six years.3 Chinese students now also
constitute the largest group of international students in several European coun-
tries (including Germany.4 ) as well as in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
The Covid-19 pandemic, while temporarily making international relocation cum-
bersome, has not deterred these youngsters. Overall, they constitute a significant
portion (17.5%) of internationally mobile students.5 However, venturing abroad in
pursuit of academic rigor or immersion in a new language is a desirable option for
more and more people worldwide. Indeed, the number of internationally mobile
students has increased in all parts of the world in the 20th century. The reha-
bilitation of Europe and the continent’s economic development after the Second
World War crucially contributed to this trend. The end of the cold war, as well
as the economic boom in Japan and other East Asian countries, further solidi-
fied this.6 Since the 1990 s, globalization and the onset of modern technology
3 Institute of International Education IIE, “Open Doors Report,” 2020, https://www.iie.org/

Research-and-Insights/Open-Doors/Data/International-Students/Leading-Host-Institutions.
Accessed 24.9.2021.
4 Jin Sun, Die Universität Als Raum Kultureller Differenzerfahrung: Chinesische Studen-
ten an Einer Deutschen Hochschule, Europäische Hochschulschriften. Reihe XI, Pädagogik,

Publications Universitaires Européennes. Série XI, Pédagogie; European University Studies.
Series XI, Education, Bd. 996 = vol. 996 = vol. 996 (Frankfurt am Main; New York: Lang,
2010), 4–5.
5 Institute of Statistics UNESCO, “Global Flow of Tertiary-Level Students,” 2021, http://uis.
unesco.org/en/uis-student-flow. Accessed 25.3.2020.

6 Niels Klabunde and Jürgen Henze, Wettlauf um internationale Studierende: Integration und
interkulturelle Hochschulentwicklung in Deutschland und Kanada, Perspectives of the other

(Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 2014), 33.
4 1 Introduction
have been driving factors.7 Between 1990 and 1995 the yearly amount of people
seeking education abroad has quadrupled. The total amount of international stu-
dents rose to 3,3 Million by 2009 and to 5,3 million by 20178 which is strongly
disproportionate to the overall growth of the worldwide population.9 Studying
abroad has become a key differentiating experience for young adults enrolled in
tertiary education. It provides opportunities to access quality education, acquire
skills that may not be taught at home and get closer to labor markets that offer
higher returns on education. It is also seen as a way to improve employability in
globalized labor markets.10
Figure 1.1 Growth in international or foreign enrolment in tertiary education worldwide

(1998–2017). OECD, Education at a Glance 2019: OECD Indicators, Education at a Glance
(OECD, 2019), https://doi.org/10.1787/f8d7880d-en, 231, B6.2
The skills needs of increasingly knowledge-based and innovation-driven

economies have spurred demand for tertiary education worldwide, while local
education capacities have not always evolved fast enough to meet growing domes-
tic demand. Rising wealth in emerging economies has further prompted children
7 Yu Chen, Verbessern Chinesische Studierende Ihre Sprechfertigkeit Im Deutschen Während

Des Fachstudiums in Deutschland? Eine Empirische Untersuchung Unter Berücksichti-
gung Sozialer Aspekte, Duisburger Arbeiten Zur Sprach- Und Kulturwissenschaft; Duisburg
Papers on Research in Language and Culture, Bd. 91 = v. 91 (Frankfurt am Main; New York:
Lang, 2012).
8 Institute of Statistics UNESCO, “Education: Outbound Internationally Mobile Students
by Host Region,” 2020, http://data.uis.unesco.org/Index.aspx?queryid=172. Accessed

25.3.2020.
9 Klabunde and Henze, Wettlauf um internationale Studierende, 26.
10 OECD, Education at a Glance 2019: OECD Indicators, Education at a Glance (OECD,
2019), https://doi.org/10.1787/f8d7880d-en.
1.2 Research Overview 5
of the growing middle classes to seek educational opportunities abroad. At the

same time, economic factors (e.g., costs of international flights), technological
factors (e.g., the spread of the Internet and social media to maintain contacts
across borders), and cultural factors (e.g., use of English as a common working
and teaching language) have made international mobility more affordable and
less irreversible than in the past.11
1.2 Research Overview
The phenomenon of young Chinese increasingly pursuing education abroad has

not gone unnoticed by researchers. Indeed, scholars in a multitude of fields have
investigated Chinese international students. According to Kehm and Teuber, this
is a sign of enhanced academic interest on the topic of internationalization of
education.12 The following section aims to give a succinct overview of the most
significant trends in this research field. The growing presence of Chinese students
on higher education campuses and their effect on the curriculum, staff, and teach-
ing environment has been examined in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada,
and New Zealand,13 and in a smaller scope in France and Germany14 as well as
11 OECD, 231; Brendan Cantwell, “Are International Students Cash Cows? Examining the
Relationship Between New International Undergraduate Enrollments and Institutional Rev-
enue at Public Colleges and Universities in the US” 5, no. 4 (2015): 14.
12 Barbara M. Kehm and Ulrich Teichler, “Research on Internationalisation in Higher Edu-
cation,” Journal of Studies in International Education 11, no. 3–4 (September 2007): 260–73,
https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315307303534.
13 Ling Cao and Tingting Zhang, “Social Networking Sites and Educational Adaptation in
Higher Education: A Case Study of Chinese International Students in New Zealand,” The Sci-
entific World Journal 2012 (2012): 1–5, https://doi.org/10.1100/2012/289356; Yuan Cheng,
Education and Class: Chinese in Britain and the United States (Aldershot [England]; Brook-
field, USA: Avebury, 1994); Rita Chi-Ying Chung, Frank H. Walkey, and Fred Bemak, “A
Comparison of Achievement and Aspirations of New Zealand Chinese and European Stu-
dents,” Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 28, no. 4 (July 1997): 481–89, https://doi.
org/10.1177/0022022197284006; Sue McGowan and Lucy Potter, “The Implications of the
Chinese Learner for the Internationalization of the Curriculum: An Australian Perspective,”
Critical Perspectives on Accounting 19, no. 2 (February 2008): 181–98, https://doi.org/10.
1016/j.cpa.2005.12.006; Johanna L. Waters, Education, Migration, and Cultural Capital in
the Chinese Diaspora: Transnational Students between Hong Kong and Canada (Amherst,
NY: Cambria Press, 2008); Lloyd L. Wong, ed., Trans-Pacific Mobilities: The Chinese and
Canada (Vancouver Toronto: UBC Press, 2017).
14 Jun He, “Zum Vergleich Des Studienstandorts Deutschland Und Frankreich Für Die Chi-
nesen.,” Das Hochschulwesen 62, no. 6 (2014): 191–95; Sun, Die Universität Als Raum
6 1 Introduction
in other countries such as Korea15 , Thailand, Russia16 , Japan17 , and Myanmar18 .

The literature reviewed in this section, however, focuses on the context of Chi-
nese studying in North America. Due to the vast amount of scholarly literature
available, I have chosen to figuratively follow in the students’ footsteps to orga-
nize it, meaning I begin with their decision-making in China, proceed to their
experiences upon arrival, and conclude with studies dealing with their plans after
graduation.
Firstly, prominent scholars such as sociologists Vanessa Fong19 and Dennis
Yang20 have discussed the push-pull factors leading to educational sojourns.
Comparative studies have looked into the specific draw of an overseas education
Kultureller Differenzerfahrung; Jiani Zhu, “Academic Adjustment of Chinese Students at

German Universities,” December 18, 2012, https://doi.org/10.18452/16638.
15 Qinlan Lin and Ling Gao, “Study on Paths of Affect Factors on Adaption to University
Life of Chinese International Students in Korea —Choosing Korean Training Chinese Stu-
dents as Main Investigation Objects,” Engineering 05, no. 10 (2013): 158–62, https://doi.org/
10.4236/eng.2013.510B034.
16 Svetlana Sablina, Hannah Soong, and Anna Pechurina, “Exploring Expectations, Experi-
ences and Long-Term Plans of Chinese International Students Studying in the Joint Sino-
Russian Degree,” Higher Education 76, no. 6 (December 2018): 973–88, https://doi.org/10.
1007/s10734-018-0256-z.
17 Liao Chi Yang, Li En Min, and Wang Xue Ping, Kua yue jiang jie: liu xue sheng yu xin
Hua qiao = Transiting boundaries: Chinese students and new migrants in Japan 跨越疆界:
留学生与新华侨 = Transiting boundaries: Chinese students and new migrants in Japan /
主编廖赤阳; 副主编李恩民, 王雪萍, She hui ke xue wen xian chu ban she, liu xue ri ben
cong shu 2 (Beijing, 2015).
18 Juan Chen, “An Analysis of Chinese Phonetic Errors of Chinese Students in North Myan-
mar,” Modern Linguistics 09, no. 01 (2021): 75–81, https://doi.org/10.12677/ML.2021.

91012.
19 Vanessa Fong, Paradise Redefined: Transnational Chinese Students and the Quest for
Flexible Citizenship in the Developed World. (Stanford: Stanford Univeresity Press, 2011).
20 Dennis Yang, The Pursuit of the Chinese Dream in America: Chinese Undergraduate Stu-
dents at American Universities (Lanham, Boulder, New York, London: Lexington Books,
2016).
versus domestic institutions.21 Mei Fong22 , Fengshu Liu23 and most recently,
Yingyi Ma24 also investigated the changing role of education as contributing to
a family’s decisions to send their offspring abroad. Bodycott25 examined the par-
ents’ role in the decision-making process. This line of research often constructs
Chinese students and their families as customers or as the world’s largest floating
academic potential, which could lead to intensive competition.26
Once arrived at their destination of choice, international students face many
challenges such as finance, housing, lack of social network and support, compe-
tence in the English language, and homesickness as well as adjusting to different
cultures and classroom requirements.27 How students cope and adapt has been
researched in the fields of psychology and medicine, as well as nutritional science.
Chinese international students have been of interest in regard to the accultur-
ation processes they go through and how it affects their mental health.28 It has
been shown that social connectedness with Americans mediated the links between
21 Baoyan Cheng, Aiai Fan, and Min Liu, “Chinese High School Students’ Plans in Study-
ing Overseas: Who and Why,” Frontiers of Education in China 12, no. 3 (September 2017):
367–93, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-017-0027-0; Patrick Lo et al., “Chinese Students’
Motivations for Overseas versus Domestic MLIS Education: A Comparative Study between
University of Tsukuba and Shanghai University,” College & Research Libraries 80, no. 7
(2019): 1013–35, https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.80.7.1013.
22 Mei Fong, One Child: The Story of China’s Most Radical Experiment (Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt, 2016).

23 Fengshu Liu, Modernization as Lived Experiences: Three Generations of Young Men and
Women in China, First Edition, Youth, Young Adulthood and Society (New York: Routledge,
2019).
24 Yingyi Ma, Ambitious and Anxious: How Chinese College Students Succeed and Struggle
in American Higher Education (New York: Columbia University Press, 2020).

25 Peter Bodycott, “Choosing a Higher Education Study Abroad Destination: What Main-
land Chinese Parents and Students Rate as Important,” Journal of Research in International
Education 8, no. 3 (December 2009): 349–73, https://doi.org/10.1177/1475240909345818.
26 Jürgen Henze and Jiani Zhu, “Current Research on Chinese Students Studying Abroad,”
Research in Comparative and International Education 7, no. 1 (March 2012): 90–104, https://
doi.org/10.2304/rcie.2012.7.1.90.
27 Linda Tsevi, “Survival Strategies of International Undergraduate Students at a Public
Research Midwestern University in the United States: A Case Study,” Journal of Interna-
tional Students 8, no. 2 (April 1, 2018): 1037, https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v8i2.131.
28 Ying Xu et al., “The Contribution of Lifestyle Factors to Depressive Symptoms: A Cross-
Sectional Study in Chinese College Students,” Psychiatry Research 245 (November 2016):
243–49, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2016.03.009; Yu-Wen Ying, Peter Allen Lee, and
Jeanne L. Tsai, “Attachment, Sense of Coherence, and Mental Health among Chinese Amer-
ican College Students: Variation by Migration Status,” International Journal of Intercultural
Relations 31, no. 5 (September 2007): 531–44, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2007.01.001;
8 1 Introduction
adherence to the host culture and psychosocial adjustment or depression.29 Other

studies have explored the correlation between attachment to parents or peers and
depressive symptom level after migrating.30 Furthermore, Chinese students’ adap-
tation to the new educational environment has been a topic in pedagogy and
educational sciences. It has been hypothesized that the Chinese have difficulty
adapting due to their difference in learning and thinking styles. However, this
has later been criticized as culturalizing because it measures students against
Western standards and ideals of learning.31 Numerous studies have examined
the challenges of communication between faculty and Chinese students, among
undergraduates but also among doctoral students who often have a closer, high-
stakes relationship with their faculty supervisors.32 Among the issues that have
Jing Zhang and Patricia Goodson, “Acculturation and Psychosocial Adjustment of Chinese
International Students: Examining Mediation and Moderation Effects,” International Jour-
nal of Intercultural Relations 35, no. 5 (September 2011): 614–27, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
ijintrel.2010.11.004; Zhongheng Zhang and Juan Xu, “Chinese Graduate Students’ Adapta-
tion to Learning in America: A Cultural Perspective,” JOURNAL OF CHINESE OVERSEAS,
2007, 12.
29 Zhang and Goodson, “Acculturation and Psychosocial Adjustment of Chinese Interna-
tional Students.”
30 Ying, Lee, and Tsai, “Attachment, Sense of Coherence, and Mental Health among Chinese
American College Students.”

31 Hongyu Cheng, Heidi L. Andrade, and Zheng Yan, “A Cross-Cultural Study of Learning
Behaviours in the Classroom: From a Thinking Style Perspective,” Educational Psychology

31, no. 7 (December 2011): 825–41, https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2011.608526; Hong-
Yu Cheng and Shu-Yi Guan, “The Role of Learning Approaches in Explaining the Distinct
Learning Behaviors Presented by American and Chinese Undergraduates in the Classroom,”
Learning and Individual Differences 22, no. 3 (June 2012): 414–18, https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.lindif.2011.12.009; LI Jin, “Mind or Virtue: Western and Chinese Beliefs about Learning,”
Current Directions in Psychological Science 14, no. 4 (2005): 190–94.
32 Shiyou Wu et al., “Exploring Factors for Achieving Successful Educational Attainment
among Chinese Doctoral Students in the United States,” Journal of International Stu-
dents 10, no. 2 (May 15, 2020): 244–64, https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v10i2.844; Andrea
G. Trice, “Faculty Perceptions of Graduate International Students: The Benefits and Chal-
lenges,” Journal of Studies in International Education 7, no. 4 (December 2003): 379–403,
https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315303257120; Li Jin and Jason Schneider, “Faculty Views on
International Students: A Survey Study,” Journal of International Students 9, no. 1 (Jan-
uary 18, 2019): 84–96, https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v9i1.268; Chris R Glass et al., “Uneven
Experiences: The Impact of Student-Faculty Interactions on International Students’ Sense
of Belonging” 5, no. 4 (2015): 15; Shelley Rose Adrian-Taylor, Kimberly A. Noels, and
Kurt Tischler, “Conflict Between International Graduate Students and Faculty Supervisors:
Toward Effective Conflict Prevention and Management Strategies,” Journal of Studies in
received a lot of attention, accusations of plagiarism– or in other words, diverg-

ing definitions of ownership and approaches to academic writing—should be
mentioned.33 Cultural adaptation has in several cases been researched in con-
nection with the use of social networking sites. As internet censorship has made
most foreign social networking sites unavailable in China, students’ acceptance
of and immersion in the aforementioned sites has been viewed as an unambigu-
ous marker of cultural adaptation by some researchers.34 Cultural adaptation and
specifically acculturative stress have been of interest to scientists in psychol-
ogy who have devised a number of studies on students’ mental health.35 In
a more critical light, the intercultural studies field has looked into stereotypes
International Education 11, no. 1 (March 2007): 90–117, https://doi.org/10.1177/102831530

6286313.
33 Qing Gu and Jane Brooks, “Beyond the Accusation of Plagiarism,” System 36, no.
3 (September 2008): 337–52, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2008.01.004; Robert M

O’Connell and Nuerzati Resuli, “Academic Challenges for Chinese Transfer Students in
Engineering,” Journal of International Students 10, no. 2 (May 15, 2020): 466–82, https://
doi.org/10.32674/jis.v10i2.674.
34 Eric Forbush and Brooke Foucault-Welles, “Social Media Use and Adaptation among Chi-
nese Students Beginning to Study in the United States,” International Journal of Intercultural
Relations 50 (January 2016): 1–12, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2015.10.007; Jin-Liang
Wang et al., “The Relationships among the Big Five Personality Factors, Self-Esteem, Nar-
cissism, and Sensation-Seeking to Chinese University Students’ Uses of Social Networking
Sites (SNSs),” Computers in Human Behavior 28, no. 6 (November 2012): 2313–19, https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.07.001; Chen Yang, “US-Based Social Media Use and American
Life: A Study of Chinese Students’ Acculturation and Adaptation in America,” Global Media
and China 3, no. 2 (June 2018): 75–91, https://doi.org/10.1177/2059436418783765; Steven
Fraiberg and Xiaowei Cui, “Weaving Relationship Webs: Tracing How IMing Practices
Mediate the Trajectories of Chinese International Students,” Computers and Composition 39
(March 2016): 83–103, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compcom.2015.11.005.
35 Nasih Othman et al., “Perceived Impact of Contextual Determinants on Depression, Anx-
iety and Stress: A Survey with University Students,” International Journal of Mental Health
Systems 13, no. 1 (December 2019): 17, https://doi.org/10.1186/s13033-019-0275-x; Alberta
Gloria and Tamara Ho, “Environmental, Social, and Psychological Experience of Asian
American Undergraduates: Examining Issues of Academic Persistence,” Journal of Counsel-
ing and Development 81 (Winter 2003): 93–105; Huan Chen, Usenime Akpanudo, and Erin
Hasler, “How Do Chinese International Students View Seeking Mental Health Services?,”
Journal of International Students 10, no. 2 (May 15, 2020): 286–305, https://doi.org/10.
32674/jis.v10i2.765; Justin A. Chen et al., “Chinese International Students: An Emerging
Mental Health Crisis,” Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
54, no. 11 (November 2015): 879–80, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2015.06.022; Xu et al.,
“The Contribution of Lifestyle Factors to Depressive Symptoms.”
10 1 Introduction
and knowledge about U.S. and China among this group.36 Academic achieve-
ment, self-efficacy, and persistence of Chinese students have also been widely
researched.37 Another strand of research has taken a more positive approach and
thematized transformations and learning opportunities38 as well as the rich con-
tributions Chinese students make to the university environment.39 As found by
Anke Li, Chinese undergraduates at North American universities reported that
their close friends are mainly Chinese due to a deeper emotional connection
and being able to communicate in their mother tongue. A common reason for
only interacting with non-Chinese peers in the classroom was the lack of shared
interests and different preferences in free-time activities, e.g., drinking alcohol.40
Li’s study is part of a larger body of research problematizing Chinese students’
36 R. David Arkush, ed., Land without Ghosts: Chinese Impressions of America from the
Mid-Nineteenth Century to the Present, 1st paperback printing (Berkeley: Univ. of California
Press, 1993); D. Han, D. Chen, and C. Fang, “Images of the United States: Explaining the
Attitudes of Chinese Scholars and Students in the United States,” The Chinese Journal of
International Politics 6, no. 2 (June 1, 2013): 183–207, https://doi.org/10.1093/cjip/pot007;
Carola McGiffert, ed., Chinese Images of the United States, Significant Issues Series, v. 27,
no. 3 (Washington, D.C: CSIS Press, Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2005);
Racheal A. Ruble and Yan Bing Zhang, “Stereotypes of Chinese International Students Held
by Americans,” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 37, no. 2 (March 2013): 202–
11, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2012.12.004; Yali Zhao, Xiaoguang Zhou, and Lihong
Huang, “Chinese Students’ Knowledge and Thinking about America and China,” The Social
Studies 99, no. 1 (January 2008): 13–22, https://doi.org/10.3200/TSSS.99.1.3-22.
37 Gloria and Ho, “Environmental, Social, and Psychological Experience of Asian American
Undergraduates: Examining Issues of Academic Persistence”; Shengjie Lin, Carlton J. Fong,

and Yidan Wang, “Chinese Undergraduates’ Sources of Self-Efficacy Differ by Sibling Sta-
tus, Achievement, and Fear of Failure along Two Pathways,” Social Psychology of Education
20, no. 2 (June 2017): 361–86, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-017-9367-0; Samuel S. Peng
and Deeann Wright, “Explanation of Academic Achievement of Asian American Students,”
The Journal of Educational Research 87, no. 6 (July 1994): 346–52, https://doi.org/10.1080/
00220671.1994.9941265.
38 Glen Stafford, “The Unexpected Transformations of Chinese International Students in
Australia” (Dissertation, Adelaide, University of Adelaide, 2010).

39 Tang T. Heng, “Different Is Not Deficient: Contradicting Stereotypes of Chinese Interna-
tional Students in US Higher Education,” Studies in Higher Education 43, no. 1 (January 2,
2018): 22–36, https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2016.1152466.
40 Anke Li, “University Integration of Chinese Undergraduate Students: I Never Tended to
Break the Bubble [to Make Friends with Local Students]. I Think I Already Passed That Phase
When in High School. The Role of Secondary School Experience in Social Integration of
Chinese Undergraduate Students in Canada and the United States,” Journal of International
Mobility N6, no. 1 (2018): 153, https://doi.org/10.3917/jim.006.0153.
self-segregating behavior and nationalist tendencies.41 Chinese researchers, most

notably Heng in her essay “Different is not Deficient”42 and Ma in her book
“Ambitious and Anxious”43 have criticized this approach as unfairly generalizing
Chinese students and over-simplifying complex identity negotiation processes.
The experience of returned American-educated Chinese and their integration
into the domestic labor market has been of interest, particularly among Chi-
nese economists and social scientists.44 A well-researched issue is the contrast
between the perception of an American education as a road to career success or
high-return investment and the actual positioning of returned graduates in the job
market. Compared to their Chinese-educated peers, they may lack relevant (关系;
41 Vicki Jingjing Zhang, “The Multiple Forces Behind Chinese Students’ Self-Segregation
and How We May Counter Them” 11, no. 2 (2018): 17; Yige Dong, “How Chinese Stu-
dents Become Nationalist: Their American Experience and Transpacific Futures,” Ameri-
can Quarterly 69, no. 3 (2017): 559–67, https://doi.org/10.1353/aq.2017.0050; Yi Zhu and
Mary Bresnahan, “‘They Make No Contribution!’ Versus ‘We Should Make Friends with
Them!’—American Domestic Students’ Perception of Chinese International Students’ Reti-
cence and Face,” Journal of International Students 8, no. 4 (October 1, 2018), https://doi.org/
10.32674/jis.v8i4.221; Xiaoting Xu and Hong Jiang, “Investigation of Patriotic Conscious-
ness of Overseas University Students,” Journal of Anhui Agricultural University (Social
Science Edition) 27, no. 2 (March 2018): 137–40; Fen Lin, Yanfei Sun, and Hongxing Yang,
“How Are Chinese Students Ideologically Divided? A Survey of Chinese College Students’
Political Self-Identification,” Pacific Affairs 88, no. 1 (March 1, 2015): 51–74, https://doi.
org/10.5509/201588151; Henry Chiu Hail, “Patriotism Abroad: Overseas Chinese Students’
Encounters With Criticisms of China,” Journal of Studies in International Education 19, no.
4 (September 2015): 311–26, https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315314567175.
42 Heng, “Different Is Not Deficient.”
43 Ma, Ambitious and Anxious.
44 Shu Fan Wen, “Return Migration and Economic Turmoil: Experiences of Repatriated Chi-
nese Professionals in Shanghai, China,” Dialectical Anthropology 37, no. 3–4 (December
2013): 363–82, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10624-013-9322-1; Zhang Yufa, “Returned Chinese
Students from America and the Chinese Leadership (1846–1949),” Chinese Studies in History
35, no. 3 (April 2002): 52–86, https://doi.org/10.2753/CSH0009-4633350352; Chiang Yung-
Chen, “Chinese Students in America in the Early Twentieth Century: Preliminary Reflections
on a Research Topic,” Chinese Studies in History 36, no. 3 (April 2003): 38–62, https://doi.
org/10.2753/CSH0009-4633360338; Huiyao Wang, Dang Dai Zhongguo Hai Gui =: Con-
temporary Chinese Returnees, Di 1 ban, Hai Gui Tui Dong Zhongguo Cong Shu (Beijing
Shi: Zhongguo fa zhan chu ban she, 2007).
12 1 Introduction
connections; network)45 or work experience many employers value.46 Age dis-

crimination is also a factor, especially for middle-class families, where students
have to balance part-time jobs or need extra time for language fluency which
may prolong their stay and “cost their valuable youth”.47 Some upper-middle-
class families have tried to avoid this problem by sending their children abroad
at a younger age. However, this phenomenon of “parachute kids” and “astronaut
families”, which includes parents staying in the home country to provide finan-
cial stability while the offspring attends school abroad, has been more prevalent
among Taiwanese and Korean families.48 It has only recently and rarely been
practiced by Chinese families. For political scientists, the career paths, leader-
ship roles, and contribution to modernization the students have had after their
return to China has been of interest. It has been hypothesized that certain polit-
ical events students witnessed during their years abroad directly influenced their
political convictions and formed the basis for their careers in later life.49 In the
American context, the potential political influence of students on the university
45 Thomas Gold, Doug Guthrie, and David L. Wank, eds., Social Connections in China:
Institutions, Culture, and the Changing Nature of Guanxi, Structural Analysis in the Social
Sciences 21 (Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002).
46 Fong, Paradise Redefined: Transnational Chinese Students and the Quest for Flexible
Citizenship in the Developed World.; Yang, “US-Based Social Media Use and American
Life.”
Citizenship in the Developed World.

48 Jørgen Carling, Cecilia Menjívar, and Leah Schmalzbauer, “Central Themes in the Study
of Transnational Parenthood,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 38, no. 2 (February
2012): 191–217, https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2012.646417; May Friedman and Silvia
Schultermandl, eds., Growing up Transnational: Identity and Kinship in a Global Era
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2011); Glenna Matthews, “The Global Silicon Valley
Home: Lives and Landscapes Within Taiwanese American Trans-Pacific Culture. By Shenglin
Chang. (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2006. Xxii + 264 Pp. $55).,” Pacific
Historical Review 76, no. 2 (May 2007): 319–20, https://doi.org/10.1525/phr.2007.76.2.319;
Mary Romero, “Review Reviewed Work(s): Children of Global Migration: Transnational
Families and Gendered Woes by Rhacel Salazar Parreñas,” Contemporary Sociology 35, no. 5
(2006): 480–82; Ken Chih-Yan Sun, “Transnational Kinscription: A Case of Parachute Kids
in the USA and Their Parents in Taiwan,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 40, no. 9
(September 2, 2014): 1431–49, https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2013.847359; Min Zhou
and James V. Gatewood, eds., Contemporary Asian America: A Multidisciplinary Reader,
2nd ed (New York: New York University Press, 2007).
49 Ning Qian and T. K. Chu, Chinese Students Encounter America (Seattle: University of
Washington Press, 2002).

environment has caught more attention.50 Overall, media coverage of this phe-
nomenon and existing research literature around Chinese students tend to center
the difficulties students face in their educational sojourns without adequate con-
sideration of how sociocultural contexts and histories shape students’ experiences.
Research focusing on the students’ lived experiences, in particular, is rare. Sev-
eral notable exceptions are worth mentioning here. Lily Lei Ye’s ethnographic
study of Chinese doctoral students’ identity negotiations and intercultural expe-
riences in the UK has certainly inspired me and served as a valuable model for
designing a qualitative study that centers the study participants’ perspectives. Ye
argues that Chinese students exhibit much more agency than previous scholar-
ship has attributed to them.51 Gang Zhu’s innovative study “The Monkey King
Meets Spiderman”52 has also been interesting and helpful. Zhu uses a narrative
approach and Wenger’s theories of communities of practice53 to investigate Chi-
nese students’ identity development and experiences of academic socialization
in a public university in the USA. Fengshu Liu’s paper has examined the phe-
nomenon of studying abroad under the aspect of constructing autonomous the
middle-class self. She argues that young adult, only children university students
undergo a specific process of identity formation.54 Several other studies have
focused specifically on the transformative aspect of living, traveling, or studying
50 Peter H. Koehn and Xiao-huang Yin, eds., The Expanding Roles of Chinese Americans
in U.S.-China Relations: Transnational Networks and Trans-Pacific Interactions (Armonk,
N.Y: M.E. Sharpe, 2002); Anastasya Lloyd-Damnjanovic, A Preliminary Study of PRC Polit-
ical Influence and Interference Activities in American Higher Education (Washington, D.C.:
Kissinger Institute on China and the United States Woodrow Wilson International Center
for Scholars, 2018); Yingyi Ma and Martha A Garcia-Murillo, Understanding International
Students from Asia in American Universities: Learning and Living Globalization, 2018.
51 Lily Lei Ye, Intercultural Experience and Identity Narratives of Chinese Doctoral Stu-
dents in the UK (New York, NY: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2018); Lily Ye and Viv
Edwards, “Chinese Overseas Doctoral Student Narratives of Intercultural Adaptation,” Jour-
nal of Research in International Education 14, no. 3 (December 2015): 228–41, https://doi.
org/10.1177/1475240915614934.
52 Gang Zhu, “‘The Monkey King Meets the Spiderman’: Narrative Inquiry into Chinese Stu-
dents’ Academic Socialization Experiences in a U.S. University,” Frontiers of Education in

China 12, no. 1 (2017): 98–119.
53 Etienne Wenger, Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity, Learning in
Doing (Cambridge, U.K.; New York, N.Y: Cambridge University Press, 1998).
54 Fengshu Liu, “Constructing the Autonomous Middle-Class Self in Today’s China: The
Case of Young-Adult Only-Children University Students,” Journal of Youth Studies 11, no.
2 (April 2008): 193–212, https://doi.org/10.1080/13676260701800746.
14 1 Introduction
abroad and its’ impact on identity.55 Tan’s qualitative study has focused on the
self-concept and cultural identity of Chinese students during their educational
sojourns.56 Lastly, the study "Neither local nor global" conducted by Yuan, Li,
and Yu at a Chinese university is relevant in regard to identity re-negotiations that
take place upon contact with other international groups, even for those students
who remain in their homeland.57 The study can shed light on what contributes
to the emergence of a cosmopolitan identity through institutional international-
ization. After this brief overview, which makes no claim of being complete, I
introduce the research questions I aim to address through this study.
1.3 Research Questions
In this dissertation, I would like to investigate the students’ narratives of self-

identity. How do the students view themselves and their experience abroad? How
do they position themselves in regard to their environment? How do they tell
their stories and which points do they emphasize when telling their stories? How
do they distinguish themselves from their peers and families? I aim to present
the participants of my study as complex subjects with the power of individual
agency who compose a particular narrative in order to achieve the coherence of
self-identity.58 Furthermore, I will discuss which societal and cultural discourses
could have contributed to the formation of the narratives in my sample. As these
processes are highly complex, it is evident that the origins of such narratives can
never be determined with certainty. I nonetheless address those discourses which
I consider as potentially feeding into them or necessitating a positioning from the
55 Dan Zhu, Batueva Chimita, and Honggang Xu, “Self-Development of Chinese Overseas
Students in Their European Travels,” Journal of China Tourism Research 13, no. 1 (January 2,
2017): 46–64, https://doi.org/10.1080/19388160.2017.1314842; Li-Fang Zhang, “Thinking
Styles and Identity Development among Chinese University Students,” The American Jour-
nal of Psychology 121, no. 2 (July 1, 2008): 255, https://doi.org/10.2307/20445460; Qing Gu,
“An Emotional Journey of Identity Change and Transformation: The Impact of Study-Abroad
Experience on the Lives and Careers of Chinese Students and Returnees,” Learning and
Teaching 8, no. 3 (December 1, 2015): 60–81, https://doi.org/10.3167/latiss.2015.080304.
56 Yu Tan, “On Self-Concept and Cultural Identity Reconstruction Issues of Chinese Inter-
national Students,” Contemporary Education and Culture 6, no. 3 (2018): 78–83.

57 Rui Yuan, Sifei Li, and Baohua Yu, “Neither ‘Local’ nor ‘Global’: Chinese University Stu-
dents’ Identity Paradoxes in the Internationalization of Higher Education,” Higher Education

77, no. 6 (June 2019): 963–78, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-018-0313-7.
58 Anton Antonovsky and S. Sagy, “The Development of a Sense of Coherence and Its Impact
on Responses to Stress Situations.,” Journal of Social Psychology 126, no. 1 (1986): 213–25.
1.3 Research Questions 15
side of the study participants. In organizing my findings, I have been inspired to

follow the chronology of the students’ journey from China to America. I begin
with their positioning within their family contexts in China, including their expe-
riences in the Chinese educational system and the family decision-making process
concerning the how and why of studying abroad. I then move on to their arrival
in the United States and discuss their self-definitions in regards to their peers and
their new environment. I look at how they set themselves apart from their peers
and what issues arise as significant distinguishing markers. Lastly, I look at their
positioning within the broader national context and their considerations for the
future. In regards to how I plan to answer these research questions, let me state
the structure of this dissertation in detail. In Chapter 2, I introduce the method-
ology used for this study. I explain the reasoning behind choosing the qualitative
approach with semi-structured interviews as well as discuss the shortcomings
of such an approach. My own position as a researcher will also be considered.
Chapter 3 delves into the theoretical framework of identity and the "reflexive
project of the self" proposed by Anthony Giddens, which form the basis for anal-
ysis. Special attention will be paid to the complexities of applying these theories
to the Chinese context. In Chapter 4, I look into the history of Chinese-American
educational exchanges and educational traditions that contributed to them. The
present-day trend of Chinese study abroad will also be addressed, and the rea-
sons contributing to this will be analyzed in detail. In Chapters 5, 6, and 7, I
will present the main findings of my study. In Chapter 5, I discuss the narra-
tives of the self in the context of the family. The chapter contains background
information about the changing family dynamics and perceptions of education in
modern China, which I have deemed relevant to fully understand the research
results. For instance, how the foreign educational experience changes the parent-
child relationship is of special interest in light of the one-child policy, as the
lonely offspring is often burdened with greater familial and financial responsibil-
ities than in previous generations.59 For this reason, I have included an overview
of the historical developments and the impact of this specific policy. Furthermore,
the following research questions will be addressed: How do the youngsters deal
with familial expectations and obligations? Are the students aware of their privi-
leged position or the expenses their education is causing for their parents? Which
role do they see for themselves in the story of their family? Chapter 6 looks
at peer relationships as well as the self-positioning and distinguishing markers
among peers. It can be assumed that Chinese students in America come from var-
ious backgrounds, so how they negotiate identification with different subgroups
59 Fong, One Child.

16 1 Introduction
is intriguing. How do they portray themselves and their background in front of

their friends? The chapter is subdivided into several identity categories which
have emerged as significant from my material, 6.2: the Enthusiastic Learner, a
type of student who enjoys academic learning and fully applies him or herself to
it, thus placing their studies at the center of their identity; 6.3: the People Per-
son, who emphasizes sociability, extroversion, and leadership in their narratives
and 6.4: the Global Citizen, who likes to portray him or herself as a globetrot-
ting adventurer with an open mind-set. While I had originally not planned to
use Bourdieu’s theories of capital and class distinction60 as a framework for this
thesis, the categories that have emerged from the material contain certain simi-
larities to Bourdieu’s categories of social and cultural capital. These parallels are
unintended. While Bourdieu’s theories are undoubtedly useful for understanding
social mobility and studying abroad can contribute to the accumulation of capital
through a transformed habitus61 , the focus of this study is not on the reproduction
of class. Therefore, I have decided not to include these theories as a framework
for analysis. In Chapter 7, I raise the question of how the students make sense of
their new cultural environment. However, this does not mean intercultural adapta-
tion or assimilation in Berry’s sense.62 Instead, I discuss and analyze narratives of
belonging and positioning in regards to both the Chinese and American national
context. Do the students feel a strong identification with their native context, is
this identification possibly even enhanced through the study abroad experience?
Or do they view themselves as first-generation Americans who plan a future in
the United States? In the last chapter, I summarize the findings of my study and
offer an in-depth analysis and placement of my results within the overall research
context. I also consider implications for further research in this field.
60 Pierre Bourdieu, “The Forms of Capital,” in Handbook of Theory and Research for the
Sociology of Education, ed. J.G. Richardson (New York: Greenwood Press, 1986), 241–58;
Pierre Bourdieu and Randal Johnson, The Field of Cultural Production: Essays on Art and
Literature (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993).
61 Pierre Bourdieu and Pierre Bourdieu, The Logic of Practice, Reprinted (Stanford, Calif:
Stanford Univ. Press, 2008).

62 John W. Berry, “Immigration, Acculturation, and Adaptation,” Applied Psychology 46, no.
1 (January 1997): 5–34, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-0597.1997.tb01087.x.

Methods
2
In this chapter methodology used for this study will be discussed. This includes
the details of the qualitative approach used, as well as an in-depth description of
the implementation of the fieldwork. I will also reflect on my own position as a
researcher.
2.1 Study Design
The following section discusses two questions: firstly, how do I, as a researcher,

view reality and what impact does this have on my study? Secondly, which
research method is best suited to both my ontological position and the research
topic at hand.
Constructivism asserts that meanings are produced by the interactions between
subjects and the world rather than being discovered1 and that different individu-
als construct their own meanings in different ways.2 In this study, I view identity
narratives as constructed and produced by participants based on their lived expe-
riences. They created meaning based on interacting with the environment where
they sojourn. These meanings were dependent on and constructed by them rather
than existing objectively. However, as succinctly pointed out by Hacking in his
work “The social construction of what?”3 , constructionism has obvious limits
when discussing social phenomena that I am aware of. Therefore, I feel the need
1 David E. Gray, Doing Research in the Real World, 4th edition (Los Angeles: SAGE, 2018).
2 Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion, and Keith Morrison, Research Methods in Education, 7th
ed (London; New York: Routledge, 2011).
3 Ian Hacking, The Social Construction of What?, 7. print (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ.
Press, 2001).

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40627-1_2
18 2 Methods
to relativize and distance myself from some extreme interpretations of construc-

tivism which assert that all scientific knowledge is produced by the scientific
community and thus all knowledge is socially constructed. While some narrative
aspects can be viewed as creatively composed by individuals based on their life
situations, these narrations’ should also be considered in front of a cultural and
historical backdrop and various influences that contribute to their development.
In short, they do not originate solely in the minds of these individuals. The emer-
gence of these narratives is highly complex and defined by many factors. One
of the more significant factors is the transition into a new cultural environment,
which not only necessitates an identity re-positioning but also allows individ-
uals to access a fresh set of cultural resources and narratives. In this setting
of multicultural, multi-layered reality, individuals also have increasing agency
over how they want to position themselves—which identity they want to select.
Furthermore, it should be acknowledged that these identities might be partially
constructed but also need to be validated through social interaction. This con-
strains individuals’ freedom in creating their narratives. In other words, I cannot
claim to be someone solely because I would like to be. The social environ-
ment has to corroborate and accept each individuals’ self-identity in order for
it to become recognized. In conclusion, I accept certain aspects of identity as
socially constructed in the sense that they are created by individuals based on
their specific experiences and circumstances and validated through social interac-
tions. However, I do not consider the emergence of these identities as completely
unconstrained from cultural and historical backgrounds. Narratives of identity
are formed individually and are original to a certain extent but often make use of
common cultural narratives that are available at the time (s. Chapter 3).
For the further analysis of the collected data, I take an interpretive epistemo-
logical position. I attempt to understand the lived experiences of individuals, not
through my own lens, but through the meanings that individuals assign to them
through language and narratives. These positions determine that this research
project should be a qualitative study, as suggested by Henwood4 : “researchers
who adopt a more open, interpretive, constructionist stance have a clear affinity
for qualitative research.” The following section will discuss the characteristics
and advantages of qualitative research approaches and explain further why it is
appropriate for this study.
4 K.L Henwood, “Qualitative Inquiry: Perspectives, Methods and Psychology.,” in Handbook
of Qualitative Research Methods for Psychology and the Social Sciences., ed. T.E. RIchardson
(Leicester: The British Psychology society, 1996), 26.
2.1 Study Design 19
Qualitative research is defined by subjectivity, rich description, focusing on

individual experiences, maintaining the context, using flexible designs, and reflex-
ivity. In using qualitative approaches to research, greater emphasis is placed upon
the context and richness of accounts of social phenomena.5 This study aims
at exploring students’ experience and their thoughts, trying to understand per-
ceptions, opinions, and meanings associated with being a Chinese student in a
second language setting. A qualitative research paradigm was therefore consid-
ered to be more suitable as it allows researchers to discover the lived experiences
of research participants and to understand social interactions.6 The qualitative
approach has been criticized for involving smaller sample sizes than quantitative
studies and, consequently, offering limited generalizability.7 My limited sam-
ple size of 29 research participants could likewise be considered too small to
draw general conclusions about the group of Chinese international students in
the United States. My sample is not intended to be representative of the entire
overseas Chinese student population, let alone the entire Chinese population. It
is rather intended to show a variety of viewpoints and experiences that will help
understand what factors shape interactions between international and host country
students and identity negotiation. While I am aware of the shortcomings of qual-
itative approaches, such as limited sample sizes, this study focuses more on the
in-depth and meaningful exploration of sojourners’ lived experiences than large
populations and generalizability. Thus, the qualitative approach is best suited
to this research focus. Furthermore, the topic of identity would be challenging
to investigate using a quantitative, deductive approach. In fact, the rich inter-
view material and qualitative data analysis methods allow for a more complex
representation of this highly personal topic.
Given the essential role of narrative in understanding the self, narrative
methodology is used to explore the complexities of Chinese international stu-
dents’ self-identity. The focus of narrative research is on the individual and the
fact that life can be understood through a recounting of the life story or biograph-
ical narrative.8 The theoretical underpinning of the study defines self-identity as
5 Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays (New York: Basic Books,
1973).
6 Victor Minichiello, In Depth Interviewing Researching People (Melbourne: Longman
Cheshire, 1992).
7 Alan Bryman, Social Research Methods, 3rd ed (Oxford; New York: Oxford University
Press, 2008).
8 Lily Lei Ye, Intercultural Experience and Identity Narratives of Chinese Doctoral Students
in the UK (New York, NY: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2018), 1202.

20 2 Methods
a “reflexive project of the self.”9 according to Giddens (s. Chapter 3). In other
words, individuals constantly reorganize and update narratives from the stand-
point of the present, incorporating new events and revised past and future events.
Thus, a narrative approach is compatible with the theorization of identity because
the story-making involved in the narrative approach is key to the ongoing process
of the reflexive construction of the self. The specific focus of the study—narra-
tive identity and self-understanding—resulted in the choice of in-depth qualitative
interviews as the main method of data collection. As the concrete mode of data
collection, I used semi-structured interviews. Semi-structured interviews work
with a list of questions, but they are not standardized, and the flow in the
interchange of knowledge in semi-structured interviews can be interviewer-led,
interviewee-led, or both in turn. In addition, they allow the order of questions to
be adjusted according to the direction of the flow in interviews or for probes to be
used to deeply explore the interviewees’ views and opinions, get more informa-
tion, clarify ideas or generate examples.10 Semi-structured interviews allowed me
to investigate Chinese students’ experiences with a set of questions that directed
the interviews, but also offered me the freedom and flexibility to adjust the order
of the questions or to ask follow-up questions for clarity. In choosing this method,
I also hoped to give students space to bring up new topics they thought of as
important for their experience but which had not explicitly been mentioned by the
researcher. The interview themes were generated by reviewing previous studies
and by following the focus determined by the research questions.
In order to refine the interview structure and ensure its functioning in answer-
ing the research questions, I conducted a pilot study with Chinese students in
my hometown, Munich, before starting fieldwork in the United States. During
the period of February to May 2019, I interviewed five Chinese students. This
smaller-scale study was carried out with participants who had similar experiences
as my main target group, as suggested by Bryman.11 Although a pilot study is
usually recommended in quantitative research projects and not always used for
qualitative studies, it was a useful tool to seek feedback, clarify and adjust the
content and wording of the interview questions, estimate the approximate time
needed to conduct interviews, and help the interviewer gain greater confidence.12
Piloting helped me figure out strengths as well as areas for improvement of the
9 Anthony Giddens, Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age
(Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1991), 5.
10 Gray, Doing Research in the Real World.
11 Bryman, Social Research Methods.
12 Bryman, 247.
2.2 Selection and Recruitment 21
interview questions. Several new themes also emerged from the pilot study and
were incorporated into the research design. The final interview structure included
an open-ended introduction, several questions detailing the process preceding
the sojourn, family as well as peer group relations, and personal preferences
(s. appendix). Participants were encouraged to share their personal stories. For
instance, they recounted their inspirations and the decision-making process that
led to their educational sojourn. The interviews prompted participants to reflect on
the perception of the United States as a place of study, life experiences before and
during their course of study, and potential career progression after graduation. In
the interviews, the participants were guided to share their individual backgrounds
and previous learning experiences, reflect on their decisions, as well as project
into their future. Furthermore, the students were asked to describe their relation-
ships with family members and peers. At the end of the interview, I gave the
interviewees space to share something they felt was important but had not come
up in the interview. This allowed research participants to direct my attention to
new issues.
2.2 Selection and Recruitment
In accordance with the definitions put forth by Zhu, Chimita, and Xu and the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the
students in my study can be described as temporary residents during their enrol-
ment in the host country. Another crucial criterion is that they are not citizens
of the host country.13 In my study, all participants are citizens of the People’s
Republic of China. Furthermore, I have decided to narrow my focus to Main-
land China and exclude students from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao. This
is due to my interest in the One-Child Policy, which was not instituted in these
areas. I assumed that the child-centered environment brought about by this policy
would have a significant impact on identity formation and thus specifically tar-
geted Mainland Chinese students from single-child families. Regarding the major
and phase of study as well as the length of stay in the United States, I aimed
to recruit students from different backgrounds (i.e., different regions of China,
ethnic groups, family composition, majors) and at different stages in their jour-
ney (Bachelor, Master, Ph.D.). The only requirement was that the students are
13 Dan Zhu, Batueva Chimita, and Honggang Xu, “Self-Development of Chinese Overseas
Students in Their European Travels,” Journal of China Tourism Research 13, no. 1 (January
2, 2017): 50, https://doi.org/10.1080/19388160.2017.1314842.
22 2 Methods
enrolled full-time and working toward a degree, which meant excluding summer
school or language course participants. The rationale behind this exclusion crite-
ria was that the length of stay in the United States would have a significant effect
on identification processes. Someone who only spends a few months in a foreign
country would possibly not need to reorganize their identity, while for some-
one who spends several years abroad, the transition and intercultural adaptation
could be considered as a critical life event necessitating identity re-negotiation.
Additionally, language courses are usually shorter and not integrated with courses
attended by local students and instead are offered exclusively for international stu-
dents. This limits classroom interaction with local peers and exposure to the local
culture. It is assumed that it requires less adaptation to local academic standards.
The data from interviews with students formed my main corpus, which was then
complemented with expert interviews (university staff, educational agents, and
parents of students involved). These additional interviews served the purpose of
furthering my understanding of the students’ lived reality and educational context
but were not part of the analysis pertaining to identity narratives.
I first began recruiting in August 2019 by researching and contacting various
student groups associated with China or Chinese culture, for example, Chinese
Student Association, Chinese People Union, etc. This was done via email or
social media sites such as Facebook and included a short introduction of my
project alongside a request for putting me in contact with possible research partic-
ipants. This approach yielded very few results, possibly due to the busy schedules
of the students at the beginning of the semester. Therefore, I adapted my approach
and increasingly used my personal networks and social media (Facebook, Weibo,
WeChat, Couchsurfing, LinkedIn) to initiate introductions and make direct con-
tact with potential interviewees. In the meantime, I applied for research funding
to cover the expenses of staying in California for an extended period of field-
work. The DAAD (German academic exchange council) approved my funding
application and subsequently enabled me to travel to California, stay there for
three months and visit several University of California campuses (UC Berkeley,
UC Davis and UC Irvine). In accordance with my academic adviser Prof. Dr.
Hochgeschwender, it was determined that California would be better suited as
a location for fieldwork due to its popularity among Chinese students. It was
assumed that the higher numbers of students from China on Californian cam-
puses would make finding study participants easier. In fact, China is the largest
country of origin for international student within the University of California Sys-
tem with more than 26,500 Chinese citizens enrolled in 2020. All the institutions
2.2 Selection and Recruitment 23
in my sample hold a significant Chinese student population.14 Furthermore, the

institutions within the University of California system provide similar curricula
and structures, which would make students’ experiences comparable.
After my arrival in California, I asked the university administration and teach-
ing staff to introduce me to students, which they generously did. Additionally,
my project was advertised at international student residences and around cam-
pus. The advertisements were in English and Mandarin and included a QR code
for my WeChat account to facilitate contact via a medium frequently used by
students. The last phase of recruitment was implemented with the help of the
students themselves. After the first couple of interviews, I asked for the students’
advice on how to get in touch with others. This was an indirect way of asking
them to connect me with their friends, thus offering them a face-saving option
of saying no without directly rejecting me or feeling compelled to say yes. I
learned about the various WeChat groups used by Chinese students to connect
and share information; when I asked if I could join one of these groups, students
were reluctant. This was for several reasons: the groups were seen as exclusive,
you needed to fall into certain categories that I did not (such as Chinese Student
at Berkeley, Class of 2022). Also, WeChat has a limitation of 500 members per
group, so that if I was accepted into a group, it might hinder other more suit-
able members from joining. However, several students offered to post in WeChat
groups on my behalf, ask around in their group of friends and refer interested
parties back to me. One student posted a WeChat Moment (similar to a Facebook
status post; a short description and/or photo about a special occasion) about our
encounter and my search for participants. Other students suggested contacting
Chinese graduate students from department websites, which I then did. I created
a sign-up sheet on the scheduling website WeJoin with available time slots as
well as details about the time and place. This was designed to make signing up
and scheduling appointments more convenient for students.
The self-selection bias of participants should be taken into account. I am aware
that my results may be influenced by the higher likelihood of certain personality
types to participate in a research study. For instance, the increased participation
of sociable, proactive types may have contributed to the forming of the cate-
gories of “global citizen” and “people person” in my research findings. However,
this self-selection bias may have been counterbalanced by several recent arrivals
who participated in my study because they wanted to meet new people and prac-
tice their English. One girl even told me that the conversation with me was the
14The Regents of the University of California, “Fall Enrollment at a Glance” (Los Angeles,
2022), https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/fall-enrollment-glance.
24 2 Methods
longest she had ever had using a foreign language. Ironically, even though I am
from Germany, many Chinese students viewed the meeting with me as getting in
touch with local society. This was potentially related to my ethnicity or the fact
that I am usually seen as “white” and my status as a visiting researcher. Further-
more, my sample may include a higher percentage of students who are interested
in the research process in general or specifically humanities and social science
majors who have experience with conducting small-scale studies in the scope of
their classes. Several students mentioned that their interest in transparency and
independence of research in the American context (in contrast to a more reg-
ulated research environment in China) attracted them to participate. Moreover,
I am aware that participation in such a research project may be appealing to
people who feel that their story is unique and want to share it. Students may
have some sort of message, such as countering common stereotypes about Chi-
nese students. The performativity of participation in such a study is also not lost
on me. The identity narratives compiled in this thesis are certainly shaped by
how the students portray themselves towards me as a white female researcher (s.
reflection). Participants contacted through teachers or administrative staff made
frequent mention of the shared connection. They often told me how much they
appreciated the person who had introduced us, shared anecdotes about him/her,
or feedback that they had received from him/her. It is probable that they thought
I would report back to him about the interview. I assured them that this was not
the case.
2.3 Description of the Interviews
I endeavored to conduct as many face-to-face interviews as possible. As this

phase of research took place during August 2019 until November 2019, before
the pandemic (including social distancing etc.), this was easily accomplished and
contributed greatly to the authenticity of the material. As pointed out by Opde-
nakker, face-to-face interviews ensure “synchronous communication”15 in time
and place between the interviewer and interviewee, which brings advantages such
as generating a more natural interaction, capturing emotions, behaviors, or body
language, and keeping interviewees focused on the conversation. The following
section describes the circumstances of the interviews, including the time, place,
15Raymond Opdenakker, “Advantages and Disadvantages of Four Interview Techniques in

Qualitative Research,” Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social
Research Vol 7 (September 30, 2006): 3, https://doi.org/10.17169/FQS-7.4.175.
2.3 Description of the Interviews 25
language, compensation, and addresses the methodological challenges of name

change and relationship building.
Interviews took place on campus or at cafés near campus. The locations were
chosen for their quiet and relaxed atmosphere to put the students at ease and
allow them to talk about their challenges and experiences without holding back.
The majority of interviews took place in September and October 2019. At UC
Berkeley, it was during the semester before mid-terms. At UC Irvine and UC
Davis, it was the beginning of the semester. For many students, it was still orien-
tation week. In line with the advice given by sociologist Linda Tsevi16 who has
done extensive research on international students, the researcher interviewed the
students at a time when they were not stressed out with academic, social, or other
related issues by allowing the participants to schedule their own interview times
and venues. The participants choose the time slot according to their availability
and signed up digitally. I tried to ensure a wide variety of time slots through-
out the day, including weekdays and weekends, in order to give the students the
maximum amount of freedom in choosing a time that was convenient for them. I
hoped that my increased availability would also lower the students’ inhibition as
it would make our appointments seem less exclusive. Each interview lasted for
an approximate time of 40 to 50 minutes.
Students were given the choice between Mandarin and English. All of them
chose English, possibly because they suspected my Mandarin would not be as
good as their English. Or they were already used to using English in their daily
life. It did seem to make them more comfortable knowing that I could understand
Mandarin. Some students fell back on Mandarin often during the conversation,
using certain phrases or saying that they felt were difficult to translate or had
no parallel in English. Some students wanted to use the interview to practice
their English with me, specifically those who had not been in the United States
for very long. Many participants told me that the conversation with me was the
first (or only) time that they had spoken to a foreigner in such depth, and they
really enjoyed the talk. Some mentioned that they hadn’t had such a long talk
in English before. Students who had been in the United States longer felt more
comfortable expressing themselves in English. Students who just recently arrived
often seemed shy and gave short, fact-based answers. Students who had been in
the United States longer told more stories and were more emotional and personal
in what they told me.
16 Linda Tsevi, “Survival Strategies of International Undergraduate Students at a Public

Research Midwestern University in the United States: A Case Study,” Journal of Interna-
tional Students 8, no. 2 (April 1, 2018): 1034–58, https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v8i2.131.
26 2 Methods
Due to the personal nature of the interview questions, I promised my partici-

pants that their personal data would not be shared with anyone, their names would
be anonymized, and the interview transcripts would not be available to the pub-
lic. This was explicitly stated before beginning the interview. Many participants
expressed gratitude and relief for this circumstance. I could observe that they felt
more comfortable sharing sensitive political content. Some reassured themselves
repeatedly during the interview, asking me: “This is really anonymous, isn’t it?”
For non-political content such as general satisfaction with their university expe-
rience, impressions of faculty or staff, and intimate mental health issues, the
assurance of anonymity was helpful in furthering the authenticity of the material
and building trust between the interviewees and the researcher. In order to protect
their identities but also keep a certain degree of authenticity and ease the reading
flow, I have chosen alternative names that reflect some of the cultural meaning
of the original names. If a participant used his or her Chinese name, I have cho-
sen a Chinese alias with a similar sound and number of syllables. For English
names, I have tried to choose aliases with similar meanings, sounds, or contexts.
For instance, for English names from popular movies, TV series, or literature, I
selected an alias from the same fictional universe as the original name. At this
point, I would like to shortly explain the social norm of choosing an “English”
name among the group of interviewees. The phenomenon of Chinese students
choosing a foreign name is not new. In 1971, sociologist Tai Kang observed:
“Some Chinese students (…) have Anglicized their names; others have not. The
change of a person’s name is theorized to be a symbolic representation of his
identity change.”17 However, the practice has since become more widespread,
and I would no longer agree it has such poignant meaning regarding identifica-
tion. As pointed out by educational scholar Xing Xu, who investigated the relation
between name change and identity, the practice of choosing a foreign name has
become common in China due to the increasing interconnectedness of the world
and the role and English as a lingua franca. Most schools in China now offer
English-language classes, wherein English names are either bequeathed to stu-
dents by a teacher or self-selected by students18 . The names adopted within this
context are not necessarily commonly used in, or always originated in, England.
They are not so much chosen for having an English etymology but are designated
17 Tai S Kang, “Name Change and Acculturation,” The Pacific Sociological Review, October
1971, 403–12.
18 Xing Xu, “Exploring the Logic of Name Changes and Identity Construction: A Reflective
Self-Narration of Assimilation Expectations,” Names 68, no. 1 (January 2, 2020): 33, https://
doi.org/10.1080/00277738.2018.1452937.
as sounding English. Chinese students sometimes choose a name whose etymol-

ogy stretches back to Hebrew or ancient Greek origins, such as Joseph or Helen,
whose etymology has long since been forgotten by the English themselves. I
have personally observed numerous creative name choices among Chinese youth
whose names are meant to reflect their personal taste and interest. There were
many names that were, in fact, not common in English-speaking countries at all,
such as Hercules or Dorcas from the Greek mythology, characters from pop cul-
ture such as Simba or Buzz Lightyear, or even seemingly random terms such as
Money. These names are associated with interactions with foreigners and feed
into a discourse that foreigners cannot remember or pronounce Chinese names,
as observed by intercultural scholar Wenhao Diao19 . Indeed, this sentiment was
common among students in my study, such as Zhihao:
My Chinese name is Zihao Zhang, but I’ve never seen any American actually able to
pronounce it, so I got tired of it. Call me Ricky. (18/3–4)20
The discussion surrounding name changes has also been reflected in widely
circulated media such as The New Yorker. Writer Beth Ngyuen, for instance,
experienced discomfort and racial aggression when using her Vietnamese name
Bich. She states:
I avoided meeting people so I could avoid saying my name. And I took on the shame
of not being strong enough to handle the shame of the American gaze. Names are
deeply personal and deeply public. We have to see our names all the time.21
Thus, “catering to foreigners’ needs”22 but also the avoidance of exoticism as well
as assimilation into mainstream American culture became motivating factors for
the usage of an English name.23 For American faculty and staff, this behavioral
19 Wenhao Diao, “Between Ethnic and English Names: Name Choice for Transnational Chi-
nese Students in a US Academic Community” 4, no. 3 (2014): 212.
20 Quotes from the interview transcripts mention the page number, e.g., 18, and the line
number, e.g., 3–4 of the appendix of this thesis.

21 Beth Ngyuen, “America Ruined My Name for Me,” The New Yorker, April 1, 2021, sec.
Personal History, https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/america-ruined-my-

name-for-me. Accessed 4.11.2021.
22 Diao, “Between Ethnic and English Names: Name Choice for Transnational Chinese Stu-
dents in a US Academic Community,” 213.

23 Xu, “Exploring the Logic of Name Changes and Identity Construction,” 33.
28 2 Methods
pattern comes with advantages and disadvantages. As one teacher at UC Irvine

stated (Interview with Dr. Thomas Eppel, 23.10.2019, UC Irvine):
Our official documents only state their Chinese names, but when they hand in assign-
ments, essays, or homework, they use their Western names and say: “This is my
preferred name,” and I don’t have any idea who that is.
While the usage of ethnic names may increase the number of racial (micro-)
aggressions, it remains questionable whether it would indeed be problematic for
faculty and staff at UC California campuses to use Chinese names correctly.
Most university employees may have gotten used to international students and
may not be as inept at understanding Chinese (or other international) names as
the discourse suggests.
Students were offered a small compensation of 15 US$ in cash for the inter-
view. This was recommended by the university administration as an appropriate
sum to show appreciation but not too much to be the sole incentive for join-
ing the research. It was also suggested offering gift cards that could be useful
to students, such as for stationary, amazon, or coffee. However, I decided on
cash to give students the freedom to use the sum according to their wishes. It
quickly became evident that the compensation was a useful tool in ensuring the
socioeconomic diversity of my sample. Several students told me they had been
enticed to participate in my research due to this, most notably students who were
aware of the financial strain their education was putting on the family’s resources
and those who were struggling with the high cost of living in California. The
university towns and surrounding areas were among the most expensive areas in
terms of rent and consumer prices in the United States at the time of the inter-
views.24 Some students, especially older ones, didn’t feel comfortable accepting
the money. Some students thought it was my personal money and didn’t want to
burden me with additional expenses, especially if they had enjoyed our conversa-
tion. I explained that it was afforded by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange
Council) as a part of my scholarship.
The foundation for an insightful and personal interview is the rapport between
the interviewer and the interviewee. This includes relationship building and
the establishment of mutual trust between the two parties. Spradley speaks of
a teacher-pupil-dynamic in interviews and described the ideal attitude of an
interviewer towards his or her study participants in this way:
24 Statista Research Department, “US Cost of Living: Statistics and Facts,” January 21, 2021,
https://www.statista.com/topics/768/cost-of-living/. Accessed 3.6.2021.
I want to understand the world from your point of view. I want to know what you know
in the way you know it. I want to understand the meaning of your experience, to walk
in your shoes, to feel things as you feel them, to explain things as you explain them.
Will you become my teacher and help me understand?25
I took several steps to signal to the participants that I had a sincere interest
in their perspectives and opinions. At the beginning of each interview, I briefly
introduced myself and emphasized my intention to capture the authentic student
experience through my research project. The first few questions were pointedly
uncritical and aimed at creating a comfortable atmosphere. Furthermore, I made
myself visible in the interviews by referring to my own experiences of studying
and working abroad. In doing so, I tried to convey a sense of commonality and a
shared understanding of the challenges of living in another cultural environment.
I frequently mentioned the time I spent in Beijing and my travels in China in
order to show the students that I was not unfamiliar with their native context.
When talking about their hometowns, I made references to the historical events,
famous sights, or cuisine of the area. I also sometimes employed positively con-
noted stereotypes (such as people from Shandong are very studious). I made sure
that the students were aware of my knowledge of the Chinese educational system
so that they would not get sidetracked in explaining systemic details to me. Such
an approach was deemed sensible by Breuer and Dieris26 as it can stimulate par-
ticipants to share additional experiences or considerations and thereby intensify
interpersonal trust. Besides relationship building, it was also my mission as a
researcher to initiate and sustain a narrative account that required a high level of
alertness and attentiveness.27
I tried to validate students’ opinions as much as I could; I agreed with them
a lot in order to encourage them to open up more, as suggested by Spradley.28
The insecurity many students felt led them to ask for feedback at the end of the
interview. Several students requested that I share my impressions of them and
their behavior. I understood this to be a habit formed by their constantly being
25 James P. Spradley, The Ethnographic Interview (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston,
1979), 34.
26 Franz Breuer et al., Reflexive Grounded Theory: eine Einführung für die Forschungspraxis,
4th, durchgesehene und aktualisierte Auflage ed., Lehrbuch (Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 2019).
27 Aglaja Przyborski and Monika Wohlrab-Sahr, Qualitative Sozialforschung: Ein Arbeits-
buch, 4., erweiterte Auflage, Lehr- Und Handbücher Der Soziologie (München: Oldenbourg
Verlag, 2014), 88.
28 James P. Spradley, The Ethnographic Interview (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston,
1979), 57.
30 2 Methods
assessed in the educational system. It was important for me to clarify that the
interview situation was not one of assessment and that there were no right or
wrong answers. However, for those students who insisted, I shared some brief,
encouraging observations that apparently satisfied their need for evaluation. I
made sure to express my gratitude to them for sharing their life and opening up
about their experiences. It was interesting to note that all participants were easily
convinced of the usefulness and importance of my research project. Almost all
interviewees asked follow-up questions about the project after the end of the
interview and expressed interest in the results once the study was concluded.
Many participants were so invested that they felt compelled to suggest further
aspects or topics to cover, methods that I should consider, or institutions that I
should visit. While I was irritated by this at first and felt they were questioning
my authority, I eventually came to appreciate it as a form of well-intentioned
advice. Perhaps, I considered, I had succeeded in establishing a teacher-pupil
relationship, as proposed by Spradley.
2.4 Data Analysis
All interviews were recorded with the permission of the interviewees. I later
transcribed the recordings with help of the voice recognition software Textify. The
first few sentences of each interview with small talk and introductions (like: hello,
nice to meet you, etc.) have been omitted as they are of limited relevance. Also,
fillers such as “um”, “well”, “uh,” etc., have been omitted for better readability.
Qualitative content analysis according to Mayring29 was conducted in this
study to make sense of the data collected in the semi-structured individual inter-
views. It is a widely used method for qualitative analysis that illustrates data and
analyses and identifies patterns or themes from the data, even with diverse sub-
jects, in great detail through interpretations. During the interviews and throughout
their transcription, the data were continually searched and coded for themes
which were then analyzed and interpreted. Transcription and careful re-reading
of the transcripts contributed to my familiarity with the data. As a next step, I
searched the material for recurring themes. The experiences of the participants
were assigned to categories for comparison. I then identified a range of identity
codes. All the identity codes were compared, modified, and integrated within and
29 Philipp Mayring, Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse: Grundlagen und Techniken, 12., überarbeit-

ete Auflage (Weinheim Basel: Beltz Verlag, 2015).
2.4 Data Analysis 31
across different participants, leading to a set of main identity categories. The spe-
cific denominations of the categories were taken from the interview data itself,
with only one exception in the category of “People Person”. This denomination
was chosen by me as I deemed it the closest approximation of the students’ self-
descriptions. In all other cases, I aimed to align my interpretation as closely with
the students’ self-designations as possible (Figure 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3).
Figure 2.1 Initial Coding of relevant themes. (Created by Author)

32 2 Methods
Figure 2.2 Self-Positioning on the Meso-Level; Perceptions of educational systems. (Cre-

ated by Author)
2.5 Characteristics of Sample
Interviews was conducted with 29 Chinese male and female students (five males;
fifteen females), aged between 18 to 25 years old, who were studying at Uni-
versity of California institutions at the time of the interview. The majority of
interviewees grew up in urban areas in China (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou,
Xian, s. Figure 2.4), and most came from single-child families (only five students
reported having a sibling).
Only one interviewee was married. His wife had accompanied him for his
Ph.D. in the United States. The majority of students I interviewed were social
science (four business students, seven psychology, three sociology) or humanities
majors (seven English majors). The rest were computer science or engineering
2.5 Characteristics of Sample 33
Figure 2.3 Self-Positioning on the Macro-Level. Perceptions of national contexts. (Created

by Author)
Figure 2.4 Geographical overview of the students’ hometowns (Source: created by author)
34 2 Methods
majors. My sample is a bit skewed in this regard as most Chinese students in this
context are, in fact, STEM majors.30 I assumed that social science or humanities
students would have a greater interest in participating in a study about their expe-
rience and several students mentioned interest in and experience with qualitative
research (Figure 2.5).
Figure 2.5 Students’ Area

of Study. (Source: created
by the author)
While the study participants’ previous education experiences were not explic-
itly part of the research project, it is nonetheless noteworthy that out of the 29
students, seven had completed high school in the United States. All others had
graduated from high school in China. The majority of students were undergradu-
ates (Fig. 2.6). For those in advanced stages of study (three MA and three Ph.D.
students), almost all of them had attained a previous degree in the United States.
The majority of undergraduate students who took part in this study mentioned
plans to undertake postgraduate study in the United States (s. Section 6.2 and 7).
The students’ family background and financial situation were also not explicitly
part of the study. However, it is safe to assume that most students’ families were
middle-class with enough resources to finance several years of tuition and expen-
sive living cost in California. With the exception of one student who received
scholarship, all others were self-financed.
30Center for Security and Emerging Technology, Jacob Feldgoise, and Remco Zwetsloot,
“Estimating the Number of Chinese STEM Students in the United States” (Georgetown:
Center for Security and Emerging Technology, October 2020), https://doi.org/10.51593/202
00023.
2.6 Reflection 35
Figure 2.6 Interviewees’

Phase of Study
Phase of Study
17
2 3 1 3 3
2.6 Reflection
Some additional issues related to the interview situation need to be acknowledged.

As pointed out by Hammersley and Atkinson, the orientation of researchers will
be shaped by:
Their socio-historical locations, including the values and interests that these locations
confer upon them. What this represents is a rejection of the idea that social research is,
or can be, carried out in some autonomous realm that is isolated from the wider society
and from the particular biography of the researcher in such a way that its findings can
be unaffected by social processes and personal characteristics.31
In other words, researchers should be aware that their own positioning in the
world plays a part in our interpretation and shapes the meanings we derive from
them.32
Firstly, I am aware that Chinese participants might be sensitive to the cul-
tural, social background, and power relationships between the interviewers and
participants. Recent research by Gram, Jaeger, Liu, Qing, and Wu33 has indicated
31 Martyn Hammersley and Paul Atkinson, Ethnography: Principles in Practice, 2nd ed

(London; New York: Routledge, 1995), 16.
32 Ye, Intercultural Experience and Identity Narratives of Chinese Doctoral Students in the
UK, 1335.
33 Malene Gram et al., “Chinese Students Making Sense of Problem-Based Learning and
Western Teaching—Pitfalls and Coping Strategies,” Teaching in Higher Education 18, no.
7 (October 2013): 761–72, https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2013.836096.
36 2 Methods
that Chinese participants tended to be influenced by who their interviewers are

because they want to make sure that they are saying what the interviewers want
to hear. Such pursuit of socially acceptable behavior or reluctance to uncover
personal problems in order to ‘save face’ was common among their sample as it
is in many research interview situations.
Another issue I would like to reflect upon as possibly influencing the inter-
viewees’ responses is ethnicity, specifically my role as an ethnically non-Chinese
researcher. In reviewing the literature about international students, I noticed that
the majority of researchers in this field are of Chinese ethnicity or nationality (or
both). Many of them are themselves foreign-educated and include reflections of
their own experiences as international students in their study design and method-
ological approach. For instance, Yanhong Yan, who worked as an English teacher
in China for many years before beginning her research project, recounted:
I have experienced the same language and culture shocks as other Chinese students
while studying at South Dakota State University (…). I realized that what I have
learned about English in China is “classroom English” (…) What do the idioms “to
take a rain check”, “under the weather”, and “on the house” mean? Each single word
is so familiar to me, yet I don’t know their true interpretation when they are combined.
For the first two months in the United States, I seemed to be “lost in a paradise”.34
Further examples of researchers who are ethnically Chinese and drew on their
own experiences for their research include Hang Teng, a Singaporean Chinese
sociologist35 , Feng Gao, a Chinese scholar at Beijing International Studies Uni-
versity36 and Wei Liu, an educational scholar and international student adviser
34 Yanhong Huang, “A Study of Chinese Students in the United States and Its Implication for
English Teaching in China,” Sino-Us English Teaching 2, no. 2 (2005): 43.
35 Tang T. Heng, “Voices of Chinese International Students in USA Colleges: ‘I Want to
Tell Them That …,’” Studies in Higher Education 42, no. 5 (May 4, 2017): 833–50, https://
doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2017.1293873; Tang T. Heng, “Different Is Not Deficient: Con-
tradicting Stereotypes of Chinese International Students in US Higher Education,” Studies
in Higher Education 43, no. 1 (January 2, 2018): 22–36, https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.
2016.1152466; Tang Tang Heng, “‘Chinese Students Themselves Are Changing,’” Journal
of International Students 10, no. 2 (May 15, 2020): 539–45, https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v10
i2.958; Tang T. Heng, “Chinese International Students’ Advice to Incoming First-Year Stu-
dents: Involving Students in Conversations With Them, Not About Them,” Journal of College
Student Development 59, no. 2 (2018): 232–38, https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2018.0020.
36 Feng Gao, “Exploring the Reconstruction of Chinese Learners’ National Identities in Their
English-Language-Learning Journeys in Britain,” Journal of Language, Identity & Education

10, no. 5 (November 2011): 291, https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2011.614543.
2.6 Reflection 37
from Mainland China37 to name just a few. There are, of course, obvious benefits
of researching an experience that the scholar him or herself has gone through:
they are aware of the challenges and dynamics of being an international student,
perfectly positioned to select and address relevant research topics, and have a nat-
ural connection to their research participants, as detailed by Gao in the following
excerpt:
I wanted the participants perceiving me as another Chinese student and a friend or an

elder sister. In many ways, I was an insider to them: we all spoke Chinese; we had
received similar primary and secondary education in Mainland China; and we were
studying in Britain as international students. This helped me to better understand their
needs and perspectives, develop rapport, and create opportunities for reciprocity as
well as for highly interactive and dialogic research.38
Wei Liu also reflected on the peculiar position of being a researcher in this
context:
In relationship with the Chinese students I work with, I am both an insider and an out-
sider. As an insider, I share their cultural roots, their first language, and the common
experience of studying overseas. My insider position helps me create bonding with
them. As an outsider, I belong to a different generation, with more exposure to both
cultures, and from a different socioeconomic background.39
While the shared experience and common language can obviously be advan-
tageous for connecting with participants, I feel that the researchers mentioned
above have underestimated the possible negative ramifications of such a close
alignment with their participants. Researchers have only pointed to the advan-
tages of Chinese ethnicity and fluency in Mandarin. The ability to converse in
the mother language, and to be “like a big sister”40 to interview participants
has been overestimated. The deep distrust that runs between co-nationals and
between citizens and the government has not been sufficiently considered as a
37 Xiaobing Lin and Wei Liu, “Intercultural Advising for Chinese International Students: A
Reflective Inquiry,” Globalisation, Societies and Education 17, no. 2 (March 15, 2019): 220–
30, https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2019.1583092.
38 Gao, “Exploring the Reconstruction of Chinese Learners’ National Identities in Their
English-Language-Learning Journeys in Britain,” 291.

39 Lin and Liu, “Intercultural Advising for Chinese International Students,” 221.
40 Gao, “Exploring the Reconstruction of Chinese Learners’ National Identities in Their
English-Language-Learning Journeys in Britain.”

38 2 Methods
factor influencing research results. When a Chinese researcher interviews a Chi-

nese student, the element of national identity is obvious, and demonstrating a love
of the country, homesickness, and longing for the hometown food is an inevitable
bonding point. Such portrayals contribute to the common image of the overseas
student as self-segregating and problematic with nationalist tendencies. From my
unique position as a third-country researcher, being neither American nor Chi-
nese, I could capture students’ authentic perspectives and be less encumbered
by national or ethnic ties to my research participants. Indeed, many interviewees
insisted that they felt freer in expressing their political opinions with me than
they would have felt with a Chinese researcher. For instance, one of the students’
parents told me (Interview with Kent Yam, 2.2.2020):
Talking with a young lady from the Western world, not China, I feel good, yeah.
If politics came up naturally, participants felt comfortable to share their views

but insisted on privacy and anonymity immediately afterward. It is possible that
they feel more comfortable sharing critical views with a non-Chinese researcher
or that they think a non-Chinese would like to hear more critical views. I didn’t
bring up politics or ask them anything about it. It was up to them if they wanted
to mention the subject.
I hope this chapter has illustrated the methodological and analytical consider-
ations of this research project. Together with the framework of Giddens’ theory
of identity, these form the fundament of the present study. The next chapter
will examine the development of modern notions of identity as well as explain
why I found Giddens’ concepts the most suitable for the investigation of identity
narratives of the students in my sample.
Identity
3
In the social jungle of human existence, there is no feeling of being alive without a
sense of identity.1
What is this thing—this identity—which people are supposed to carry around with
them?2
The quotes above illustrate the elusive and yet central characteristics of iden-
tity. Definitions of identity are abundant as the issue has been studied widely.
Apart from philosophy, the topic has attracted considerable interest in other dis-
ciplines such as anthropology, cultural studies, education, linguistics, psychology,
and sociology. The negotiation of individual and collective identities has been a
significant theme within social science research. Theorists, such as Erik Erikson,
James Marcia, William James, Charles Horton Cooley, George Herbert Mead,
Lev Vygotsky, Ferdinand de Saussure, Charles Taylor, Henri Tajfel, John Turner,
Erving Goffman, Anthony Giddens, Homi Bhabha, and Etienne Wenger are worth
mentioning as key figures in identity studies. Scholars such as these have concep-
tualized and investigated identity in a multitude of ways and subsequently carved
out various definitions. The following chapter will look into modern notions of
identity, from the essentialist approach to the theories of the reflexive construction
of the self, as well as outline the definition of identity used for this research.
1Erik H. Erikson, Childhood and Society (New York: Norton, 1993), 63.
2Steph Lawler, Identity: Sociological Perspectives, 2. ed (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2014),
24.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40627-1_3
40 3 Identity
3.1 The Development of the Modern Concept of Identity
Following the Enlightenment tradition, essentialist theorists claimed that all things
or phenomena possess a fixed, underlying essence or inherent structure. This
essence could be used to explain the phenomenon in question. Identity was thus
equated with distinctive, essential characteristics belonging to any given indi-
vidual or shared by members of a particular social group. By creating fixed
categories or traits, however, essentialism ignored the complex nature of social,
economic, and geographical differences.3 Within modern sociological thought,
these essentialist ideas have been challenged by the notion of the social self,
which recognizes the influence of the social environment on identity forma-
tion as significant. Social constructionists view identity as dynamic, fluid, and
multi-faceted. Identity is considered as situated within particular discourses and
linguistic ideologies.4 For instance, Mead’s theory of the self emphasized the
relationship between the self and the other or the socially-constructed nature of
identity. He distinguished “I” from “me,” proposing that “I” is the social self,
while “me” constitutes each individual’s own sense of self. He further asserted
that neither of these can exist without the other. According to Mead, individual
identities develop in response to the attitudes of others, which are incorporated
into individuals’ self-perception. The development of the self is achieved through
interaction with other individuals and the world around us.5 To subsume these
ideas in Mead’s own words: “We are one thing to one man and another thing
to another. There are all sorts of different selves answering all sorts of different
social reactions. It is the social process itself that is responsible for the appearance
of the self.”6
To this theoretical line of “self,” Goffman, a sociologist of drama, has con-
tributed a notion of identity that highlights the individual distinction from others
both in daily encounters between individuals (personal identity) and according
to social categories (social identity). Goffman views social interactions from a
theoretical perspective when considering the relationship between the self and
3 Ramaswami Mahalingam, “Essentialism, Culture, and Power: Representations of Social

Class: Essentialism, Culture, and Power,” Journal of Social Issues 59, no. 4 (December 2003):
733–49, https://doi.org/10.1046/j.0022-4537.2003.00087.x.
UK, 2352–62.
5 George Herbert Mead, Charles W. Morris, and George Herbert Mead, Mind, Self, and Soci-
ety: From the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist, Works of George Herbert Mead, George
Herbert Mead; Vol. 1 (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2000).
6 Mead, Morris, and Mead, 142.
3.1 The Development of the Modern Concept of Identity 41
the surrounding. According to him, social interaction can be considered from a

theatrical perspective as a performance. For him, performance is “all the activ-
ity of an individual which occurs during the period marked by his continuous
presence before a particular set of observers and which has some influence on
the observers.”7 Another theorist whose line of thought marks a departure from
essentialism is Bakhtin, who introduced a dialogic view of the self. He described
identity as dynamic, flexible, and open rather than as stable and predetermined.
According to Bakhtin, identities are not fixed or permanent but constructed in
an ongoing process through dialogue with others from a variety of backgrounds:
“I cannot manage without another; I cannot become myself without another; I
must find myself in another by another in myself.”8 . During social interaction,
individuals observe multiple voices and different languages in various discourses
and cultural spaces. This leads to the accommodation of different meanings and
perspectives.
As was later illustrated by psychological research, people’s responses and
behavior tend to vary according to the situation they are in, who they encounter,
etc. This is considered as a function of internal states, mental representations, and
interpretations that are brought to the fore by certain situational clues.9 The philo-
sophical idea of different selves emerging, as mentioned in the above quote from
Mead or the self being constructed through dialogue as in Bakhtin’s theories, has
been relativized by social scientists, who have found that while individual reac-
tions vary, there is a certain stability that can be observed in a person’s behavioral
patterns across different situations over time.10
7 Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Nachdr., Anchor Books (New
York, NY: Doubleday, 1990), 22.
8 M. M. Bakhtin and Caryl Emerson, Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics, Theory and History
of Literature, v. 8 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984), 287.

9 Yuichi Shoda, Walter Mischel, and Jack C. Wright, “Intraindividual Stability in the Orga-
nization and Patterning of Behavior: Incorporating Psychological Situations into the Idio-
graphic Analysis of Personality.,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 67, no. 4
(1994): 674–87, https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.67.4.674.
10 Walter Mischel and Yuichi Shoda, “A Cognitive-Affective System Theory of Personality:
Reconceptualizing Situations, Dispositions, Dynamics, and Invariance in Personality Struc-

ture.,” Psychological Review 102, no. 2 (1995): 246–68, https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.
102.2.246; William Fleeson and Erik Noftle, “The End of the Person-Situation Debate: An
Emerging Synthesis in the Answer to the Consistency Question: A Person-Situation Debate
Synthesis,” Social and Personality Psychology Compass 2, no. 4 (July 2008): 1667–84,
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2008.00122.x; D.C. Funder, “Persons, Situations and
Person-Situation Interactions,” in Handbook of Personality, ed. O.P. John, R. Robins, and
L. Pervin (New York: Guildford Press, 2008), 568–80.
42 3 Identity
The social constructionist’s approach was criticized by postmodern or post-

structuralist thinkers for neglecting the role of power and power relations.
Postmodernism developed during the late twentieth century as the historical
period following modernity.11 At its core is a rejection of modernist assumptions
of rationality and ultimate truth, including the positivist understanding of the
construction of knowledge and reality. Postmodernists emphasize the contextual
construction of meaning and the validity of multiple perspectives. A poststruc-
turalist view considers knowledge and the self are produced by discourses that are
governed by power relations and the structures of society.12 The postmodernist or
poststructuralist notion of identity is complex, contradictory, fluid, and multiple.
It is influenced by social context, power relations as well as the structures of
society. It rejects an essentialist view of identity as fixed and ascribed by con-
ventional social categories.13 The French postmodern philosopher Lyotard, for
instance, contends that in a postmodern era, grand narratives (or meta-narratives)
which had previously been supplied by religious authorities or political systems
are no longer credible. People are consequently forced to search for meaning, and
this increasingly makes them turn back on themselves.14 Moreover, according to
Hall:
11 The period of modernity followed European feudalism and is an umbrella for all the dis-
tinctive aspects of post-feudal societies. These include industrialization, capitalism, urban-
ization/urbanism, secularization, the establishment and extension of democracy, the applica-
tion of science to production methods, and a broad movement towards equality in all spheres
of life. Modernity also instituted an increase in rational thinking and action characterized
by an unemotional “matter of fact” attitude, which contrasted sharply with the previous
emotional and religious orientations to the world. Max Weber described this process as the
gradual “disenchantment of the world,” spreading across the globe by an expanding, legal-
rational form of capitalism. After postmodernists proclaimed the end tof the modern period,
there have been reassessments of the concept. Some sociologists, such as Giddens, argue that
we have not reached postmodernity yet and currently still in a period of late, reflexive or sec-
ond modernity. He argues that many of the essential features of modernity are only partially
complete, for instance gender equality and social equality. Anthony Giddens and Philip W.
Sutton, Essential Concepts in Sociology, Second edition (Malden, MA: Polity, 2017), 10.
12 Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, 2nd Vintage Books ed
(New York: Vintage Books, 1995); Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Vintage Books
ed (New York: Vintage Books, 1990); Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, 1st Vintage
Books ed (New York: Vintage Books, 1988).
UK, 2403–28.
14 Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, Repr, Theory,
and History of Literature (Manchester: Manchester Univ. Press, 2005).

3.1 The Development of the Modern Concept of Identity 43
instead of thinking of identity as an already accomplished fact, which the new cul-
tural practices then represent, we should think of identity as a “production” that is
never complete, always in process, and always constituted within, not outside repre-
sentation.15
In this age of accelerated mobility and migration, positive or negative identifica-

tion and ways of belonging have become more important than stable identities
attached to fixed places. Hence, an individual’s identity is frequently seen as
multiple, ever-changing, and continually negotiated. Similarly, poststructuralist
cultural critics see culture as liquid, dynamic, and internally diverse.16 This is in
line with Giddens’ observation that “self-identity today is a reflexive achievement.
The narrative of self-identity has to be shaped, altered and reflexively sustained
in relation to rapidly changing circumstances of social life, on a local and global
scale”.17
Research on the language and identity of border-crossing individuals in recent
years has been predominantly guided by this theoretical framework of poststruc-
turalism.18 Nonetheless, as Hua points out, an individual’s agency in negotiating
identities should not be taken to an extreme since certain parts of identity, such
as national and ethnic categories, are socially and politically defined as well as
reiterated through public discourses and social practices.19 Therefore, the catego-
rization of identities is subject to both self-selection and ascription-by others.20
Poststructuralism has often been criticized for this apparent contrast between
views of the subject as operating agents as opposed to determined more or less
15 Hall, “Cultural Identity and Diaspora,” in Identity, Community, Culture, Difference, ed.
Jonatan Rutherford (Lawrence and Wishart Ltd., 2003), 222.
16 Bonny Norton and Kelleen Toohey, “Identity, Language Learning, and Social Change,”
Language Teaching 44, no. 4 (October 2011): 412–46, https://doi.org/10.1017/S02614448

11000309.
(Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1991), 215.

18 Bonny Norton, Identity and Language Learning: Gender, Ethnicity and Educational
Change, Language in Social Life Series (Harlow, England; New York: Longman, 2000).
19 Zhu Hua, Exploring Intercultural Communication: Language in Action, Routledge Intro-
ductions to Applied Linguistics (Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2014).

20 Jingyue Maeder-Qian, “Intercultural Experiences and Cultural Identity Reconstruction of
Multilingual Chinese International Students in Germany,” Journal of Multilingual and Mul-

ticultural Development 39, no. 7 (August 9, 2018): 577, https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.
2017.1410161.
44 3 Identity
by unconscious forces.21 It should be clearly stated at this point that a fully

deconstructed, non-essential, relational definition of identity would be highly
impractical and ineffective in my opinion. While identity is one of the social
phenomena which clearly does not have an essence, moderate, non-deterministic
essentialism is often necessary for explanation and interpretation of social phe-
nomena.22 Another question that has been raised concerns the logical connection
between postmodernism and essentialism. In this regard, it can be useful to dis-
tinguish between strong and moderate social constructionism. In its weak form,
the latter merely emphasizes the socially constructed nature of knowledge and
institutions and the way in which knowledge often bears the marks of its social
origins. In its strong form, it also claims that objects or referents of knowledge
are nothing more than social constructions.23
3.2 Giddens’ Reflexive Project of the Self
As mentioned in Chapter 2 on the methodological foundation of this study, the

moderate social constructionist approaches to the discussion of identity provide
the philosophical foundation for this research. It seeks to understand the iden-
tity formation of Chinese international students by applying Giddens’ theoretical
frameworks on self-identity, reflexivity, and agency, which will be explained in
detail in this chapter.24
Giddens’ work belongs to a tradition of sociological thought that theorizes
identity in the context of movements of late modernity.25 It is described as plu-
ralistic and more socially diverse than the modernity that preceded it.26 Within
21 Robert G. Dunn, Identity Crises: A Social Critique of Postmodernity (Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press, 1998), 176–80.

22 Andrew Sayer, “Essentialism, Social Constructionism, and Beyond,” The Sociological
Review 45, no. 3 (August 1997): 81–104, https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-954X.00073.

23 Sayer, 90.
24 Giddens, Modernity, and Self-Identity.
25 Bethan Benwell and Elizabeth Stokoe, Discourse and Identity (Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press, 2013), http://universitypublishingonline.org/edinburgh/ebook.jsf?

bid=CBO9780748626533; Z. Baumann, Globalisation: The Human Consequences (Cam-
bridge: Polity Press, 1998); Ulrich Beck and Edgar Grande, “Varieties of Second Modernity:
The Cosmopolitan Turn in Social and Political Theory and Research,” British Journal of
Sociology 61, no. 3 (2010): 409–43.
26 Giddens and Sutton, Essential Concepts in Sociology, 14.
3.2 Giddens’ Reflexive Project of the Self 45
today’s post-traditional society, increased levels of social diversification, plu-

ralism, and fragmentation, individualism, and multiculturalism are an intrinsic
aspect of ordinary social life.27 According to these theorists, social practices
have become subject to examination and potential revision. The certainty of
tradition has given way to the realization that social life must be underpinned
by reflexively applied knowledge, but such knowledge is always unstable and
changeable. The theory of reflexivity thus attempts to provide a rational basis
for social practice while simultaneously undermining the possibility of rational
certainty. This pervasive reflexivity undercuts the four central bases of trust in
pre-modern societies: kinship relations, localized community relations, religious
cosmologies, and traditional authority. Personal relationships of friendship and
sexual intimacy replace kinship relations as a means of stabilizing social ties
across space and time. Localized communities with identities tied to place are
undermined by globalizing processes which link the local and global. Religion
and tradition are overturned by reflexively organized knowledge based on abstract
thought and systematic empirical observation.28 The following sections will take
a closer look at two central components of Giddens’ understanding of identity:
reflexivity and narrative.
Reflexivity permeates life in the period of late modernity. This includes pro-
cesses of identity formation. People exercise increasing choice over the identities
they want to matter to them. New and appealing identities can be selected and
lived out, while those forms of identity which have lost meaning and social sig-
nificance are discarded.29 It is now up to individuals to determine their ways of
life, based on their reflections and experiences. It is further posited that modern-
ization and globalization have led to increased exposure to diverse ways of living,
and thus made individuals less constrained by traditional norms. Life has become
“lifestyle” and a matter of personal preference.30 Transitions in individuals’ lives
UK, 2447; Giddens, Modernity and Self-Identity.
28 Tim Phillips and Mark Western, “Social Change and Social Identity: Postmodernity,
Reflexive Modernisation and the Transformation of Social Identity in Australia,” in Rethink-

ing Class: Cultures, Identity, and Lifestyle, ed. Fiona Devine et al. (New York: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2005), 165–66.
29 Phillips and Western, 166.
UK, 2474.
46 3 Identity
have always demanded psychic reorganization, which was often ritualized in tra-
ditional cultures, and took the form of “rites of passage.”31 As things stayed more
or less the same from generation to generation on the level of the collectivity, the
changed identity was clearly staked out, for instance, when an individual moved
from adolescence into adulthood. In the settings of late modernity, by contrast,
the altered self has to be explored and constructed as part of a reflexive process
of connecting personal and social change.32 Subsequently, Giddens claims: “in
the context of a post-traditional order, the self becomes a reflexive project.”33
Identity is no longer understood as something that is just given, as a result of
the continuities of the individual’s action-system, but something that has to be
routinely created and sustained in the reflexive activities of the individual. Self-
identity is thus not a distinctive trait, or even a collection of traits, possessed by
the individual. It is the self as reflexively understood by the person in terms of
her or his biography.34 In the same way that meaning exists in its negotiation,
identity exists—not as an object in and of itself—but in the constant work of
negotiating the self.35 The individual reflexivity means that one has to turn back
on one’s actions and reflect upon one’s daily life constantly. According to Gid-
dens, the self performs self-reflexivity frequently: “At each moment, or at least at
regular intervals, the individual is asked to conduct a self-interrogation in terms
of what is happening.”36 In other words:
The work of identity is always going on. Identity is not some primordial core of
personality that already exists. Nor is it something we acquire at some point in the
same way that, at a certain age, we grow a set of permanent teeth. (…) Our iden-
tity is something we constantly renegotiate during the course of our lives. Identity is
fundamentally temporal. Because it is constructed in social contexts, the temporality
of identity is more complex than a linear notion of time. Identities are defined with
respect to the interaction of multiple convergent and divergent trajectories.37
31 Arnold van Gennep, The Rites of Passage, Repr., transferred to digital printing, Religion,
Rites and Ceremonies: In 5 Volumes 3 (Abingdon: Routledge, 2006).

32 Giddens, Modernity and Self-Identity, 32–33.
33 Giddens, 32.
34 Giddens, 52–53.
35 Wenger, Communities of Practice, 151.
36 Giddens, Modernity and Self-Identity, 76.
37 Wenger, Communities of Practice, 154.
However, Giddens further argues, identities are not entirely fluid and interchange-
able. Individuals need to maintain “ontological security”38 , that is the confidence
that their self-identity and surrounding conditions have durability and reliability.
To achieve a sense of ontological security, an individual’s self-identity needs to
be coherently organized. There needs to be some predictability about the social
relations and conditions of daily life which individuals encounter. The notion of
ontological security is a belief in one’s own psychic coherence and ‘wholeness’,
which relies on a process of sequestration of chaotic or anxious elements, includ-
ing madness, sickness and death, sexuality, and global crisis.39 In other words:
“On the other side of what might appear to be quite trivial aspects of day-to-day
actions and discourses, chaos lurks.”40
When asked about who we are, very few people would answer “206 bones,
656 muscles”. Instead, we have become accustomed to telling a story about
where we grew up, where we have lived and what we have done. Some say,
we tell stories in order to live or to make sense of our lives. Giddens’ under-
standing of identity is one of “coherent, yet continuously revised, biographical
narratives.41 ”42 . Self and reflexivity are interwoven, so that identity is consid-
ered as the ability to construct a reflexive narrative of the self. Identity comprises
many narratives that a person constructs for him or herself, which can vary with
time and occasion. In other words: an individual’s self-identity is a collection of
reflexively constructed, personal, and social narratives.43 The narrative created by
an individual includes past memories and future plans in which private “stories”
are shaped by the external sociocultural environment and form their life trajec-
tory or “trajectory of the self.”44 Narrative also offers a way of understanding
the self as a unity. Taylor stressed that to be a self is to have concerns; to be the

39 Phillips and Western, “Social Change and Social Identity: Postmodernity, Reflexive Mod-
ernisation and the Transformation of Social Identity in Australia,” 166.
41 Most simply, a narrative is a spoken or written account of connected events: a story. Ken
Hyland, “Narrative, Identity and Academic Storytelling,” ILCEA, no. 31 (March 1, 2018),
https://doi.org/10.4000/ilcea.4677.
43 Phillips and Western, “Social Change and Social Identity: Postmodernity, Reflexive Mod-
ernisation and the Transformation of Social Identity in Australia,” 166.

U.K., 2502.
48 3 Identity
kind of being for whom things matter. It is the ability to narrate these things that
provides the continuity of identity.45
In the words of narrative scholar Susan Stephenson: “Through narration, I
make sense of my past and shape my future. What is of concern are not discrete
actions but the shape of my life as a whole”.46
The continuity of such narratives is achieved through reflexivity. The biog-
raphy has become a reflexively made project, into which new events of daily
life are constantly and continuously incorporated. One’s identity is an ongoing
project of self-development. Self-identity is created and maintained through ongo-
ing self-observation and self-introspection. This process allows past biographical
narratives to be interpreted from the present moment; it also accommodates new
experiences, events, and information. Life changes or times of transition can
generate a heightened sense of reflexivity:
Fateful moments are when events come together in such a way that an individual
stands, as it were at a crossroad in his (or her) existence; or where a person learns
of information with fateful consequences.47
Moments like these provide the reflexive project of the self with opportunities for
personal development because individuals need to:
run consciously entertained risks in order to grasp the new opportunities which per-
sonal crises open up… such transitions are drawn into, and surmounted by means of,
the reflexively mobilized trajectory of self-actualization.48
Challenging experiences, such as studying abroad, thus provide individuals the

opportunity of making a “new sense of the self” through heightened reflexivity.
The reflexive project of the self is governed by the moral principle of authen-
ticity in order to ensure that individuals are “true” to themselves. Since it is
assumed that choices are no longer constrained by tradition, individuals have
to make “internally referential” choices based on the principle of authenticity,
which involves “the creation of a personal belief system by means of which the
45 Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity (Cambridge, Mass:
Harvard University Press, 1989).
46 Susan Stephenson, “Narrative, Identity and Modernity,” Discussion Paper for ECPR
Workshop “The Political Uses of Narrative,” 1999, 7.

48 Giddens, 79.
individual acknowledges that his first loyalty is to himself.”49 Choice and life
planning, which involve calculated risk-taking, are now a very important part of
the mechanism of the reflexive project of the self in the sense that “we are not
who we are, but what we make of ourselves.”50 These narratives are central as
a particular form of articulation, offering us a way of understanding the self and
making sense of who we are.51 Similarly, identity scholar Madan Sarup assert
that to some extent, we construct our story, and hence our identity.52
As mentioned previously, it is assumed that self-identities and narratives of
the self are no longer limited to traditional collective categories, such as eth-
nicity, gender, age, and social class. The post-traditional world allows for more
freedom of choice in the process of identity construction.53 Nonetheless, there are
constraints on the stories individuals produce since narratives of identity would
simply not make sense if they did not accord with the broader ‘intelligibility
norms’. Social and cultural milieus provide a set of resources on which individ-
uals draw to produce their stories. There are, for example, the plots provided by
the literary tradition, but narratives are also provided by soap operas, ‘expert’
advice talk shows, and so on.54 As memory specialist Rose comments:
We use the stories of the self that our culture makes available to us, with their sce-
narios of emotions, their repertoires of motives, their cast-list of characters, to plan
out our lives, to account for events, and give them significance, to accord ourselves
an identity as hero or victim, survivor or casualty within the plot of our own life, to
shape our own conduct and understand that of others.55
It is, however, important to distinguish that these stories are not created by
individuals themselves. In the words of prominent sociologist Lawler:
49 Giddens, 80.
50 Giddens, 75.
51 Taylor, Sources of the Self .
52 Madan Sarup and Tasneem Raja, Identity, Culture and the Postmodern World, Repr
(Edinburgh: Edinburgh Univ. Press, 1998).

54 Lawler, Identity, 237.
55 Steven Rose, Lifelines: Biology, Freedom, Determinism (London: Allen Lane, 1997), 237.
50 3 Identity
Through using existing narratives, we create our own—in which we are the heroes of
our own lives. We are not, however, the authors of these stories since they do not orig-
inate with us: in effect, we are putting various facets of narrative traditions together
to produce our ‘own’ story and hence our ‘own’ narrative.56
Narratives thus reflect not only the personal story but also the complex web of
relationships and the sociocultural context the individual lives in. It might be
argued, of course, that “reducing” identity to narratives undermines their poten-
tial as a sense-making tool. Narratives about ourselves are important, but they
are not the full, lived experience of engagement in practice.57 In contrast, propo-
nents of narrative research recognize people as “self-articulated animals”58 who
make sense of life through articulating and reflecting upon their experiences.59
As social scientist Stivers points out:
People conceive of themselves in terms of stories about their actions in the world,
using them to make sense of the temporal flow of their lives. We find identity meaning
as a result of the stories we tell about ourselves or that others tell about us. There-
fore, a narrative approach to self-understanding is not a distortion of reality but a
confirmation of it.60
Eliciting narratives through biographical interviews has become the preferred

method of data collection for researchers interested in identity and the connec-
tions between structure and agency.61 The idea is that identity can be explored
through the stories we tell about ourselves, tapping into the accounts that individ-
uals select, structure, and relate at appropriate moments. The underlying emphasis
is on reflexivity and the belief that storytelling is an active process of summation,
where we represent a particular aspect of our lives. Narrative theorists argue that
by analyzing the stories people tell about themselves, we can understand how
they make their lives coherent and meaningful. Identity thus becomes salient and

57 Wenger, Communities of Practice.
U.K., 2502.
60 Camilla Stivers, “Reflections on the Role of Personal Narrative in Social Science.,” Signs:
Journal of Women in Culture & Society. 18, no. 2 (1993): 412.

61 David Block, Multilingual Identities in a Global City: London Stories (Houndmills, Bas-
ingstoke, Hampshire; New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), http://www.dawsonera.com/

depp/reader/protected/external/AbstractView/S9780230501393.
3.3 Critical Voices on Giddens’ Theory of Self-Identity 51
available for analysis, showing how people experience their lives as members of
particular social groups.62
3.3 Critical Voices on Giddens’ Theory of Self-Identity
What distinguishes Giddens’ ‘reflexive project of the self’ from earlier instantia-
tions, is a skeptical element about the degree of agency enjoyed by the subject.
This more recent form of reflexivity might be deemed ‘critical reflection’. It
incorporates an awareness of the contingent, constrained nature of subjectivity,
shaped by the forces of consumerism and enjoys what Giddens makes clear is
a fragile certitude dependent upon evasion and denial. Nonetheless, Giddens has
attracted considerable criticism from historically-minded scholars for the way he
sidesteps issues of socialization, context, and history (and the notion of being
subject to available discourses).63
Even though Giddens’ concept of the reflexive project will inform the current
study, I am still aware of the weaknesses of his theories. Educationalists Zhao
and Biesta have criticized Giddens’ theories for lacking empirical support.64 In
addition, Zhao and Biesta argue that Giddens’ concept of the reflexive project of
the self is too individualistic, neglecting the moral dimension of self-formation.
Furthermore, whilst Giddens’ theory has guided us to understand the self in the
context of late modernity, the extended reflexivity thesis has been critiqued for its
excessive voluntarism,65 that downplays the structural constraints on agency and
reflexivity.66 The sociologist Mestrovic points out that not all agents possess the
same level of reflexivity.67 Emphasizing the apophatic dimension of reflexivity,
LSE professor Mouzelis also criticized Giddens’ notion of individual reflexivity
as both western-centric and cataphatic. He states:
62 Hyland, “Narrative, Identity and Academic Storytelling.”

63 Benwell and Stokoe, Discourse and Identity, 21–23.
64 K. Zhao and G. Biesta, “Moral Dimensions of Lifelong Learning: Giddens, Taylor, and
Reflexive Project of the Self.,” Adult Education Quarterly 62, no. 4 (2012): 332–50.
65 M. Adams, “Hybridizing Habitus and Reflexivity: Towards an Understanding of Contem-
porary Identity?,” Sociology 40, no. 3 (2006): 511–28.

66 J. Urry, “Duality of Structure: Some Critical Issues.,” Theory, Culture and Society 1, no. 2
(1982): 100–105; N. J. Thrift, “Review Essay: Bear and Mouse or Bear and Tree? Anthony
Giddens’s Reconstitution of Social Theory,” Sociology 19, no. 1 (1985): 609–23.
67 S. G. Mestrovic, Anthony Giddens: The Last Modernist (London: Routledge, 1998).
52 3 Identity
knowledgeable social actors are more or less depicted as constantly involved in coldly
cognitive means-ends situations, constantly trying reflexively and rationally to choose
their broad goals as well as the means of their realization. It naively neglects more
contemplative, more easy-going, less cognitive ways of navigating reflexively in a
world full of choices and individual challenges.68
Moreover, the discursive analysis of narratives by social scientists Reynolds,

Wetherell, and Taylor casts doubt upon the notion of the Giddens’ reflexive iden-
tity project by demonstrating that individual identity work is constrained and
dilemmatic.69 The psychologist Matthew Adams further argues that it is the post-
reflective choices that make individuals who they are. And these choices are much
more dependent on the resources available rather than reflexivity.70 As Zygmunt
Baumann asserts: “all of us are doomed to the life of choices, but not all of
us have the means to be choosers.”71 In short, these critics have suggested that
Giddens overemphasizes agency and reflexivity at the expense of addressing the
social structures.
3.4 Giddens’ Theories in the Chinese Context
Apart from these criticisms of Giddens’ theories, scholars have also debated
whether or not the theories of late modernity are generally applicable to non-
European, non-Western contexts. Some have argued that these theories obviously
draw on Western European experiences and may not be pertinent to East
Asian countries which have undergone distinct societal developments. Similar
to the controversies surrounding the “multiple modernities” approach proposed
by Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt, an Israeli theorist, the scholarly community has dis-
cussed this question intensively.72 First, it is worth mentioning that China has
gone through a series of social experiments for the sake of ‘modernization’ itself,
68 N. Mouzelis, “Exploring Post-Traditional Orders: Individual Reflexivity and Duality of

Structure.,” in Theorising Modernity: Reflexivity, Environment and Identity in Giddens’s
Social Theory (London, New York: Longman, 1999), 85.
69 J. Reynolds, M. Wetherell, and S. Taylor, “Choice and Chance: Negotiating Agency in
Narratives of Singles,” Sociological Review 55, no. 2 (2007): 331–51.

70 Adams, “Hybridizing Habitus and Reflexivity: Towards an Understanding of Contempo-
rary Identity?”.
71 Baumann, Globalisation: The Human Consequences, 86.
72 Shmuel Eisenstadt, “Multiple Modernen Im Zeitalter Der Globalisierung,” in Die Vielfalt
Und Einheit Der Moderne Kultur- Und Strukturvergleichende Analysen, ed. Thomas Schwinn
(Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 2006), 37–62.
3.4 Giddens’ Theories in the Chinese Context 53
ranging from the ‘self-strengthening movement’ of the 1890 s to the 1911 Repub-
lic Revolution, the 1919 May 4th Movement, the 1949 Communist Revolution, the
Great Leap Forward (1958–1960) and the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976).73 All
these entailed dramatic social change. However, their modernizing impact cannot
measure up to the breadth and depth of Deng Xiaoping’s ‘reform and opening
up’, which steered China onto a track of sweeping economic and technological
modernization.74
Renowned German sinologist Björn Alpermann mentions three general forces
that have fueled this unprecedented societal transformation:
economic development, especially a shift from agriculture to manufacturing and ser-

vices accompanied by urbanization; an economic system transition from a socialist
planned economy to a market economy; and globalization, meaning China’s increas-
ingly close integration into world markets and its related social transnational conse-
quences.75
What makes China’s transformation all the more remarkable is that it is tak-
ing place under the unbroken leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
and with only limited reforms of its Leninist political system.76 These devel-
opments have led some authors to see China as falling into an East Asian
pattern of “compressed modernity.”77 For East Asian scholars Han and Shim,
East Asia’s compressed modernity translates into an almost simultaneous transi-
tion from first modernity to second or late modernity. They argue that theories of
late modernity can be useful to understand the unique characteristics of modernity
73 Craig Calhoun, “Beck, Asia and Second Modernity: Beck, Asia and Second Modernity,”
The British Journal of Sociology 61, no. 3 (September 14, 2010): 597–619, https://doi.org/
10.1111/j.1468-4446.2010.01328.x.
74 Liu, Modernization as Lived Experiences, 18.
75 Björn Alpermann, “Class, Citizenship and Individualization in China’s Modernization:,”
ProtoSociology 28 (2011): 7, https://doi.org/10.5840/protosociology20112820.

76 Alpermann, 7.
77 Beck and Grande, “Varieties of Second Modernity: The Cosmopolitan Turn in Social and
Political Theory and Research”; Sang-Jin Han and Young-Hee Shim, “Redefining Second
Modernity for East Asia: A Critical Assessment,” British Journal of Sociology 61, no. 3
(2010): 465–88.
54 3 Identity
in this context. They see modernity as being propelled forward by a bureaucratic-

authoritarian state pushing an economic growth agenda.78 The sociologist Craig
Calhoun, however, objects by arguing that the notion of “compressed” modernity
implies some sort of “normal-duration” modernity. He criticized this approach as
Eurocentric.79 And yet, there are two compelling reasons why the attempt is made
here to use hypotheses of late modernity to analyze developments in China: First,
the framework of “multiple modernities” or varieties of late modernity permits
comparisons between different kinds of modernization processes globally, allow-
ing subsequently “varieties of individualization”.80 If it still contains elements
of Eurocentrism, then it nevertheless constitutes progress from earlier versions
of modernization theory that are still being regularly employed to study China’s
social changes.81 Secondly and more importantly, there is a substantial number
of studies on individualization that demonstrate that the concept can be fruit-
fully employed in the Chinese context.82 The American anthropologist Moore,
for instance, argues that the emergence of a new kind of individualism among
young Chinese is occurring against a backdrop of the entrenched collectivism of
the Maoist era, which was deeply hostile to individualistic impulses. The current
form of individualism of the youth is remarkable in having become mainstream
rather than being restricted to obscure corners of society. Moore further claims
that these developments of individualization have been reinforced by the retreat
of the state from the private lives of citizens in recent decades, which once more
marks a clear departure from Maoist times, which was characterized by state-
focused collectivism.83 In conclusion, although I am aware of the weaknesses and
78 Han and Shim, “Redefining Second Modernity for East Asia: A Critical Assessment.”
79 Calhoun, “Beck, Asia and Second Modernity.”
80 Ulrich Beck and Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim, “Chinesische Bastelbiographie? Variatio-
nen Der Individualisierung in Kosmopolitischer Perspektive,” in Fragile Sozialität. Insze-

nierungen, Sinnwelten, Existenzbastler, ed. Anne Honer, Michael Meuser, and Michaela
Pfadenhauer (Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2010), 199–206.
81 Alpermann, “Class, Citizenship, and Individualization in China’s Modernization.”
82 Yunxiang Yan, “The Chinese Path to Individualization: The Chinese Path to Individualiza-
tion,” The British Journal of Sociology 61, no. 3 (September 14, 2010): 489–512, https://doi.
org/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2010.01323.x; Mette Halskov Hansen and Rune Svarverud, eds.,
IChina: The Rise of the Individual in Modern Chinese Society, NIAS Studies in Asian Top-
ics, no. 45 (Copenhagen: NIAS, 2010); Robert L. Moore, “Generation Ku: Individualism and
China’s Millennial Youth,” Ethnology 44, no. 4 (October 1, 2005): 357, https://doi.org/10.
2307/3774095; Hongping Lian, “The Post-1980 s Generation in China: Exploring Its Theo-
retical Underpinning,” Journal of Youth Studies 17, no. 7 (August 9, 2014): 965–81, https://
doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2013.878786.
83 Moore, “Generation Ku,” 362–63.
3.4 Giddens’ Theories in the Chinese Context 55
limitations of the aforementioned theories developed by Giddens, I am nonethe-

less convinced of their suitability and value for the current study. The concepts
of late modernity, subsequent depreciation of traditional categories of identity,
and individualization of identification processes which are reflexively organized,
serve as the backdrop for the historical and empirical materials in the following
chapters.
Chinese Education and Study Abroad
4
It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than a Chinaman to enter the
United States.1
Driven by an urge for social and political change, the desire for new knowl-
edge, and a longing for a better life, generations of Chinese have left home to
study in almost every major country in the world.2 There have been both active
and inactive periods in the foreign-study movement, in response to the fluctua-
tions in modern Chinese history.3 The practice of studying in the United States
began more than a hundred years ago and can be subdivided into three stages, the
first from 1870 to 1882, the second from 1909 to 1937, and the last, starting from
1978. During the first wave (1870–1882), the Chinese government-sponsored stu-
dents to bring back some sought-after technological skills in order to “build a
strong and prosperous nation.“4 The pioneering efforts of Yung Wing, the first
Chinese to graduate from an American university (Yale, 1854), led to the Chi-
nese Educational Mission (C.E.M.) in 1872. The mission was sponsored by the
Qing government and allowed a small group of students to study in the United
States before its premature termination in 1882. Nonetheless, this development
1 C.H. Fay, “C.H. Fay to Mrs. Williams,” October 3, 1902, Oberlin College Archives.
2 Ying Li, “A Probe into the Phenomenon of Chinese Students Studying Abroad under
the Effect of Economic Leverage—经济杠杆作用下的中国留学生现象探微,” Journal of
Yancheng Teachers University (Humanities & Social Sciences Edition) 36, no. 6 (2016):
25–27.
3 Weili Ye, Seeking Modernity in China’s Name: Chinese Students in the United States, 1900–
1927 (Stanford: Stanford Univeresity Press, 2002), 202.

4 Stacy Bieler, “Patriots” or “Traitors”? A History of American-Educated Chinese Students
(New York: East Gate Book, 2004), 11.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40627-1_4
58 4 Chinese Education and Study Abroad
set the stage for future movements between the two countries.5 Governmental
scholarships from the Boxer Rebellion Indemnity enabled the second wave of
Chinese students to study abroad (1909–1937). The exchanges were interrupted
by the Japanese invasion of China and other political events which eclipsed aca-
demic issues.6 The third wave of scholars and students came to the U.S. after the
two countries signed cross-cultural education protocols in 1978. China had high
hopes of catching up technologically after the Cultural Revolution’s education
hiatus from 1966 to 1976.7 Students and academics flocked to the U.S. in even
larger numbers after the June 4th incidents at Tiananmen Square in 1989 sig-
nificantly altered the political and academic climate in China.8 Furthermore, the
events convinced many Chinese students in the United States not to return home
immediately.9 While the 1980s boasted a high enrollment of Chinese students
from Taiwan and Hong Kong, in recent years, Mainland Chinese students have
greatly increased. This trend has received attention from governments, media, and
academia. The following chapter will look into Chinese traditional education and
the evolution of the foreign study movement in modern times in detail.
4.1 Classical Education
Studying usually serves to achieve a certain goal: in imperial China, the goal of all
learning was success in the state exams. For high-achieving candidates, the doors
5 Sufei Li, “Navigating U.S.-China Water: The Experience of Chinese Students and Profes-
sionals in Science, Technology and Business,” in Expanding Roles of Chinese Americans
in U.S.-China Relations—Transnational Networks and Trans-Pacific Interactions (Armonk,
New York, London: East Gate Book, 2002), 20.
6 Li, 20.
7 Bieler, “Patriots” or “Traitors”? A History of American-Educated Chinese Students; Yufa,
“Returned Chinese Students from America and the Chinese Leadership (1846–1949)”; Li,
“Navigating U.S.-China Water: The Experience of Chinese Students and Professionals in
Science, Technology and Business.”
8 Cathy Stachniak, “Declaration of the Independent Federation of Chinese Students and
Scholars in the United States of America,” World Affairs 152, no. 3 (1989): 171–72.
9 This was of course aided by President George Bush’s Executive Order 12711—granting
Mainland Chinese in the United States between June 5 1989 and April 11 1990 permission
to stay George Bush, “Executive Order 12711—Policy Implementation With Respect to
Nationals of the People’s Republic of China” (United States Government, 1990), https://
www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-12711-policy-implementation-with-
respect-nationals-the-peoples-republic. Accessed 23.6.2020.
4.1 Classical Education 59
to a lucrative, lifelong career as a mandarin were opened.10 The imperial exam-

ination system started during the Tang dynasty (618–906), became entrenched
during the Song (960–1279), and was abandoned in 1905 as part of the Qing
dynasty’s (1644–1911) attempts to modernize.11 These exams were based on
the classical literature of Confucius and Mencius as well as the commentaries
on these ancient sages. Besides the knowledge and exegesis of the canonical four
books and five classics (四書五經; sishu wujing), the exams emphasized the abil-
ity to write a good essay. Other areas of knowledge were considered secondary.12
The government-administered these exams and eventually placed successful can-
didates in posts in the imperial bureaucracy as clerks or teachers.13 As historians
of Chinese education have pointed out, the system did not reward independent
thinking or creative genius. It did, however, provide the state with an ample
pool of potential servants, all of whom had been thoroughly indoctrinated in the
ideology of the ruling class.14
After the prefectural, or lowest-level examinations, the government-operated
academies (書院shuyuan) for those who passed. The bulk of education, how-
ever, especially elementary education, was privately financed and operated.15 The
responsibility for exam preparation lay with each extended family themselves. It
was usual for private teachers to give preparatory lessons in the home.16 These
private schools (私塾sishu), were managed in several ways. The simplest but
most expensive method was for a family to hire a tutor, sometimes allowing the
children of neighbors or relatives to share in the lessons. Girls were occasion-
ally educated alongside their brothers until their teens.17 At that point, the girls’
10 Thomas Harnisch, Chinesische Studenten in Deutschland: Geschichte Und Wirkung

Ihrer Studienaufenthalte in Den Jahren von 1860 Bis 1945, Mitteilungen Des Instituts Für
Asienkunde Hamburg, Nr. 300 (Hamburg: Institut für Asienkunde, 1999), 31–32.
11 Stafford, “The Unexpected Transformations of Chinese International Students in Aus-
tralia,” 10–11.
12 Harnisch, Chinesische Studenten in Deutschland, 31–32.
13 Charles Weber, “Conflicting Cultural Traditions in China,” in United States Attitudes and
Policies toward China: The Impact of American Missionaries., ed. Patricia Neils (Armonk,
NY: Sharpe, 1990), 34.
14 Gael Graham, Gender, Culture, and Christianity: American Protestant Mission Schools in
China, 1880—1930, Asian Thought and Culture 25 (New York Berlin: Lang, 1995), 12–13.
15 Graham, 12–13.
17 If Chinese girls were educated at all, it was through tutors in the home because it was con-
sidered improper for them to appear on public streets as they neared puberty Graham, Gender,
Culture, and Christianity, 12–13.
education shifted to domestic skills while the boys prepared to sit for the first
government examination. Women were not allowed to take the imperial exam-
inations, so there was no reason to educate them further. As an alternative to
private tutoring, a lineage might rent space in a local temple and hire a teacher
to educate the children of that clan. In other instances, children were sent to
schools established by teachers with reputations for preparing successful exami-
nation candidates. Although most education was in private hands, the curriculum
was uniform because the government prescribed the books that were tested in
the official examinations. Elementary education was based on character recogni-
tion and rote memorization of these texts. Moreover, they were not written in the
vernacular but in a dense, formal language that was incomprehensible to those
without classical training. The students were expected to memorize the sounds
and characters in the classical texts without knowing what they meant. When a
boy was twelve or thirteen, he completed the memorization of the classics. Only
then did he begin to interpret the texts, practice calligraphy, and compose essays
in a highly formal style, skills that were tested in the imperial examinations.18
The examination system functioned as a meritocratic selection mechanism for
government positions. As they were open to anyone willing to compete, these
exams permitted upward mobility to a certain extent. It was still not usual, how-
ever, for non-elites to compete in the exams and acquire the coveted places in
government service.19 Due to the time-consuming training as well as the highly
impractical and abstract content of the exams, only families with disposable
income and resources to invest in education had a realistic chance to succeed.
Peasants, artisans, and until the later imperial period merchants, were structurally
excluded from the examination process, even if they were legally entitled to par-
ticipate.20 Although teachers were often inexpensive, even the cost of books,
paper, and brushes was beyond many poor families. Furthermore, many families
could not afford to forego the labor of a son for the years required for clas-
sical training. Hence, although education was highly valued by Chinese at all
socio-economic levels, only a small percentage of Chinese men, and even fewer
women, were literate during imperial times.21 This combination of the high value
of education and its relative inaccessibility meant that many Chinese hungered
18 Graham, 12–13.
tralia,” 10–11.
21 Graham, Gender, Culture, and Christianity, 12–13.
4.2 Missionary Education in China 61
for education just as American Protestant missionaries were coming to the coun-
try in larger numbers. The following chapter will look into the establishment of
missionary schools in the Qing era.
4.2 Missionary Education in China
When the American foreign missionary movement began in 1810, mission boards
did not explicitly direct missionaries to establish schools. The main goal was
obviously to spread Protestantism and make as many converts as possible. How-
ever, opening and running mission schools quickly became one of the most
widespread missionary activities in China. There were several reasons for this
which will be detailed in the following paragraphs.
Firstly, Western22 Missionaries immediately recognized the important role of
the imperial educational system in Chinese life, yet they were prone to criticize
it as unworthy or effete because the Chinese emphasis on the classics appeared
sterile and backward.23 Americans and Chinese shared a belief in the instrumental
value of education; in both countries, elites perceived it as effective in molding
personality and behavior, while non-elites saw it as the key to social advancement.
If mission schools could rival the traditional schools or provide an acceptable
alternative, they could serve the interests of the Chinese as well as those of the
foreigners. It was upon this patch of common ground that teaching missionaries
found a foothold in the inhospitable climate of nineteenth-century China.24
Secondly, missionaries realized that making converts would necessarily
involve some form of education since converts would have to be taught Protestant
doctrine and church history. American Protestants wanted converts sufficiently lit-
erate to be able to read the Bible, for unlike Roman Catholicism, Protestantism
centered on the authority of the Bible. Literacy was essential, especially for native
pastors and lay assistants. To facilitate literacy among their converts in China,
missionaries not only established schools and seminaries but also worked out a
system of Romanized writing that allowed the Chinese to read transliterated texts
after only four months of training. The low social status of their converts made
education even more important to American missionaries. Missionaries originally
22 The term “Western” is used here due to its common usage in sources and language of the
time as describing European and North American powers such as Germany, France, Great
Britain, and the United States, which were looking to further their influence in China.
23 Weber, “Conflicting Cultural Traditions in China,” 34.
24 Weber, 34; Graham, Gender, Culture, and Christianity, 12–13.
hoped to convert literate Chinese of the “better classes”, believing that if the
literati adopted Protestantism, the great mass of the Chinese population would
follow suit. Most Chinese literati, however, regarded the missionaries as uncouth
and barely educated since few missionaries were conversant with the Confucian
classics.25 It was not only the literati classes that were suspicious of foreigners.
Prejudice against the foreigners was, in fact, widespread. Rumors that missionar-
ies boiled the children to make opium, dug out their eyes to make telescopes, or
exported them to foreign countries for a variety of nefarious purposes were com-
mon.26 Many Chinese were also convinced of the superiority of their own culture
and felt little need to learn anything from outsiders. They contended that Western-
ers were only “foreign barbarians” with a material and technological superiority
but no sophistication in ideas or culture. They contended that Confucius and
Mencius had taught many concepts similar to those of the Westerners, and any-
thing worthy in Christianity had already been expressed more eloquently in the
literature of the classics. Besides, the Buddhists traditionally believed in incarna-
tions and the Taoists in miracles and fulfilled prophecy. The Christian insistence
on individual redemption was seen as unnecessary as it ran counter to the ethi-
cal particularism of the Chinese order. Additionally, the numerous denominations
confused the Chinese.27 These views contributed to the dauntingly slow pace of
conversions which helped push missionaries into education. American Methodists
in Fuzhou, for example, worked for ten years before making a single convert.
Approaching children seemed like a way to speed the process.28 However, Protes-
tant education would only succeed if Chinese parents could be persuaded to allow
their children to attend. Wishing to cast their nets as widely as possible, teaching
missionaries made two momentous decisions at the outset: first, they would not
limit enrollment to the children of already converted parents, and second, they
would offer training in the classics in addition to religious teachings. The promise
that their offspring would be taught the classics, traditionally the path that could
lead into government service and raise the status of the entire family, prompted
many poor parents whose sons and daughters would not otherwise have been

26 Graham, 22; Bieler, “Patriots” or “Traitors”? A History of American-Educated Chinese
Students, 229.
27 Hao Chang, Chinese Intellectuals in Crisis: Search for Order and Meaning (1890–1911)
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987), 6; Weber, “Conflicting Cultural Traditions

in China,” 40.
4.2 Missionary Education in China 63
educated to send them to mission schools. Furthermore, mission education was

completely subsidized by the missionaries and thus free of charge for students.29
Mission schools started teaching English, as the foreign settlements in treaty
ports offered lucrative job opportunities for English-speakers as translators, inter-
preters, clerks, and secretaries. For Chinese merchant classes whose business
success was often dependent on close contact with foreigners, fluency in English
became a highly sought-after skill. In some instances, knowledge of English
seems to have been an indicator of class status and prestige. A desire to study
English, then, went beyond pecuniary considerations; it showed one’s ability to
communicate with foreigners, to be conversant with their ideas, and to be willing
to move past the narrow confines of provincialism in order to strengthen the Chi-
nese nation. In short, the study of English came to be regarded by many Chinese
as modern, progressive, and patriotic.30 The political and military pressures West-
ern countries continued to exert on China further contributed to a re-evaluation of
the previously mentioned sino-centrist views. Many progressive Chinese began to
see the necessity to learn from the West in order to “stave off national ruin”.31
They were coming to believe there must be a special quality to Western knowl-
edge and education that gave the Western countries their power. The growing
desire for Western learning among non-Christians was obviously not lost on the
missionaries, who quickly capitalized on the fact that “Western” was coming to
be thought of as “modern” in China.32
Missionary students were among the first to be educated abroad. Chinese stu-
dents who were interested in Western-style higher education had to go overseas
to get it. For instance, a number of Chinese students were educated by Euro-
pean Christians in schools established specifically for this purpose, such as the
Collegio Cinese di Napoli in Italy. Most of these students became missionaries
upon their return to China.33 While many missionaries financially and logistically
supported their students to pursue higher education, there were also a number
of problematic issues. Some were displeased when students failed to repay the
missionary loans that had financed their stay overseas. Others regarded students
as “denationalized”: half-Chinese, half-American hybrids, with the least attrac-
tive features of both cultures. Worse yet, from the missionary perspective, some
29 Weber, “Conflicting Cultural Traditions in China,” 34.

31 Graham, 57–58.
32 Graham, 41.
33 Harnisch, Chinesische Studenten in Deutschland, 39; Y.C. Wang, Chinese Intellectuals and
the West, 1872–1949 (The University of North Carolina Press, 2012).

students became “infected” with religious skepticism in American colleges and

universities and returned to China carrying this “virus” with them. American
missionaries, therefore, refused to promote overseas study for their students as a
general policy.34
4.3 Chinese Study Abroad in the 19th Century
As attitudes towards the West were slowly changing after the military defeats
of the Opium Wars, the Qing court re-examined their ways of “managing bar-
barians”. China could no longer afford to ignore the superior technological
knowledge of Western countries. Consequently, Chinese rulers discussed several
approaches to strengthen the empire by introducing Western technology. They
could send delegations on short-term trips to glean information and bring back
Western armaments so that the Chinese could learn how to make them. Students
could be sent abroad to study and teach other Chinese the West’s secrets of wealth
and power upon their return. Mathematics, military and shipping administration,
infantry tactics, and manufacturing were of particular interest. All three proposals
reflected the court’s desire to build a stronger gate against Western intruders by
using Western technology, a continuation of China’s ancient strategy of “learning
from barbarians in order to control the barbarians”. Their goal was to use Western
technology as a way to reestablish the supremacy of China’s cultural and political
traditions. In 1863, the Qing court thus began seriously debating the option of
sending students abroad, which was met with great opposition from more conser-
vative officials. Besides the time and money required, the officials did not want to
“loose face” by admitting their need to learn from other countries.35 In 1871, the
throne finally approved the Chinese Educational Mission (C.E.M.) to the United
States. The court’s plan was to send thirty students each year to the United States
for a total of four years (1872–1875). After graduating from American colleges,
the students would return to China in 1887 to serve during the prime years of
their lives.36 Yung Wing was integral in shaping and negotiating this program.
Born into a peasant family in Guangdong, he was educated by missionaries in
Macao and went on the pursue higher education in the United States. He was the

35 Bieler, “Patriots” or “Traitors”? A History of American-Educated Chinese Students, 250.
36 Bieler, 284.
4.3 Chinese Study Abroad in the 19th Century 65
first Chinese to graduate from an American university (Yale 1854).37 Recruitment

for the Chinese Educational Mission was slow at first. Many parents were reluc-
tant to let their young sons, between the ages of ten and fifteen, go to a strange
country for many years.38 Due to a large part to Yung Wing’s efforts, however,
the program became more recognized among the higher socio-economic strata.39
The majority of the early students came from wealthy, influential families in
coastal cities. Shanghai and Canton (Guangzhou) specifically had been exposed
to Western culture to a larger degree than other places. A privileged class, both
at home and abroad, they were warmly received as representatives of an exotic,
highly developed ancient culture (Figure 4.1).40
Figure 4.1 Students from

the first detachment of the
Chinese educational
mission after arriving in
San Francisco in 187241
There are several reasons for the early termination of the mission by the Chi-
nese government in 1881 (six years earlier than planned). Firstly, conservative
37 Thomas LaFargue, China’s First Hundred: Educational Mission Students in the United
States 1872–1881 (Pullman: Washington State University Press, 1987), 18; Wang, Chinese
Intellectuals and the West, 1872–1949; Bieler, “Patriots” or “Traitors”? A History of
American-Educated Chinese Students, 284.
39 Rose Lee, The Chinese in the United States of America (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University
Press, 1960), 93.

40 Lee, 98–100.
41 Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Educational_Mission#/media/File:Six_
First_Detachment_students_on_arrival_in_California.jpg (accessed 16.10.2022)
bureaucrats were concerned about the students’ “Americanization.” For instance,

most students removed their queues, adopted American dress, and participated
in sports activities. Many converted to Christianity. The attendance of Chinese
courses alongside their normal coursework may have been overwhelming for
the boys. Non-attendance of these compulsory courses was thus widespread.42
According to the historian Harnisch, the young age of the participants contributed
to their receptivity for foreign values and consequent cultural adaptation.43 Mis-
treatment of Chinese laborers in the United States further dampened the court’s
interest in continuing the mission. When competition for jobs increased in the
western United States due to the recession after the Civil War and a large migra-
tion of settlers from the eastern half of the country, Chinese workers became
targets of racial attacks and mob violence. Rather than interfering in the riots,
the U.S. government deferred, claiming “states’ rights” It did not offer to pay
compensation for loss of Chinese life or damage to property, though it demanded
recompense from China when similar incidents happened to Americans there.44
Anti-Chinese sentiments also led the U.S. government to back off from its ear-
lier agreement to let the C.E.M. students enter American military academies.45
Additional factors leading to the abolition of the program were the high costs and
the unrealistic pressures for success which were bound to remain unfulfilled.46
Upon their return, most of the students felt the authorities didn’t sufficiently rec-
ognize their sacrifices and hard work. Ultimately they achieved more than could
have been expected from the abrupt termination of the program. From the rows
of students emerged a later premier, cabinet ministers, admirals, ambassadors,
engineers, and university presidents.47

tralia,” 12.
43 Harnisch, Chinesische Studenten in Deutschland, 44.
45 Ye, Seeking Modernity in China’s Name: Chinese Students in the United States, 1900–1927,
215.
tralia,” 12.
4.4 Education and Study Abroad in the Early 20th Century 67
4.4 Education and Study Abroad in the Early 20th

Century
Apart from sending students abroad, the Qing government undertook a series of
political and social reform measures in an attempt not only to preserve their
dynasty but also to readjust China’s position in the world. One of the most
significant and far-reaching decisions was the abolition of the imperial service
examination system. Henceforth Chinese youth were educated in a new way
consonant with China’s need to survive in the modern world.
The Qing government first made an effort to modernize the education system
in 1904, inspired by the Japanese model, which was, in turn, based on the German
system. During the 19020s, a renewed debate was prompted by John Dewey’s
visit to China from 1921–22 and influences from the Chinese scholars who had
returned from the United States. This eventually led to another reformation of the
domestic education system aimed at aligning it with the American system.48
It is important to note that 40% of the scholars who returned before 1925 were
working in secondary and tertiary education, as they couldn’t find employment
in the underdeveloped industry. Their impact on educational practices and ideals,
as well as the reform of the educational system, was thus considerable.49 People
began to embrace not only Western technical knowledge, but Western learning in
general, becoming more and more receptive to Western influences.This change in
attitude among the Chinese population contributed to the emergence of the second
study abroad wave. Compared with the Yung Wing mission’s short-term project,
this new wave enjoyed a much stronger, more enduring momentum and was
endorsed by both state and society. It became understood and largely accepted by
the people involved that going abroad to study would imply a departure from tra-
ditional ways of life, in contrast to the resistance to Western cultural influences by
the conservative officials on the Yung Wing mission.50 However, it is notable that
not all Chinese students in the second wave chose to study in America. To many
people in the first decade of the 1900 s, recently modernized Japan was a short-
cut to Western knowledge. France became an important center of foreign study in
Europe, attracting over sixteen hundred Chinese youths between 1919 and 1921.
A number of other European countries such as England, Germany, and Belgium
48 Stafford, 15.
226.
also attracted students from China.51 The increase of students in America between
1900 and 1927 was nonetheless gradual and steady (from 300 students in 1906
to around 1600 in 1926). The Chinese tended to concentrate in schools in the
East and Midwest. Government sponsorships furnished most financial aid, with
missionary patronage a distant second, as the cost of studying in America was far
beyond the economic capacities of most Chinese families. However, even those
on government scholarships came from families that were relatively affluent by
Chinese standards. Similar to the Chinese Educational Mission, the majority of
students were wealthy graduates of elite missionary schools in coastal regions.
A high percentage of the students came from just three provinces: Jiangsu, Zhe-
jiang, and Guangdong.52 The Boxer Indemnity Scholarship Program was the most
important scheme for educating Chinese students in America during this period.
It enjoyed a good reputation because of its competitive selection procedure and
high academic standard, especially after the founding of a specially designed
preparatory school in Beijing, Qinghua College (today’s Qinghua University).53
From the approximately thirteen hundred individuals sent by the program from
1909 to 1929, many later became modern China’s best scholars and educators,
as well as prominent leaders in other walks of life.54 The story of the American
remission of the Boxer Indemnity reveals a complex and fundamentally unequal
power relationship between China and America. Firstly, the U.S. government
claimed 20 million dollars as compensation for the Boxer Uprising, which was
distinctly higher than the actual damages. The American negotiators were well
aware of this fact. Furthermore, the remission of the Boxer Indemnity in the
form of scholarship aid to Chinese students in the United States was an Amer-
ican idea. The U.S. government intended to promote American-directed reform
in China through this program. The Chinese government would have preferred
other usages, for instance, assistance in Manchuria but were left to accept the
Americans’ proposal if they were to benefit from the remissions at all. Even
though the U.S. government was returning money to which they had no right-
ful claim, the dominance in decision-making and their assumption of superiority
were typical for the era, according to Harnisch.55 Their main goal was a positive

tralia,” 13.
246.
258.
4.5 Education and Study Abroad 1949–1978 69
effect of American-educated Chinese on Chinese-American relations and trade.

However, the exchanges were interrupted by the Japanese invasion of China and
other political events which eclipsed academic issues.56 The following years of
the Sino-Japanese War, the Second World War, and the Chinese Civil War left
the country in turmoil. The government and people were preoccupied with other
issues than overseas education.
4.5 Education and Study Abroad 1949–1978
The establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 marked the end of
the Civil War, but it was also the beginning of a period of considerable upheaval
in the Chinese education system. The Communist government aspired to make
education more inclusive and accessible to previously disadvantaged groups such
as workers and peasants. New policies to extend educational opportunities to
these groups were introduced. The irregular, alternative education system that
followed these reforms permitted students to continue their work alongside their
academic courses. The income from their labor partially funded their education.
However, many families still viewed the regular academic education and prepara-
tion for university entrance as superior. The regular education system maintained
its structural importance, and the high demand from families continued.57 Several
reforms launched in this decade are worth mentioning here. The introduction of
the key point (重点zhong dian) school system allowed certain schools to receive
more resources and attract higher-quality students. The schools were selected
from the high-quality schools in existence before 1949 and as such, contributed
to perpetuating the elitist traditions of the pre-Communist era. The nationwide
university entrance examination was also instituted during this first decade of
Communist rule and continues until the present. By 1953, however, the number
of comprehensive universities had fallen from 49 to 13. Only colleges specializ-
ing in applied subjects such as medicine and agriculture were spared as they were
regarded as vital for economic development.58 In the early 1960s, the government
56 Li, “Navigating U.S.-China Water: The Experience of Chinese Students and Professionals
in Science, Technology and Business,” 20.
tralia,” 14.
58 Amelie F. Constant et al., “China’s Latent Human Capital Investment: Achieving Mile-
stones and Competing for the Top,” Journal of Contemporary China 22, no. 79 (January
2013): 111, https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2012.716947.
established policies to give privileged access to education for all workers, peas-
ants, revolutionary cadres, and soldiers, i.e., the “good classes,” while those from
“bad” classes such as landowners faced restrictions. Even though it depended
on the political climate and individual decision-makers how strictly the policies
were followed, these policies nonetheless counter-balanced pre-Communist eli-
tist traditions and paved the way to educational access for new elites. The regular
education system also continued to be dominated by and provide opportunities for
the educated intellectual class.59 During this period, Chinese students ventured
abroad to other Communist countries for educational purposes. Among these most
notable and most desirable was the Soviet Union. Overall, more than ten thousand
students studied abroad in the 1950s.60 The Cultural Revolution began in 1966
with a student-led mass movement that swept away support for the educational
system. Despite the fact that this first phase led to massive disruptions of the
education system, the reforms that followed significantly increased educational
access among previously disenfranchised groups, especially in the rural areas.
This time, the entire educational system was reformed, rather than establishing
a complementary irregular education system as had been the plan in the 19050s.
The key point school system was abolished. A vast amount of elementary and
secondary schools were established in rural areas. Students at the tertiary level
were obligated to do manual labor, which resulted in many being “sent down” to
work in the countryside. Even though access to basic education was improved,
the breakneck pace of expansion as well as the reduction of the curriculum con-
tributed to mediocre quality of education overall. While these policies remained
in place, however, the Chinese education system went through a period of de-
stratification.61 Studying abroad was rare during the Cultural Revolution, with
only fifteen hundred students going overseas between 1972 and 1976. Many of
them studied languages. People were usually selected to go abroad to learn spe-
cific skills that were in demand by their work units. After the end of the Cultural
Revolution in 1976, the number of students outside of China increased again, in
line with the “reform and opening up” policy inaugurated by Deng Xiaoping in
1978.62

tralia,” 16.
60 Michael Poerner, Chinesisch in der Fremde: interkulturelles Rezeptwissen, kollektive
Identitätsentwürfe und die internationale Expansion chinesischer Unternehmen, Münchener

Beiträge zur interkulturellen Kommunikation 24 (Münster [u.a]: Waxmann, 2011), 85.
tralia,” 16.
62 Poerner, Chinesisch in der Fremde, 85.
4.6 Chinese Study Abroad After 1978 71
4.6 Chinese Study Abroad After 1978
In 1978, the government of the People’s Republic of China introduced a series of

major reforms that included the education sector. After being isolated from the
outside world for more than a decade, Deng Xiaoping aimed to rapidly modernize
the country and catch up with the rest of the world. In order to do so, he sought
to send students abroad in large numbers to study science and technology and
bring this knowledge back to China. A speech in which he detailed this plan to the
governing body of Qinghua University in June 1978 later formed the basis for the
new national policy to send students abroad.63 China is among the few countries
that provide scholarships to support international education for their own citizens.
The number of outgoing scholarships has been expanded dramatically since the
beginning of these policies in the 1980s, reaching up to 12,000 per year in 2010.64
From 1978 to 1983, the government mainly allowed advanced-study students
and visiting scholars to leave for the United States.65 The focus at the time was
to send as many highly-qualified candidates abroad as possible.66 For instance,
the Nobel Prize winner, Li Zhengdao, established the China-U.S. Physics Exam-
ination and Applications (CUSPEA) program in 1980. Each year, from 1980 to
1988, the program supported 100 top Chinese physics students for graduate stud-
ies at elite U.S. universities or research institutions.67 It was not common to
pursue overseas studies without government sponsorship at that time. Only stu-
dents who had close relatives living overseas to support them financially were
allowed to study abroad independently of government sponsorship.68 The policy
was changed in 1986 to allow students to go abroad as a personal matter. Chinese
citizens could apply for approval to pursue self-financed study abroad from their
home institutions. The new policy encouraged them to return to China on comple-
tion of their degree programs.69 Since then, the practice of studying abroad has
63 Koehn and Yin, The Expanding Roles of Chinese Americans in U.S.-China Relations, 21.
64 Shepherd Laughlin, ed., U.S.-China Educational Exchange: Perspectives on a Growing
Partnership, Global Education Research Reports (New York, NY: Institute of International
Education, 2008), 40–41.
66 Laughlin, U.S.-China Educational Exchange, 38.
68 Laughlin, U.S.-China Educational Exchange, 38–39.
69 “support study abroad, encourage return home, go abroad, and come back unrestrictedly”
Guochu Zhang, “Migration of Highly Skilled Chinese to Europe: Trends and Perspective,”
International Migration 41, no. 3 (August 2003): 75, https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2435.
00242. Laughlin, U.S.-China Educational Exchange, 38–39.
become normalized as greater numbers of Chinese have ventured overseas. The

percentage of self-financed students was as high as 90% in 2008.70 Tuition fees
and living costs in many industrialized countries are still expensive when com-
pared to the median Chinese household income, making this a surprisingly high
amount.71 Tertiary education abroad is considerably more expensive than domes-
tic tertiary education. With sustained economic development on the mainland, the
option to study abroad has become more affordable for Chinese families.72
The current government under Xi Jinping has shown that education is one
of their priorities. Elite universities such as Beida and Qinghua Universities have
received increased government support in order to become competitive with Euro-
pean and North American institutions. International co-operation in research and
teaching are additional areas of investment. The recruitment of international aca-
demic staff has been heavily promoted. The Chinese tertiary education system has
become more accessible for international students and scholars through English-
language programs and research clusters.73 Moreover, the P.R.C. government has
continued to invest in policies to attract foreign-educated Chinese to return to
work in China or to establish businesses in China. For instance, the central gov-
ernment installed over 32 Career Development Centers around the country to help
returned professionals start up new companies. Many local governments have sent
delegations to the United States and have promised special tax advantages in an
effort to entice professionals living there to relocate to their former hometowns.
According to educationalists Kohn and Yin, the return rate has increased by 13%
every year, starting in 1995.74 Official numbers from the P.R.C. Ministry of Edu-
cation claim that 86% of Chinese who have earned a degree abroad returned
70 Chen, Verbessern Chinesische Studierende Ihre Sprechfertigkeit Im Deutschen Während

Des Fachstudiums in Deutschland?, 1.
71 Chen, 38.
72 Bodycott, “Choosing a Higher Education Study Abroad Destination,” 350.
73 Klabunde and Henze, Wettlauf um internationale Studierende, 32. These policies are tech-
nically still in place currently, although the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted travel to and
from China. The most recent statistics show a drop in international students from the United
States of 78.7% less than in the 2018/19 academic year.
C. Textor, “Number of College and University Students from the United States Study-
ing in China from Academic Year 2009/10 to 2019/20” (Statista Research Department,
2021), https://www.statista.com/statistics/374169/china-number-of-students-from-the-us/.
Accessed 30.12.2021.
4.7 Chinese Student Mobility: Contributing Factors 73
to China after their graduation in the 2019 academic year.75 Most returnees
from the United States, Japan, Canada, or the United Kingdom have professional
experience in the areas of finance, business administration, and communica-
tions networking, as well as biological and medical sciences. Many of them are
entrepreneurs who are profiting from the knowledge they gained abroad.76 The
Ministry of Education has also set up projects for overseas study fellows, includ-
ing the “Research Fund of Returned Study Fellows,” the “Cheung Kong Scholars
Project” and the “Chunhui Project.” The aim of these programs is to attract top
scientists to be leaders in major national projects.77 Shanghai has become the
most attractive city for overseas educated Chinese. Since 1993, Shanghai has
received 18 000 returning professionals. Most of them were under age thirty-five
and had been educated in the United States, Japan, United Kingdom, France, or
Canada. Over 80% had doctoral degrees.78 Many of these skilled returnees are
highly aware of their identities and status and live highly transnational lives.79
Alongside a number of personal reasons for re-migration, the economic develop-
ment in coastal areas, promising career prospects, and unwelcoming climates for
graduates in their host countries provide further inducement.
4.7 Chinese Student Mobility: Contributing Factors
China has come a long way since the reforms of 1986 allowed students to go
abroad independently. The P.R.C. has since become the most important country of
origin when it comes to global transactions in higher education. Chinese students
are now to be found in 108 countries and regions all over the world.80 The reasons
for this continuing trend are numerous and multi-faceted. The following section
seeks to give an overview of the most significant factors behind this phenomenon.
It does not, however, include extra-curricular or non-tertiary education, which has
75 Global Times, “Nearly 90% of All Chinese Students Return Home after Studying Abroad:
MOE,” Global Times, December 15, 2020, https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1210043.
shtml. Accessed 30.12.2021.
77 Laughlin, U.S.-China Educational Exchange, 39–40.
79 Wen, “Return Migration and Economic Turmoil,” 380–81.
80 Constant et al., “China’s Latent Human Capital Investment,” 114.
also been the topic of numerous studies.81 It makes no claim to be complete as

educational decision-making processes are complex and individually shaped.
Firstly, the economic development since the Reform and Opening-up Period
has led to the emergence of a middle class who are willing and able to spend
more on education than previous generations.82 A traditionally strong belief in the
value of education for upward mobility contributes to this additional spending.
It is often seen as an investment for the family with the offspring’s lucrative
career in later life as the return on investment. Jaeger and Gram83 even claim
this investment is the main motivation for studying abroad. The expected value
of the study abroad experience is instrumental and related to external factors such
as future employment. Studying abroad is also associated with social recognition.
The one-child policy has done its part in reinforcing this way of thinking. In light
of inadequate social security systems, families are often found reliant on the only
81 Sun, “Transnational Kinscription”; Min Zhou, “‘Parachute Kids’ in Southern Califor-

nia: The Educational Experience of Chinese Children in Transnational Families,” Educa-
tional Policy 12, no. 6 (November 1998): 682–704, https://doi.org/10.1177/089590489801
2006005; R. Serrano, E. Tragant, and A. Llanes, “Summer English Courses Abroad versus
‘at Home,’” ELT Journal 68, no. 4 (October 1, 2014): 397–409, https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/
ccu007; Allison J. Spenader, “Language Learning and Acculturation: Lessons From High
School and Gap-Year Exchange Students: Language Learning and Acculturation,” Foreign
Language Annals 44, no. 2 (June 2011): 381–98, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2011.
01134.x.
82 In China, the definition of the middle class is a particularly controversial issue. The equa-
tion of the middle class with the bourgeoisie, and the associations of both with capitalism
when the latter was the focus of official criticism during the years of Mao-dominated poli-
tics (1956–76) effectively removed the concept of a middle class from the political lexicon
and the social sciences Minglu Chen, ed., Middle Class China: Identity and Behaviour, CSC
China Perspectives (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2013), 1; Chunling
Li, “A Profile of the Middle Classes in Today’s China,” in Chinese Middle Classes: Taiwan,
Hong Kong, Macau and China, ed. Michael Hsiao Hsin-Huang (London, New York: Rout-
ledge, 2014), 79. The use of the term “middle class” (zhongchan jieji 中产阶级) or “middle
strata” (zhongcan jieceng 中产阶层)—the latter somewhat politically more secure—only
started to (re)emerge publicly after the Chinese Communist Party adjusted its attitude to
entrepreneurs in and after 2000 Xiaohong Zhou, Survey of the Chinese Middle Classes. (Bei-
jing: Social Science Academic Press, 2005). Even as the definition of middle class remains
in dispute, there is no doubt of the existence of this group in today’s Mainland China, nor
that it is expanding quickly. It is a social group possessing a higher income, more education,
and greater occupational prestige, predominant in China’s cities Li, “A Profile of the Middle
Classes in Today’s China,” 78.
83 Kirsten Jæger and Malene Gram, “‘Totally Different Standards’: Consumer Orientation
in Study Abroad Contexts,” Higher Education 74, no. 1 (July 2017): 40, https://doi.org/10.
1007/s10734-016-0026-8.
4.7 Chinese Student Mobility: Contributing Factors 75
child’s earnings, thus making it beneficial to everyone if the child obtains a solid
education and a high-paying job. Education abroad, which is often perceived as
more prestigious, also provides options for future migration that many families
are interested in.84
Furthermore, fierce competition for scarce university places in China has led to
widespread dissatisfaction with the local educational system. The perceived lack
of adequate educational opportunities has pushed families to seek alternatives
abroad.85 Disappointed at higher education in China, many parents would rather
pay a high tuition fee for their child’s college education abroad, even though
this may involve selling their inner-city apartment. For these students, coming to
the United States and pursuing a degree in business or engineering is not only
about getting a decent education, but about helping one’s family strategize its
resources.86
Another facet of the educational system luring Chinese students abroad is the
increased marketization of education in the post-reform era (since 1978). In many
senior high schools, for instance, families have the option of paying for a place
(or to get one through connections) if a student does not have satisfactory grades
to gain admission. Another option is to forego the public school system entirely
and attend a private school of which there are many different types. These range
from community schools to elite boarding schools, all of which charge fees.
Private secondary schools, or the so-called “elite schools,” catering for those who
can afford expensive tuition fees, are booming. These private institutions offer
an alternative path for those who could not enter the more prestigious key point
high schools or higher ranked universities on their own merit.87 An increasing
share of students at the tertiary level also pay fees for their studies. The fraction
of non-government funding has increased, and the education system is largely
guided by market forces. For Chinese families, the concept of contributing fees

85 Qun Ding, “Understanding Chinese International Doctoral Students in New Zealand: A
Literature Review of Contemporary Writings about Chinese Overseas Research Students,”
Teachers’ Work 13, no. 2 (December 22, 2016): 121, https://doi.org/10.24135/teachersw
ork.v13i2.82; Vivienne Jing Zhang, “Higher Education Choices and Decision-Making: A
Narrative Study of Lived Experiences of Chinese International Students and Their Parents”
(Auckland, Auckland University of Technology, 2013).
86 Dong, “How Chinese Students Become Nationalist,” 564.
tralia,” 19; Yanrui Wu, China’s Consumer Revolution: The Emerging Patterns of Wealth and
Expenditure (Cheltenham, Northampton: Edward Elger Publishing Inc., 1999), 8–9.
in order to access higher levels of education—or supposedly better quality of

education—is not new.
This particularly holds true if the standard pathways are not available. Study-
ing overseas is frequently seen as an alternative avenue through which it becomes
possible for families to pay in order to access educational opportunities.88
4.8 Chinese Students and the U.S. Context
The United States have been the most popular destination for Chinese students for
many years, although recent political developments have decreased the demand
slightly and contributed to the popularity of Canada, New Zealand, and the United
Kingdom.89 The percentage of students choosing the U.S.A. undergoes signifi-
cant fluctuations—from 34.8 % of all Chinese international students who chose
to study in the U.S.A. in 2002 to 22.8% in 2005, for instance.90 Nonetheless,
Chinese students still constitute the largest international student group in the
U.S.A. (372,532 in the 2019/20 academic year), according to the most recent
Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, a total of 33.7% of
all international students in the United States (Figure 4.2).91
Chinese students typically choose undergraduate programs. In fact, under-
graduate enrollment has increased more than eightfold in just six years.92 This
development runs counter to usual patterns of overseas education. The share of

tralia,” 18–19.
89 In many countries, including China, English has increasingly been included in the manda-
tory school curriculum, even at early education levels, and many students aim to improve
their English-language skills through immersion in a native context. With one in four peo-
ple using English worldwide, the language is often directly associated with globalization and
referred to as a “world language.” English-speaking countries are the most attractive overall,
with these five countries receiving over half the mobile students. See: Poerner, Chinesisch
in der Fremde, 85.; Zhihua Zhang, “Past Expectations, Current Experiences, and Imagined
Futures: Narrative Accounts of Chinese International Students in Canada” (Burnaby, British
Columbia, SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY, 2017), 21.
Des Fachstudiums in Deutschland?, 4–5.

91 Institute of International Education IIE, “Fact Sheet China; Open Doors Report on Interna-
tional Educational Exchange.,” 2021, https://opendoorsdata.org/fact_sheets/china/. Accessed

8.10.2021.
92 IIE, “Open Doors Report.” Accessed 24.9.2021.
4.8 Chinese Students and the U.S. Context 77
Figure 4.2 Global Flow of Tertiary-Level Students from China. Institute of Statistics
UNESCO, “Global Flow of Tertiary-Level Students,” 2021, http://uis.unesco.org/en/uis-stu
dent-flow. Accessed 25.3.2020
international students usually increases gradually with education level. Interna-

tional enrolment in undergraduate programs was relatively low for all countries
surveyed by the OECD (below 5%).93
Chinese international students are predominantly found in colleges in Cali-
fornia, New York, Florida, Texas, and Pennsylvania.94 New York University has
the highest individual enrollment of international students with 19 605 enrolled
in the academic year 2018/2019, closely followed by the University of Southern
California with 16,340 international students.95
The popularity of the United States as a study abroad destination is related
to the perceived quality of instruction abroad and the perceived value of host
institutions. These are crucial decision-making criteria for many Chinese fami-
lies planning their offspring’s educational journeys. As university rankings are
popular and pervasive in a range of publications, the majority of Chinese are
aware of quality differences among tertiary education systems and institutions.96
93 OECD, Education at a Glance 2019, 231–33.

94 Niall Hegarty, “Where We Are Now –The Presence and Importance of International Stu-
dents to Universities in the United States” Journal of International Students 4, no. 3 (2014):
223.
95 Institute of International Education IIE, “Open Doors Report on International Educational
Exchange,” 2019.
96 OECD, Education at a Glance 2019, 223.
Certain degrees from certain places are endowed with higher value. Students are
increasingly attracted to high-ranking institutions as they hope to build up their
internationally recognized capital. The individual decision-making can be heav-
ily influenced by university rankings even though, according to educationalist
Zhang97 :
The majority of university rankings are devised by Western institutions which use
Western standards of measuring. The educational excellence, claimed in neocolonial
discourses across the world, illustrates the dominance of Western imperial ideology
in international education.
While advocates argue that ranking systems have made universities more trans-
parent and accountable to official and public scrutiny, it is nonetheless factual
that rankings are skewed in favor of large, English-language research universities.
Critics also point to the relative neglect of teaching quality in ranking systems,
which is not necessarily connected to research quality.98 Not every potential stu-
dent is aware of this bias in measurements, as Yang’s study with families in
Shanghai has shown. He observed “near-religious emphasis of university rank-
ings”: all parents in his study encouraged their children to apply to schools based
on their rankings from reputable sources such as U.S. News & World Report. For
parents, these rankings were an accurate gauge of a university’s quality of edu-
cation and subsequent status in society.99 Moreover, geography scholar Beech
draws attention to the range of different and often-conflicting ranking systems
available. Obviously, universities are interested in presenting themselves in the
most attractive way possible. The multitude of rankings allows them to select the
ones where their performance is most favorably rated and paint a rosier image of
their reputation than may truly be the case. This has particular ramifications as
the access to higher quality education in comparison to their home countries is
one of the main motivators for international students at the tertiary level.100
Many institutions have recognized the potential of full tuition-paying foreign-
ers as customers. According to the most recent reports from the I.I.E. and the
97 Zhang, “Migration of Highly Skilled Chinese to Europe,” 20.

98 Institut de statistique de l’Unesco, Higher Education in Asia: Expanding out, Expanding
up: The Rise of Graduate Education and University Research., 2014, 68.
99 Yang, The Pursuit of the Chinese Dream in America: Chinese Undergraduate Students at
American Universities, 1098.

100 Suzanne E Beech, The Geographies of International Student Mobility: Spaces, Places and
Decision-Making, 2019, https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&

db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=2142243.
U.S. Department of Commerce, international students contributed $45 billion

to the economy in 2018.101 The majority of students receive their funds from
sources outside the U.S. such as family assistance or scholarships from their home
countries. The inflow of this external funding benefits the U.S. economy.102
Hegarty, a scholar of business education, has observed recruitment efforts
specifically aimed at international students in 62% of institutions. Such measures
typically focus on ensuring stable international student enrollment. According
to Hegarty, 31% of institutions concentrated their efforts on China. Many insti-
tutes of higher education have opened recruitment offices in China, and some
have established a dominant position in the Chinese foreign education market.
Universities may also be seeking to offset the expected demographic decline in
U.S. domestic students. The weakened economy, together with high education
costs, discourages potential domestic students and places additional pressure on
universities and colleges to grow international recruitment efforts.103 However,
the notion that U.S. colleges and universities have enrolled more international
undergraduate students in order to generate additional revenue has been gain-
ing popular traction. Recent media coverage has claimed that public institutions
increased international enrollment is connected to income lost by state budget
costs which needed to be replaced. 104 As Reisberg, an employee of Boston Col-
lege’s Center for International Higher Education recounted, some measures to
recruit international students felt “ … a lot like a business transaction with the
expectation of a good return on investment.”105
The idea that revenues from international students were utilized for university
activities was in line with the increased entrepreneurism and marketization of
tertiary education institutions. While it is factual that there are financial gains for
individual institutions, these are highly variable. Costs of marketing, expanded
recruitment practices, as well as additional assistance for international students,
101 Institute of International Education I.I.E., “Economic Impact of International Students,”

accessed July 10, 2021, https://www.iie.org/Research-and-Insights/Open-Doors/Economic-
Impact-of-International-Students.
102 Tsevi, “Survival Strategies of International Undergraduate Students at a Public Research
Midwestern University in the United States,” 1035.

103 Hegarty, “Where We Are Now –The Presence and Importance of International Students
to Universities in the United States,” 224.

104 Cantwell, “Are International Students Cash Cows? Examining the Relationship Between
New International Undergraduate Enrollments and Institutional Revenue at Public Colleges

and Universities in the US,” 515.
105 Liz Reisberg, “Why Do We Want International Students?,” 2012, https://www.insidehig
hered.com/blogs/world-view/why-do-we-want-international-students. Accessed 25.3.2020.

must also be factored in. As a study by educational scholar Cantwell shows: “only
some public higher education institutions appear to have enjoyed net revenue
gains from international student enrollment. The potential for financial gain does
not mean that every university that recruits students from abroad will profit.”106
For international students, currency fluctuations and immigration restrictions
determine whether studying in the United States is attainable. In part to mitigate
this issue, many institutions have established branch, joint venture, or double
degree programs in other countries.107 These attempts by universities also include
prominent offshore satellite campuses in China, such as Duke-Kunshan108 and
N.Y.U. Shanghai109 as well as double degree programs such as the Tsinghua-MIT
Master of Business Administration.110 Other strategies have included changing
admission rules for foreign students, revising curricula to encourage teaching in
foreign languages, or offering online courses and international internships. As a
consequence, the international activities of tertiary educational institutions have
not only expanded in volume and scope but also in complexity.111 Colleges and
universities have also expanded their options in order to retain those students who
were unwilling or unable to travel during the Covid-19 pandemic. For instance,
N.Y.U. launched an extensive “Go Local” program for Chinese students who
could opt to enroll or continue their studies on the N.Y.U. Shanghai campus
instead of at the New York City campus. The switch to online classes during the
2020 academic year has also allowed students to continue their studies at U.S.
institutions even though they might physically be in China (or elsewhere).112
Although these developments have attracted some students, the great majority
of Chinese international students study on-campus in the United States. Their
106 Cantwell, “Are International Students Cash Cows? Examining the Relationship Between
New International Undergraduate Enrollments and Institutional Revenue at Public Colleges
and Universities in the US,” 522.
107 Santa Falcone, “International Student Recruitment: Trends and Challenges,” 2017, 247.
108 Duke Kunshan, “Duke Kunshan Home Page,” 2020, https://dukekunshan.edu.cn/en.
Accessed 25.3.2020.
109 NYU Shanghai, “NYU Shanghai Home Page,” 2020, https://shanghai.nyu.edu/. Accessed
25.3.2020.
110 Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management, “Tsinghua Global MBA
Program in Collaboration with MIT Sloan,” 2020, http://gmba.sem.tsinghua.edu.cn/content/

show/2-21.html. Accessed 25.3.2020.
111 OECD, Education at a Glance 2019.
112 Xijia Qi and Lanlan Huang, “US Colleges’ Make Efforts to Retain Chinese Students
under China-US Conflicts,” Global Times, August 5, 2020, https://www.globaltimes.cn/con

tent/1196831.shtml. Accessed 10.12.2021.
increasing presence along with high percentages of American-born Chinese in

higher education on campuses all around America has led to cultural and political
conflicts.
On a day-to-day level, Chinese students often cause irritation in the classroom
during undergraduate education. Their English levels are seen as inadequate for
academic discourse. Some teachers view them as passive learners lacking the crit-
ical thinking skills of their American peers.113 In a highly publicized incident at
Duke University, a professor even criticized Chinese students’ use of Mandarin in
their free time.114 The professor was later asked to resign. But the sentiment mir-
rors widespread intercultural tension in regards to Chinese international students
and their on-campus behavior. On a political level, it has recently become more
difficult for Chinese academic staff to apply for or prolong their visas. Some
stand under the accusation of espionage.115 Chinese students who receive gov-
ernment assistance for their international studies usually have close links with the
Chinese Communist Party, meaning they are either party members themselves or
come from families with a political background in the party. These students are
in frequent contact with the Chinese embassy or consulates in their area. Their
studies are typically tied to certain party goals and are not undertaken for personal
enjoyment.116 However, only a small number of Chinese who are studying in the
United States receive government assistance. The vast majority are self-financed
and are not as closely monitored by the Chinese government. The political ten-
sions and restrictive visa policies of the Trump era have further deterred some
students from choosing the United States as a destination. The Covid-19 pan-
demic obviously obstructed international travel for students planning to go abroad
113 Cheng, Andrade, and Yan, “A Cross-Cultural Study of Learning Behaviours in the Class-
room”; Gloria and Ho, “Environmental, Social, and Psychological Experience of Asian
American Undergraduates: Examining Issues of Academic Persistence”; Peng and Wright,
“Explanation of Academic Achievement of Asian American Students.”
114 U.S. Embassy and Consulates in China, “ISSUED MORE THAN 85,000 STUDENT
VISAS SINCE MAY 2021” (Beijing: U.S. Embassy & Consulates in China, August 25,
2021), https://china.usembassy-china.org.cn/85000-student-visas-mission-china-has-issued-
since-may-2021/. Accessed 10.7.2021.
115 Lloyd-Damnjanovic, A Preliminary Study of PRC Political Influence and Interference
Activities in American Higher Education.

116 Interview with Dr. Stefan Aubrey, November 22, 2021.
for the 2020 academic year.117 Trump’s deliberate racialization of the Covid-19
virus with terms such as Kung Flu has contributed to anti-Chinese sentiments and
the increasing occurrence of racist hate crimes against people of Asian ethnic-
ity.118 Yingyi Ma, a scholar who is specialized on Chinese international students
in the U.S., argues that:
the notion that the U.S. is the epicenter of globalization and cosmopolitan capital has
been cast into doubt, particularly in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis, which has
revealed deep divides within American society. The mismanagement of the pandemic,
coupled with the roaring re-emergence of anti-Asian hate, has irrevocably undermined
American soft power.119
Ma is not convinced, however, that these factors will lead to a permanent

reduction of Chinese seeking to study in the U.S. She emphasized the deeply
internalized belief in the ranking system and the fact that U.S. universities still
outrank domestic ones in the majority of international rankings. While the Chi-
nese government is taking steps to improve the quality of tertiary education
within the country, Ma presumed that this will be a lengthy process. She also
highlighted the flexibility and accessibility of the U.S. educational system that
attracts Chinese students, which are not likely to change and will probably not
be incorporated into the Chinese educational system. Changing one’s major or
transferring schools, for instance, is near impossible in Chinese universities.
117 Yan Zhang, “被美拒簽的中國留學生: 「我可以證明我不是間諜, 但他們根本不看.

Chinese Student Rejected by the US: I Can Prove That I’m Not a Spy, but They Don’t Look
at the Evidence.,” The Initium, August 29, 2021, https://theinitium.com/article/20210819-
mainland-international-proclamation-10043-chinese-international-students/invite_token/
htCOLjmvpX/. Accessed 10.7.2021.
118 Jeffrey Demsky, “Covid-19 in the Age of Trump: A Virus for the American Century
and Republic,” LISA E-Journal Mélanges en hommage au Pr. Dr. Denis Mukwege, Con-
tributeurs A à J, mis en ligne le 20 août 2020, consulté le 06 octobre 2021 (2021), http://
journals.openedition.org/lisa/12816; E. Liu, “Covid-19 Has Inflamed Racism against Asian-
Americans. Here’s How to Fight Back,” CNN, April 11, 2020, https://edition.cnn.com/2020/
04/10/opinions/how-to-fight-bias-against-asianamericans- covid-19-liu/index.html; accessed
17.10.2021; Stacey Diane Arañez Litam, “‘Take Your Kung-Flu Back to Wuhan’: Coun-
seling Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders With Race-Based Trauma Related to
COVID-19,” The Professional Counselor 10, no. 2 (June 2020): 144–56, https://doi.org/10.
15241/sdal.10.2.144.
119 Yingyi Ma, “Is This the End For China’s American Education Craze?,” Sixth Tone, July
20, 2021, https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1008039/is-this-the-end-for-chinas-american-

education-craze%3F;text=Is. Accessed 11.9.2021.
Chinese authorities have recently taken measures to curb foreign influences in

the education sector, such as restricting the teaching of foreign curricula/textbooks
and limiting the availability of foreign-taught online classes.120 Some observers
have interpreted this as tightening ideological control. Other new policy guide-
lines, such as the harsh regulations placed on extra-curricular tutoring companies,
are allegedly aimed at easing the pressure on children and families as well as
counter-balancing educational inequality.121 The authorities may also be invested
in reducing the educational costs for families in light of the three-child pol-
icy, which was introduced in May 2021 in an effort to alleviate the looming
demographic crisis.122 Certainly, it is too early to pass judgment on how these
factors will affect migration patterns between the two countries. The fact that
the U.S. embassy in Beijing reported granting more than 85,000 student visas
since May 2021—a rebound to pre-pandemic numbers—points to a continuing
trend.123 Ma’s assumption that the United States will remain an attractive des-
tination for Chinese students and scholars is well-founded. Educational scholar
Chen also points out the fact that compared with the overall national number of
students, those studying outside the country are only a small portion. She draws
the conclusion that China has not tapped into its full potential as a sending coun-
try on the global tertiary education market and expects the trend of Chinese going
abroad to study to continue for many years, not only in the U.S.A. but also in
the European Union, Great Britain, Canada, and Australia.124
120 Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, “中共中央办公厅国务院办公

厅印发《关于进一步减轻义务教育阶段学生作业负担和校外培训负担的意见》 Opinions
on Further Reducing the Burden of Students’ Homework and Off-Campus Training in
Compulsory Education.,” General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party
of China, General Office of the State Council, July 24, 2021, http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_
xwfb/gzdt_gzdt/s5987/202107/t20210724_546566.html. Accessed 10.7.2021.
121 Yuan Li, “‘Reversing Gears’: China Increasingly Rejects English, and the World,” New
York Times, September 9, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/business/china-eng

lish.html. Accessed 10.7.2021.
122 中共中央政治 CPC Central Committee, “权威快报|三孩生育政策来; Official
Announcement: Three-Child Birth Policy Is Here.,” Xinhua News, May 31, 2021, http://
www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2021-05/31/c_1127513067.htm. Accessed 10.7.2021.
123 U.S. Embassy and Consulates in China, “ISSUED MORE THAN 85,000 STUDENT
VISAS SINCE MAY 2021” (Beijing: U.S. Embassy & Consulates in China, August 25,
2021), https://china.usembassy-china.org.cn/85000-student-visas-mission-china-has-issued-
since-may-2021/. Accessed 10.7.2021.

I hope that this section has been able to give some first impressions of the
atmosphere in which Chinese students find themselves during their educational
sojourn in the United States. In front of this backdrop of historical ties between
the two countries but also substantial intercultural conflict potential, they begin
their journey into the unknown. The following chapter will mark the beginning
of the analysis of their narratives and shed light on their experiences. In order to
better understand these narratives in the context of societal developments, I have
decided to include an overview of the changing familial dynamics in China.
The Self and the Family
5
The changing dynamic of the Chinese family in modern times was illustrated to
me on numerous occasions during my time in China. The following anecdote will
serve as an introduction to the scientific analysis of these changes, which will be
presented in the subsequent chapter.
My colleague and I are having a drink in a café while we wait for our next
meeting. It is a beautiful and sunny day in Beiing; even the usually smoggy
skies are blue today. Uncles and aunties on bicycles pass us by on the narrow
alleyways, eyeing us suspiciously: what is a white girl doing here? We chat
while we are waiting, about life and plans, for the next couple of days and in
general. My colleague updates me on the ongoing argument with his father: is
he going to join the family business anytime soon? Father and son both feel
misunderstood. There is a lot of pressure and tension, mixed emotions on both
sides. My colleague doesn’t have any interest in being involved in his father’s
company. To his father, nearing retirement, having his son take over seems like
the obvious next step. With a mischievous smile, my colleague concludes: “What
can he do? I’m his only child. He cannot force me to do anything.” This view of
the once almighty patriarch as completely unable to exercise his power over his
son is highly unusual when compared to previous generations, yet nothing out of
the ordinary for the one-child generation.
This chapter will look into the developments of the modern family in recent
decades and discuss the impact these have had on the students in my study
regarding decision-making processes within the family.
Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material

available at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40627-1_5.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40627-1_5
86 5 The Self and the Family
5.1 The Family in Modern China
According to sociologist and One-Child Policy expert Tyrene White, this policy
which was put in place by the Chinese government from 1979 until 2016 was
a drastic form of government intrusion into and subsequent collectivization of
child-rearing.1 The policy profoundly changed child-rearing values and practices
even though they are considered one of the most conservative aspects of culture
that generally persist over time.2 It has turned out to be the longest campaign ever
implemented in China. This policy, alongside other socio-political and economic
reforms implemented by Deng’s government, has contributed to a generation of
single children growing up in a time of rapid, transformative social change. This
has dramatically altered the dynamics of family life and is unparalleled anywhere
else in the world.3 Human rights organizations have documented various coercive
and punitive measures related to the policy such as involuntary abortions, ster-
ilizations, and adoptions and have harshly critiqued these practices.4 The policy
has also led to abandonment or infanticide of babies as well as prolonged hid-
ing of out-of-plan children.5 Due to the substantial influence the one-child policy
has had on family relations in contemporary Chinese society, a brief overview of
the policy will be given here. The policy was indeed so successful in reducing
the birth rates—which hit an all-time low in 2020 at 1.3 births per woman—
that the government introduced three-child policy in May 2021 in an effort to
alleviate a looming demographic crisis.6 The question arises of whether the one-
child policy has normalized having just one child as this seems to have become
the social convention for many families, especially in urban areas. The develop-
ment and reasoning behind the policy as well as the effect on intergenerational
relationships will be discussed in the following section.
1 Tyrene White, China’s Longest Campaign: Birth Planning in the People’s Republic, 1949–
2005 (Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press, 2006).
2 Robert Alan LeVine, Culture, Behavior, and Personality (Chicago: Aldine Pub. Co, 1973).
3 Esther C. L. Goh, China’s One-Child Policy and Multiple Caregiving: Raising Little Suns in
Xiamen, Routledge Contemporary China Series 71 (New York, NY: Routledge, 2011), 3–5.
4 Amnesty International, “Thousands at Risk of Forced Sterilization in China,” China Report,
April 22, 2010, https://www.refworld.org/publisher,AMNESTY„CHN,4bd53f662c,0.html.

Accessed 24.11.2020.
5 Kay Ann Johnson, China’s Hidden Children: Abandonment, Adoption, and the Human Costs
of the One-Child Policy (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2016).

6 中共中央政治 CPC Central Committee, “权威快报|三孩生育政策来; Official Announce-
ment: Three-Child Birth Policy Is Here.” Accessed 10.7.2021.

5.1 The Family in Modern China 87
5.1.1 One-Child Policy
Before 1949, the traditional Chinese family was an ideal with deep foundations
in the classical injunctions of Confucius and Mencius. Rigid patrilineal, patrilocal
and patriarchal norms defined every aspect of hierarchical interactions between
family members.7 Parents had the obligation to instruct children and care for them
in return for their offspring’s unconditional obedience and respect. Children were
expected to provide for their parents in old age and conduct themselves in such
a way as to bring honor and avoid disgrace to the family name. The concept of
xiao 孝 (filial piety) served as a guiding principle and governed Chinese patterns
of socialization.8 This framework of ideals came under attack after the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) took power in 1949.
The Communists perceived traditional values as a threat to the communist
ethos and a hindrance to people’s devotion to the state. The introduction of new
family laws such as the 1950 Marriage Law was meant to decrease the power of
the traditional patriarchal families as well as discourage arranged marriages which
were seen as contributing to the influence of extended family clans. Additionally,
state social engineering implemented reforms in other institutions, which resulted
in new family patterns and attitudes.9 In the 1950s, the struggle to define a social-
ist theory of population growth appropriate to China’s conditions was intense. As
bright visions of the imagined economic future quickly gave way to the real-
ity of widespread hunger and a limited agricultural surplus, the population issue
became even more urgent.
The ideal of forsaking personal child-rearing preferences—such as having a
large family—for the greater good of the collective gained traction. It was deemed
the ultimate self-sacrifice and the true mark of a transformed society. It was in
this way that China tilted toward the practice of comprehensive birth planning.10
Population planning thus became linked to the primary obligation of the
socialist state—the production, allocation, and distribution of material goods.
Childbearing became subject to those same mechanisms of centralized planning.
However, the Cultural Revolution halted these early family planning operations,
and it wasn’t until the partial normalization of government work in late 1969
7 Goh, China’s One-Child Policy and Multiple Caregiving, 3–5.

8 D.F.Y. Ho, “Fatherhood in Chinese Culture,” in Father’s Role: Cross Cultural Perspectives
(Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1987); Shu-Ching Lee, “China’s Traditional Family, Its
Characteristics and Disintegration,” American Sociological Review 13, no. 3 (1953): 272–80,
https://doi.org/10.2307/2087881.
9 Goh, China’s One-Child Policy and Multiple Caregiving, 3–5.
10 White, China’s Longest Campaign, 244–48.
Figure 5.1 A poster advertising the one-child policy: “Carry out family planning, imple-
ment the basic national policy.” Image courtesy of Zhou Yuwei, 198611
that Zhou Enlai pressed forward with a birth planning initiative.12 The regime
introduced specific and increasingly strict birth limits in the early 1970 s, com-
mencing with the propaganda theme “One Child isn’t too few, two are just fine,
and three are too many” (一个不少, 两个正好, 三个多了, yi ge bu shao, liang
ge zheng hao, san ge duo le) followed by “Later, Longer, Fewer” (晚稀少, wan,
xi, shao)13 in 1973.14 Population targets were added to the economic plan just as
China was moving out of the most intensive, disruptive, and violent phase of the
Cultural Revolution. 15 The swift adoption of the one-child policy and the scale
and intensity of the implementation is explained by two interrelated factors. First,
11 Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/iisg/4766786219 (accessed 16.10.2022)

12 Junsen Zhang, “The Evolution of China’s One-Child Policy and Its Effects on Family
Outcomes,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 31, no. 1 (2017): 142.
13 Referring to later marriage, longer time between the first and second child and fewer meant
a maximum of two children per couple, Zhang, 143. See also Isabelle Attané, “China’s Fam-
ily Planning Policy: An Overview of Its Past and Future.,” Studies in Family Planning 33,
no. 1 (2002): 103.
14 Zhang, “The Evolution of China’s One-Child Policy and Its Effects on Family Outcomes,”
143.
15 White, China’s Longest Campaign, 244–48.
the strict birth limitation policy was a rare area of leadership consensus because
it was one of the few issues that stood above the politics of elite struggle. This
political consensus was the result of a shared economic calculus. Decades of
collective learning about the economic consequences of unchecked population
growth left the Chinese Communist Party in general agreement about the need
for state intervention to reduce fertility rates. A second explanation for the one-
child escalation is the economic agenda of Deng Xiaoping and his allies. Deng’s
reform program called for the development of the agrarian and commercial sector,
the enlivenment of the market sector, and increased personal consumption. His
goal of alleviating China’s essential poverty and improving standards of living
inclined him to be particularly concerned about per capita indicators of growth.
The input of advisers like Liu Zheng and Song Jian was crucial in determining
what specific level of childbearing was deemed acceptable given the leadership’s
modernization goals.16 Song used computer modeling to devise several future
scenarios for China’s population growth based on variable average fertility rates.
His calculations were based on the assumption that achieving zero population
growth by the year 2000 was the short-term goal. According to Song, this goal
could only be attained if the average fertility rate was reduced to one by 1985.
Subsequently, the State Council Office for Birth Planning revised the birth limita-
tion policy to allow only one child per couple and impose penalties on those who
did not adhere to this limit. While these policies were technically voluntary at
first and accompanied by large scale propaganda campaigns (Fig. 5.1), they later
had a number of coercive and punitive elements which lead to high compliance in
all regions of China.17 The one-child policy has reduced the birth rate from 2.75
in 1979 to around 1.6 in 2000 and just 1.3 in 2020, well below the replacement
rate. This has also affected the demand for education and the ability of families
to invest in it. Parents are often willing to spend as much as needed, even if these
expenses result in financial hardship for the family.18 This is related not only to
changing financial expectations and responsibilities burdening the singletons but
also to a shift in family dynamics and gender roles, which will be detailed in the
following sections.
16 White, 62–64.
17 Zhang, “The Evolution of China’s One-Child Policy and Its Effects on Family Outcomes,”
145; White, China’s Longest Campaign, 65–66; Mei Fong, One Child: The Story of China’s
Most Radical Experiment (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016).
18 Dennis Yang, The Pursuit of the Chinese Dream in America: Chinese Undegraduate Stu-
dents at American Universities (Lanham, Boulder, New York, London: Lexington Books,
2016), 1; Glen Stafford, “The Unexpected Transformations of Chinese International Students
in Australia” (Dissertation, Adelaide, University of Adelaide, 2010).
5.1.2 Intergenerational Dynamics
Only-children in China are often tenderly called “little suns” by their elder family
members. From the term “little sun” it is easy to imagine the central position these
youngsters occupy in the hearts and minds of their caregivers. Grandparents and
parents revolve their lives around caring for the little sun, just as planets in the
solar system orbit around the sun.19 The one-child policy has facilitated a nuclear
family culture, in which the only children are placed at the center of family
life. Another popular nickname for these children is therefore “little emperors”.20
While research has not been able to confirm the negative characteristics of sin-
gletons, growing up in a child-centered familial environment has nonetheless had
profound effects on today’s generation of young adults.21 Young professionals
are often perceived as holding more individualized values with regard to personal
happiness and self-achievement.22 Some researchers also point to only children
being disrespectful of authority and resistant to discipline.23 This may be related
to their increased generational power. Esther Goh’s research on the “intergen-
erational parenting coalition” has investigated the effect of multiple caregivers
(such as parents and maternal or paternal grandparents) on the generational power
dynamics. It has been observed that caregivers’ competition for loyalty and affec-
tion can boost the child’s relational power. This corresponds to the findings by
Zheng Tang24 and Fengshu Liu25 that the emotional value of children in China
has increased. Since there is only one child in each family to satisfy the emo-
tional needs of several caregivers, each puts a greater weight on interactions with
that child. In this child-centered environment, all caregivers automatically become
19 Goh, China’s One-Child Policy and Multiple Caregiving, 1.

20 Chao Yang, Television and Dating in Contemporary China (New York, NY: Springer Berlin
Heidelberg, 2017), 158.
21 Goh, China’s One-Child Policy and Multiple Caregiving, 131; Toni Falbo, “The One-Child
Family in the United States: Research Issues and Results,” Studies in Family Planning 13, no.
6/7 (June 1982): 212, https://doi.org/10.2307/1965450; C. C. Ching, “The One-Child Family
in China: The Need for Psychosocial Research,” Studies in Family Planning 13, no. 6/7 (June
1982): 208, https://doi.org/10.2307/1965449.
22 Yang, Television and Dating in Contemporary China, 158.
23 F Festini, “Twenty Five Years of the One Child Family Policy in China,” Journal of Epi-
demiology & Community Health 58, no. 5 (May 1, 2004): 358, https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.
2003.017335.
24 Zheng Tang, “China,” in The Value of Children in Cross-Cultural Perspective Case Studies
from Eight Societies, ed. Gisela Trommsdorff (Lengerich: Lengerich Verlag, 2005).
25 Fengshu Liu, “The Rise of the ‘Priceless’ Child in China,” Comparative Education Review,
2016, 26.
invested in the child’s success and well-being. This frequently leads to a concen-
tration of resources on the singleton as well as more democratic intergenerational
family practice, in which parents are often willing to adopt a more equal position
instead of the dominant role of traditional hierarchical families.26 This becomes
evident when compared to families with multiple children. In families with only
one child discussions are increasingly open. Decision-making in particular has
become more consensual.27
As pointed out by Liu28 :
This change has sometimes taken an extreme form, with parents of only-children
abandoning the authoritarian parenting style with which they themselves grew up and
adopting a highly permissive and even pampering attitude towards their only-children.
Parents tend to view their children as equals or friends and encourage a more
interactive relationship.29 Research also shows that urban children are highly
influential in the selection of family products and services, including food, vaca-
tions, clothing, and restaurants.30 An increase in educational spending was also
observed in this generation. Zhang pointed out that it was not uncommon for
families to spend as much as one third of family income on their childrens’ edu-
cation.31 In fact, the expenses related to the child’s education represented the
single largest proportion of household spending for the average family in 2009.
26 Yang, Television and Dating in Contemporary China, 138–39.

27 Peter Bodycott, “Choosing a Higher Education Study Abroad Destination: What Main-
land Chinese Parents and Students Rate as Important,” Journal of Research in International
Education 8, no. 3 (December 2009): 368, https://doi.org/10.1177/1475240909345818.
28 Fengshu Liu, Urban Youth in China: Modernity, the Internet and the Self , Routledge
Research in Information Technology and Society 10 (New York: Routledge, 2011), 60.
29 Hongyan Sun, “The Current Status of Chinese Children,” Journal of Family and Economic
Issues 24, no. 4 (2003): 337–53; Anqi Xu, John D. DeFrain, and Wenrong Liu, eds., The
Chinese Family Today, 1 Edition, Routledge Contemporary China Series 158 (London; New
York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2017).
30 Laura A. Flurry and Ann Veeck, “Children’s Relative Influence in Family Decision Mak-
ing in Urban China,” Journal of Macromarketing 29, no. 2 (June 2009): 145–59, https://
doi.org/10.1177/0276146708327635; James U. McNeal and Chyon-Hwa Yeh, “Consumer
Behavior of Chinese Children: 1995-2002,” Journal of Consumer Marketing 20, no. 6
(November 2003): 542–54, https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760310499129; Guan Ying, “Con-
sumption Patterns of Chinese Children,” Journal of Family and Economic Issues 24, no. 4
(2003): 373–79, https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1027385427303.
31 Vivienne Jing Zhang, “Higher Education Choices and Decision-Making: A Narrative
Study of Lived Experiences of Chinese International Students and Their Parents” (Auckland,
Auckland University of Technology, 2013).
Tsui and Rich ascribe the increased level of educational spending to the lack of a
developed welfare system.32 Parents’ financial security in old age depends on the
earning potential of their children, which is associated with a solid educational
foundation in most parents’ worldview.33
A heightened demand for quality education in this generation is also connected
to the parents’ lifetime experience, which has shaped their attitudes towards
higher learning. Parents of the singleton generation were mostly born in the
1950 s or 1960 s. Most of them lived through the Great Leap Forward (1958–60)
and the Cultural Revolution (1966–76). They grew up during a volatile and harsh
political period.34 Due to the closure of many educational institutions during the
Cultural Revolution, many parents could not attend university themselves; or even
if they were able to take the university entrance exams later in life, having not
studied for so long made them lose the chance to go to university, let alone to
study abroad.35 Parents who couldn’t attend university in their youth might place
special importance on the higher education of their offspring. The desire to make
up for lost opportunities and the promises of upward mobility may lead families
to push their children even further towards higher learning. Meanwhile, those par-
ents, who did go to university after the Cultural Revolution, have a higher social
status than those who did not attend. These parents still maintain high standards
for their children, so as not to endanger the high social status they have built for
themselves.36
5.1.3 Gender
The importance of producing offspring, especially sons, was an inherited part

of the Confucian ethic and thus deeply rooted in the Chinese way of life. Only
32 Ming Tsui and Lynne Rich, “The Only Child and Educational Opportunity for Girls in
Urban China,” Gender & Society 16, no. 1 (February 2002): 75–86, https://doi.org/10.1177/
0891243202016001005.
33 Festini, “Twenty Five Years of the One Child Family Policy in China,” 358.
34 Zhang, “Higher Education Choices and Decision-Making: A Narrative Study of Lived
Experiences of Chinese International Students and Their Parents.”

35 Yang, The Pursuit of the Chinese Dream in America: Chinese Undegraduate Students at

36 Shaohua Wang, “Chinese Students Studying Abroad: The Role of Parents’ Investment in
Their Children’s Education,” in China’s Higher Education Reform and Internationalisation,

ed. Janette Ryan (New York: Routledge, 2011), 5525.
a son could carry the ancestral line of the family, making it the filial obliga-
tion of each generation to produce ancestral heirs. Failure in this regard brought
social ostracism, humiliation, and rejection. Additionally, sons were an economic
resource. They provided labor power from an early age through their adult years
and were bound by tradition to support their parents in old age. Although daugh-
ters contributed to the household during their younger years, they were considered
part of the groom’s family after marriage. From the point of view of their families,
they left and took their earning potential with them after marriage. Sons were not
only more valuable contributors to the family during their youth, they remained
at home and brought another person into the family when they married.37 These
factors form the foundation for a long-standing preference for male offspring
and intra-family discrimination against daughters. The perceived temporariness
of their presence in the natal family before they married made it seem unneces-
sary to invest in their development. Many families concentrated their resources
on sons who later became the family patriarchs and provided for parents, sib-
lings, children, and other relatives.38 During the Mao era, this preference was
reinforced through the unequal system of labor points. Each family member was
assigned points, for example, ten for an adult male and seven for an adult female,
on the basis of which food was distributed. Accordingly, if a family had many
sons, they would receive more food than if they had many daughters.39 As a con-
sequence of the ingrained, perceived inferiority of females, the one-child policy
led to numerous abortions of female fetuses and infanticide. This was especially
prevalent in rural areas, where traditional thinking was strong and labor power
in high demand. Surveys indicated that parents of single daughters were more
reluctant to support the policy and constituted a majority of the couples defying
the policy and proceeding with unplanned births.40 Even though the government
loosened the policy in the countryside for these reasons, the sex ratio remains
alarmingly unbalanced in China today, with 117 newborn boys for every 100
newborn girls.41 One surprising, unintended consequence of the one-child policy
37 White, China’s Longest Campaign, 77.

38 Thomas Harnisch, Chinesische Studenten in Deutschland: Geschichte Und Wirkung
Ihrer Studienaufenthalte in Den Jahren von 1860 Bis 1945, Mitteilungen Des Instituts Für
Asienkunde Hamburg, Nr. 300 (Hamburg: Institut für Asienkunde, 1999).
39 White, China’s Longest Campaign.
40 Elisabeth Croll, Changing Identities of Chinese Women: Rhetoric, Experience, and Self-
Perception in Twentieth-Century China (Hong Kong: London; Atlantic Highlands, N.J: Hong
Kong University Press; Zed Books, 1995), 112.
41 Festini, “Twenty Five Years of the One Child Family Policy in China,” 358.
is a leveling out of different expectations for boys or girls in urban areas. Par-
ents now place similar expectations on girls in regard to educational attainment.42
Urban, middle-class girls have thus been described as the unexpected beneficiaries
of the policy. A study by the educationalist Liu Fengshu of Oslo University dis-
covered that contrary to the intra-family discrimination against girls widespread
among previous generations and still common among contemporary rural families
with more than one child, there were no gender differences related to education
between single-girl and single-boy families in modern urban China. Her study
showed equally high educational aspirations and similar academic performances
for both genders.43 According to Taiwanese researcher Lee, children in one-child
households enjoyed improved opportunities for education in general, with the
improvement for girls being larger than those for boys.44 There was no differ-
ence in years of schooling between only-child boys and only-child girls, whereas
the gap between boys and girls in multiple-child households remained significant.
Nonetheless, gender-based expectations persist in other areas. These include the
belief that it is important for girls to be feminine/beautiful, boys masculine, and
that boys are naturally more intelligent than girls. Liu argues that such stereo-
types can have detrimental effects on achievement, identity, and career options for
both boys and girls. Nonetheless, the promotion of gender equality is a notable
unintended consequence of the one-child policy with remarkable repercussions
for girls’ educational opportunities.45 Women have entered higher education in
greater numbers46 , which is also visible in my sample for this study. Female
students were often painfully aware of the fact that they would not have had the
chance to study abroad if they had siblings. Many profited from the concentration
of resources that allowed their parents to finance their studies abroad. The next
section will take a closer look at the family decision-making process surrounding
overseas education in regard to the social trends described in this section.

tralia,” 25–35.
43 Fengshu Liu, “Boys as Only-children and Girls as Only-children—Parental Gendered
Expectations of the Only-child in the Nuclear Chinese Family in Present-day China,” Gen-
der and Education 18, no. 5 (September 2006): 491–505, https://doi.org/10.1080/095402506
00881626.
44 Ming-Hsuan Lee, “The One-Child Policy and Gender Equality in Education in China: Evi-
dence from Household Data,” Journal of Family and Economic Issues 33, no. 1 (March 2012):
41–52, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-011-9277-9.
45 Liu, “Boys as Only-children and Girls as Only-children—Parental Gendered Expectations
of the Only-child in the Nuclear Chinese Family in Present-day China.”

46 Croll, Changing Identities of Chinese Women, 133.
5.2 Autonomy and Decision-making in the Family 95
5.2 Autonomy and Decision-making in the Family
There were several pathways to American college life for the participants of my
study. Several students went abroad at a young age for middle school or high
school. The idea behind this early move was that it would be easier to enter
a prestigious institution for tertiary education after having familiarized them-
selves with the American educational system. This group has been referred to
as “parachute children.”47 While some students moved with their families, for
instance, due to a parent’s job change, others came alone and attended boarding
schools or stayed with host families. Some students also migrated within China
for educational reasons e.g., to access better quality schools in a bigger city.
However, these early migrants were a minority. The majority of students came to
attend a four-year college in the United States or transferred into a four-year col-
lege after finishing their sophomore year within their Chinese universities. As my
sample also included Master’s and Ph.D. candidates, the decision-making process
is not quite comparable. For older students, career advancement connected to a
prestigious foreign graduate degree was named as the most important motiva-
tor. For younger students, the question arises of how involved they were in the
decision-making process and to what extent such decisions were made for them
by their parents. It is remarkable, thus, that most younger participants constructed
themselves as the active part of this process. They emphasized their agency and
individual aspirations while portraying their parents or family members as pas-
sive or persuadable. Some mentioned family discussions with mostly emotional
arguments from the side of the parents, such as the desire to have their children
close by and fear for their safety. Financial aspects of deciding to pursue overseas
studies were rarely mentioned as a hindrance for studying abroad, possibly either
influenced by cultural taboos surrounding this topic or due to such considerations
being reserved for adults and not shared with their offspring. Only two students
explicitly mentioned the financial implications for their families. Reflecting on
being an only-child and having her whole family’s resources available to invest
in her education, Liang Yue Wang Zi, a junior majoring in psychology, (153/1–3)
said:
If I have siblings, maybe I couldn’t study abroad because it’s really expensive. If you
need to support two children, and it’s maybe hard for my family, but for me, only
child, you just want to study abroad, you just go. Just go.
47 Siqi Tu, “Destination Diploma: How Chinese Upper-Middle-Class Families ‘Outsource’

Secondary Education to the United States” (Ph.D. Dissertation, New York, City University
of New York, 2020), https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/4022/.
This alludes to the descriptions by Liu48 and Yang49 about the willingness of
families to invest in their single children’s education as well as the leveling out
of gender-based expectations with more value placed on the daughter’s educa-
tion than previously. Ma also pointed out that most students are keenly aware of
the costs and sacrifices their parents have made in sending them to the United
States, which made them feel they owe a great fiscal and emotional debt to their
parents.50 The majority of narratives, however, omitted such aspects and focused
on the students’ own decision-making, planning, and preparation for their stay
abroad instead. The portrayal of the senior family members as passive towards
or quickly accepting of this decision runs counter to the widespread image of
the strong hierarchical structure of Chinese families. It is more in line with
the democratization of family relations as mentioned in the previous section.51
Nonetheless, it is plausible that seeking overseas education is very much in line
with the parents’ values or expectations for their child or, at the least, a not
completely foreign idea for them. There is a common perception among middle-
class and elite families that overseas education provides high-quality learning and
improved career opportunities after graduation52 (see also 6.2). Interestingly, the
interviews conducted with parents downplayed the role of their sons and daugh-
ters in the decision-making process. However, only four interviews with parents
are not sufficient for analyzing their viewpoints and place such aspects out of the
range of this research project.
The following chapter will look into different narratives of decision-making
within the family. I focus on the younger cohort of students for several reasons.
Going abroad at age 14 is a different experience from going abroad at age 25 for
a Ph.D. For younger students, it can be assumed that the parents’ involvement
and financial contributions are larger. This is also due to the greater availability
of scholarships for graduate students, which are rare in the undergraduate or high
school context.
American Universities.
49 Liu, “Boys as Only-children and Girls as Only-children—Parental Gendered Expectations
of the Only-child in the Nuclear Chinese Family in Present-day China.”

in American Higher Education (New York: Columbia University Press, 2020), 18110.
51 Xu, DeFrain, and Liu, The Chinese Family Today; Liu, Urban Youth in China.
American Universities; Bodycott, “Choosing a Higher Education Study Abroad Destination”;

Ma, Ambitious and Anxious.
5.2.1 “It was my Idea—then I Convinced my Parents.”
The following quote by Lynette, an undergraduate student at UC Berkeley, can be

seen as an exemplary description of the decision-making process many students
experienced. She mentioned a conversation with her parents and stated:
They will ask me the reasons why I want to study abroad and I just told them the
reasons and they said: ok, let’s go. (57/7–10)
It can be assumed that Lynette had already done some research or reflection on
the benefits of studying abroad before initiating the talk with her parents. In her
narrative, her desire to study abroad provided the first impetus for her educational
sojourn. She then convinced her parents, presumably using logic and reasoning: “I
just told them the reasons.” Apparently, her arguments were convincing enough.
She described her parents as agreeing with her almost instantly. This seems like
a remarkably simple settlement within the family, considering the high cost, risk,
and emotional excitement of studying abroad. This deceptively straightforward
decision-making process could also be due to the overarching narrative of over-
seas degrees being beneficial for career advancement, of higher quality and more
accessible than domestic education. It is possible that the parents had contem-
plated this option before Lynette brought it up. Some other students, Xuanya for
instance, had mentioned that although they initiated the conversation about study-
ing abroad, it was an idea that their parents had considered since her childhood.
If this isn’t the case, it could also point to the increasing relational power of the
only child, as researched by Goh.53 Similarly, Shi (102/35–39) described herself
as being able to tip the scales in the family–decision-making process:
Maybe my mother is not approved for me to study abroad, but my father is strongly
agree, so they have different ideas. I don’t know who will win. But I think it will
depend on me, maybe I strongly want to go abroad so my father will win, but if I
want to study in China, maybe my mother will win.
In her narrative, she appeared as an influential family member who will cast
the final, crucial vote in an apparently democratic transaction. This presents a
departure from traditional Confucian ideals of the father as the patriarch with the
wife and offspring in obedience to his wishes. It also indicates the single child
as a strong agent within the family.
53 Goh, China’s One-Child Policy and Multiple Caregiving.

5.2.2 “What can my father do? He can only pay for me”
The following quote by Hailu (64/18–21) is another example for a singleton who
perceived herself as the crucial player in the decision-making process:
My father persuaded me to stay, that perhaps you shouldn’t go abroad, perhaps it will
influence your scores at the hometown university, but I insisted, so he just agreed.
Hailu was one of the students who had entered university in her home province
of Guangdong before transferring to the United States. Even though she labeled
her previous university as one of the best institutions in her province, she was
strongly motivated to study abroad for a number of educational and personal
reasons. In her narrative, she is the dominant decision-maker, seemingly holding
a powerful position in the relationship. According to her: “but I insisted” was
enough to make her father accept her decision. In a traditional family hierar-
chy, one would assume the father to be in the position of dominance, controlling
financial assets and family planning. This quote, however, shows that the father
in reality could not persuade his daughter to do as he wanted. He thought that
studying domestically was the better option, but she disagreed. This presents an
unusual family dynamic and points to the gain in intergenerational power of the
only-child. Chinese researchers like Lau have long since argued that Chinese
adolescents are similar to those of Western countries in that they value personal
freedom and do not like submitting to parental domination.54 Nonetheless, this
portrayal of the father figure as capitulating to a strong-willed daughter is a char-
acteristic repeating narrative in my sample. Yiwei, a junior from Xian majoring
in business (3/42–44) paints an even more vivid picture of her father as a kind
of passive, financial enabler:
He was convinced by me and my mom @.@ He had no choice, because I wanted to

come. There was no way he could turn me around. He can only pay for me.
Even though she mentioned gratitude for her father’s continuous and reliable
support later in the interview, she still made it quite clear that he was not the
one pulling the strings when it came to her decision to study abroad. With her
mother on her side and apparently in full support of her daughter’s wishes, her
54 Sing Lau et al., “Chinese and American Adolescents’ Perceptions of the Purposes of Edu-
cation and the Beliefs about the World of Work,” Social Behavior and Personality: An
International Journal 28, no. 1 (January 1, 2000): 74–75, https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2000.
28.1.73.
father had no other option than to provide the financial means necessary for his
daughter’s plans. Yiwei presents herself as a strong force within her family, full
of determination and ambition. Her father comes across as docile, even disen-
franchised, far from the image of an invincible and decisive patriarch. Instead,
in this scenario he is submitting to his daughter and wife, even though he might
not be in full agreement that studying abroad is the best course of action. This
is surprising, as he does seem to be the main breadwinner in the family with
the most financial resources available. Again, it could be possible that he was
not strongly opposed to the idea of studying abroad, which is a highly sought-
after, prestigious, and promising pathway for many young Chinese. The question
could be posed if he would still be as permissive if his daughter tried to gain
his financial backing for (in his eyes) stigmatized, dangerous, unconventional, or
otherwise problematic future plans. Yiwei’s family dynamic seems nonetheless to
be typical of the parental role division in many Chinese households in the sense
that “Mother is still the main caretaker, while father is more often the financial
supporter”55 . While mothers maintain close emotional ties with their children and
shoulder the majority of childcare duties, fathers’ involvement has increased in
occasionally providing encouragement, affection, and input on future plans. The
following description by Roberto, a freshman from a wealthy family, shows the
extreme form of the father as a financial enabler who is omitted from the educa-
tional decision-making in the family, and the strong-willed only child. Even the
mother is reduced to a mere facilitator. In Roberto’s own words (80/17–30):
My mom was encouraging. So when I was three probably, when my mom doesn’t
really… Like she’s not like the majority of the population. She just let me do my thing,
since I formed my thinking pretty early on. So I can make all the decisions in my life
by myself. So I had a chance to go through another primary school. Like I have to
choose between A and B and I would want to go to A, but if I got to B, it’s going
to be free. And if I don’t do anything like I can just go to B and my mom won’t pay
anything. But I went to visit both. I found out that I like A much more than B. So my
mom has to pay some tuition. So I tell my mom. I told my mom, when I was like when
I was six or five. I was like: Mom I want to go to A school, not to B school. And she
was like OK. So my mom basically just respect my decision. She wants me to make
all the decisions in my life. Rather than you know, like she can chose over me.
Roberto presents himself as independent and resolute. He is able to juggle life’s

choices self-sufficiently and seems confident in his abilities to plan his future.
His mother was apparently fine with going along with whatever he decided. She
even encouraged him to handle such decisions by himself. His father, meanwhile,
55 Xu, DeFrain, and Liu, The Chinese Family Today, 104.

doesn’t appear in the narrative at all. Upon further inquiry, Roberto explained his
father’s absence in the following terms (75/14–18): “He travels a lot. So you know
like work trip, like a business trip across China. So I don’t see him that often
but I do get time to see him. And, yeah, like he respect my decision as well.”
His father does not live with his mother and him in Beijing and thus supposedly
plays a negligible role in his son’s life. His role is rather like his mother’s: he
can only roll with the punches and accept the course of action desired by his
son. The financial consequences of Roberto’s choice of school seem to matter
little to his parents. It could be assumed that the family is able to easily afford
the more expensive tuition and must be middle or upper-middle class. Still, this
anti-authoritarian style of parenting can be considered highly unusual, especially
in regard to Roberto’s age of only five or six years old in this story. It would be
interesting to contrast the mother’s or father’s narrative with Roberto’s, which was
unfortunately not possible for this study. Whether his parents deliberately created
the impression of letting him choose freely or whether they indeed did leave the
decision to him, as he remembers it, is not within the scope of this study. It seems
unlikely that Roberto’s parents would really leave the decision entirely up to a
five-year-old child. Given the description of the more expensive and probably
better-equipped school, presumably a private school, it may have been the more
desirable option than the gratuitous (public) school. Nonetheless, Roberto draws
a strong sense of agency, empowerment, and self-efficacy from this interaction.
He sees himself as a decisive force with the ability to shape his life according
to his preferences. He also gives himself full credit for the decision to go to
university in the United States. According to Roberto, he started pursuing this
goal at age eleven after participating in student exchange programs in Australia
and Singapore. These sojourns abroad revealed a more hands-on learning and
teaching approach which he immediately took a liking to and which led him to
set his sights on education in the United States.
5.2.3 “I’m kind of Independent, maybe you can tell”
Mandy went even further than Hailu and Lynette in taking control of her life.
Similar to Roberto, she had already made a decision and set things in motion
before consulting her parents. She explains:
So I’m kind of independent, maybe you can tell. So I just nailed everything from the
sending the, like signing up for this program to interviews, I nailed everything. And I
got my invitation letter and then I tell my parents. And I want to do so. Yeah. Because
I still need the finance support. I can’t afford everything by myself. If I can, maybe I
will do so, no, just kidding. (131/27–32)
Indeed, her descriptions raise the question of whether she would have taken her
parents’ opinion into account if it weren’t for the financial support she needed
from them. She even expressly stated: “If I can, maybe I will do so”, however,
quickly relativizing this with a “no, just kidding”. After having been asked to
elaborate her motivations for choosing to continue her education abroad, her drive
and conviction became evident (131/34–44):
I think it’s a good idea. And it’s the most important for me. I just, I have to do so. For
my future plans. If I have the chance to study abroad for a while and I can tell whether
I suit this kind of study. And I know where to go. That is Berkeley my place to go,
is the doctors or professors nice, is the weather and the food nice here and yeah, my
parents don’t agree but if I have the deposit; if I have enough deposit, so who cares?
Maybe they don’t agree, but they can’t stop me. They have reasons, and I can under-
stand them, but they can’t stop me. I don’t depend on them. So that’s the freedom. And
I can do everything else by myself. Actually, I booked my own ticket, accommodation,
and everything, basically I did them all by myself.
While it appears at first that studying abroad takes on a central role in her life
planning, as she repeatedly emphasized: “It’s the most important for me” and
“I just have to do so”, she also leaves some room for adjustment in case she
didn’t like this mode of study or didn’t fit into the environment. The core of
her statement is revealing of her strong-willed nature as well as her relationship
with her parents: “Maybe they don’t agree, but they can’t stop me.” Her desire
for autonomy could be connected to some trauma she experienced during her
parents’ divorce, which she described as a depressing and difficult time. After
the separation, she longed for financial independence and learned how to manage
the allowance her parents gave her. She took up a part-time job during her high
school days, which is quite unusual in the Chinese context. Students of that age
are normally focused on their performance in the all-deciding university entrance
examination. Her part-time job boosted her confidence and appreciation of self-
reliance, as she recounted in the following (130/15–20):
I can live on my own, I can be myself, and I’m not like depending on my parents any-
more. I can like against their opinions and don’t follow their decisions to some extent
because I have the ability and the money to do so. That’s something important for me
that time.
Contrasting Mandy’s experience with that of an average European or Ameri-

can teenager, several differences are worth mentioning. Firstly, part-time work
during high school is much more prevalent in Western societies such as the
United States, where around one-third of teenagers are employed while being
full-time students56 and where up to 80 % have work experience at the time
of graduation57 . In Shanghai, where Mandy grew up, as well as in other urban
areas in China, part-time work is rare for teenagers as their lives are much more
education-centered with studying eclipsing all other activities during secondary
school including sports or other hobbies and housework. Taking up part-time
work is not a common choice for urban youth, indeed it is quite unconventional58 .
Secondly, in the West, youth is much more closely related to deviance and rebel-
liousness, as well as impulsiveness, resistance, and inexperience. In contrast, the
Chinese term carries much more positive connotations. ‘Youth’ or ‘qing nian 青
年’ is associated with hope, courage, and dynamism.59 Cross-cultural psychol-
ogists Ying, Lee, and Tsai have connected these different associations with the
differences of growing up in individualistic versus collectivistic societies.
They claim the following:
During adolescence, American youth are engaged with the task of forging a sepa-
rate identity that necessitates psychological individuation from their parents. While
the intergenerational relationship remains a source of support during this process, the
adolescent’s need to assert a distinct sense of self leads to a rise in intergenerational
conflict.60
56 Drew Desilver, “In the U.S., Teen Summer Jobs Aren’t What They Used to Be,” Pew
Research Center Publications (blog), June 27, 2019, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/
2019/06/27/teen-summer-jobs-in-us/. Accessed 1.5.2021.
57 Catherine A. Loughlin and Julian Barling, “Teenagers’ Part-Time Employment and Their
Work-Related Attitudes and Aspirations,” Journal of Organizational Behavior 19, no. 2

(March 1998): 197–207, https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1379(199803)19:2<197::AID-
JOB832>3.0.CO;2-N.
58 Fengshu Liu, Modernization as Lived Experiences: Three Generations of Young Men and
Women in China, First Edition, Youth, Young Adulthood and Society (New York: Routledge,
2019), 99.
59 Liu, Urban Youth in China, 5.
60 Yu-Wen Ying, Peter Allen Lee, and Jeanne L. Tsai, “Attachment, Sense of Coherence, and
Mental Health among Chinese American College Students: Variation by Migration Status,”
International Journal of Intercultural Relations 31, no. 5 (September 2007): 533–34, https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2007.01.001.
In contrast, they allege that Chinese culture is more familial in the sense that
young people’s close ties with their parents remain untouched throughout their
lives and thus doesn’t necessitate strong individuation from them. In consequence,
this would mean that teenage rebellion is less common in collectivistic societies
such as China and that teenagers’ desires are closely aligned with familial expec-
tations. Previous research indicates that young Chinese adults remain close to
their parents.61 Possibly this tight-knit relationship may impact post-college deci-
sions such as deciding which country to work in or for how long they live far
away from their families.62 Mandy’s experience can thus be considered unusual
in the Chinese context. However, her quest for independence from her parents has
given her confidence and self-reliance, two characteristics that have facilitated the
acculturation to her new environment.
5.2.4 “I just want to stay in my Safety Zone”
Of course, not all participants expressed individualistic tendencies of this kind.

For some, the option of studying abroad was a weighty and life-changing deci-
sion. For Zizhuo, for instance, letting her father plan and control her life was
the norm before the opportunity to go abroad arose. She described her relation-
ship with her father as well as his role in her life in the following paragraph
(70/18–24):
He made decisions for me. I’m the kind of person that I’m willing to learn everything.
I didn’t care the decisions he made for me, it’s all fine for me, I’m wiling to do every-
thing, so I didn’t care about it. But when I decided to study further in the American,
that is my first time to make my own choices. And it’s like more the information I
offered for my parents, I tell them things about my thoughts and my plans. But in the
past times just most of the them, they planned for me and they made decisions for me.
In the past, she was mostly indifferent towards or accepting of the arrangements
made for her by her father. Her statement: “I’m the kind of person that I’m willing
to learn everything.” is revealing of her adolescence in a very education-centered
environment. From this remark, it can be assumed that as long as she was eager
61 Bin-Bin Chen et al., “The Relationships between Family, School and Community Support
and Boundaries and Student Engagement among Chinese Adolescents,” Current Psychology
38, no. 3 (June 2019): 705–14, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-017-9646-0.
62 Xiaokang Tang, Daniel Collier, and Allison Witt, “Qualitative Study on Chinese Students’
Perception of U.S. University Life,” Journal of International Students 8, no. 1 (January 1,

2018): 152–53, https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v8i1.158.
to apply herself academically, there would be no conflict with her parents. “Learn
everything” could be construed as the shared goal that all the family members
found worthwhile. “Learn everything” could also mean that Zizhuo didn’t take
issue with her father determining her major or institution of tertiary study, as she
didn’t have any strong personal preferences. Her first experience of becoming
an effective agent was when she expressed her wish to go abroad to continue
her education. This marks a departure from her previously passive role of letting
her father make decisions for her. Being involved in contemplation, preparation,
and planning was a fresh experience for her. She then went on to deliberate the
next steps together with her parents. In this way, the roles were reversed. While
in previous situations, her parents had been the active decision-makers, she was
now the one proposing ideas and pushing her agenda. What she is describing here
sounds like a harmonious and communal process. This is in contrast to Zhaohui’s
family, where the daughter remained in her passive role. Her immediate answer
on the background and reason for her study abroad was: “My parents wanted me
to come abroad, so that’s why I came here.” She made it clear, that it was not
her first choice when she elaborated (31/22–28):
At first, I not really want to go outside; I just want to stay in my place. For my ele-
mentary school and junior and high school are all in the same part, we are separated
in districts, so I even never go out of the same district of the same city! Just stay in
this little space a lot; I’m not that social, I feel like, I’m not that want to go outside, I
want to stay in my safety zone.
For someone who has had limited exposure to different environments—not being
in the habit of even leaving her native district—moving to another country is
understandably a big step. She portrayed herself as “not that social” and want-
ing to “stay in my safety zone.” Consequently, her parents’ decision to send her
abroad was not something she particularly welcomed. At the time of the inter-
view, however, she was about to graduate and seemed to have adapted well to
life in the United States.
5.2.5 Discussion
Apart from a few exceptions, such as Zhaohui, students portrayed themselves as

active agents of their destinies in Gidden’s sense.63 Their narratives constructed
63Anthony Giddens, Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age
(Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1991).
an autonomous and self-determined agent who deliberately chose to pursue edu-

cation abroad. This course of action was initially not supported in some cases, but
the youth managed to persuade their senior family members eventually, regardless
of the high financial investment connected to the educational sojourn. By relating
this decision to their previous negative impressions of the Chinese education sys-
tem, the students created a biographical narrative in which they navigated their
life paths through strategic planning. They were goal-oriented in their pursuit
of what they viewed as a more desirable educational option, in this case, the
American university, which was associated with prestige and a holistic learning
environment. This portrayal of the active, reflexive self contributes to the stu-
dents’ sense of coherence in Antonovsky’s64 understanding as well as underlines
the striving for the authentic self as described by Giddens.65 However, there are
still a number of unmentioned factors at play. The students may have glossed over
some more challenging consequences of their decision to study abroad, which
are nonetheless worth going into here. These aspects were often not mentioned
explicitly but still clearly played a significant role in the students’ general situ-
ation. The following section introduces the most significant challenges faced by
the students in their study abroad journey. These difficulties often had a critical
impact on students’ mental health, as well as their familial ties. Especially those
students who started their educational sojourn at a young age were faced with
the challenges of having to navigate a new environment and intense pressure to
perform academically without parental support. Even though all of the students
in my sample persevered in the sense that they all graduated from high school
and were university students at the time of the interview, most recounted difficult
and sometimes even traumatic experiences. Some students were placed with low-
income families who could not sufficiently provide meals for them or misused
exchange students as free labor in rural areas. In one case, a student witnessed
domestic violence and drug abuse in his host family. His decision not to confide in
his parents or seek their advice on how best to handle the situation could be seen
as an indication of fissures in the relationship. According to him, he was trying to
shield his parents from worries about him. Instead, he chose to request a different
host family from his exchange organization, leading to a marginal bettering of the
situation and eventually moving in with a friend who was in the same exchange
program. Tang, Collier, and Witt attribute such behavior to guilt about parental
64 Anton Antonovsky and S. Sagy, “The Development of a Sense of Coherence and Its Impact
on Responses to Stress Situations.,” Journal of Social Psychology 126, no. 1 (1986): 213–25.
(Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1991).

sacrifices—in this student’s case probably also related to the large financial invest-
ment of studying abroad—and the need to fulfill obligations towards family as a
significant value in Chinese families as a possible explanation for such behavior.66
Parental expectations have been found to be the primary driver and stressor for
Chinese international students, particularly regarding the pressure to perform well
academically.67 While overseas education is considered an important and worthy
investment, students are still keenly aware of the financial sacrifices it entails for
their parents and may feel pressured to excel academically so that their parents’
money is not seen as wasted.68 This sentiment of emotional debt was commonly
found among international students, not just from China.69 At the same time,
pressure may also generate from social and cultural norms where the family is
honored through academic achievement.70 As a consequence of this increased
pressure, the students’ mental health suffered. Research has attributed heightened
depression, anxiety, and stress to greater acculturative stress for international stu-
dents from Asia who have to bridge a bigger cultural distance than their European
counterparts and furthermore face possible racist (micro)aggressions.71 Increased
stress among freshmen was also associated with the difficulties of adapting to
college life, homesickness, and loneliness.72 Additionally to these well-known
and well-researched factors impacting students’ mental health, the participants of
my study recounted losing a sense of purpose during their freshman year. During
arduous study in high school and the high-stakes college application process, get-
ting into the university of their choice was their sole goal for many years. When
they finally achieved this goal i.e., entered university, many students lost their
focus and motivation. In Yiwei’s words (2/47–49):
66 Tang, Collier, and Witt, “Qualitative Study on Chinese Students’ Perception of U.S. Uni-
versity Life,” 152–53.
67 Kun Yan and David C. Berliner, “Chinese International Students’ Personal and Socio-
cultural Stressors in the United States,” Journal of College Student Development 54, no. 1
(2013): 62–84, https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2013.0010.
68 Yan and Berliner.
69 Ma, Ambitious and Anxious, 18110.
70 Tang, Collier, and Witt, “Qualitative Study on Chinese Students’ Perception of U.S. Uni-
versity Life.”
71 Virginia M. Tong, “Understanding the Acculturation Experience of Chinese Adolescent
Students: Sociocultural Adaptation Strategies and a Positive Bicultural and Bilingual Iden-
tity,” Bilingual Research Journal 37, no. 1 (January 2, 2014): 83–100, https://doi.org/10.
1080/15235882.2014.893462.
72 Huan Chen, Usenime Akpanudo, and Erin Hasler, “How Do Chinese International Stu-
dents View Seeking Mental Health Services?,” Journal of International Students 10, no. 2
(May 15, 2020): 286–305, https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v10i2.765.
After I got into Berkeley, I feel like, I started complaining about myself, about the
decision to come to America in high school, because I felt like if I stayed in China,
I could also get into Berkeley, and I didn’t know what the four years of sacrifice was
for.
After all that hard work, separation from family and friends, and the challenges
of adapting to a new environment, was all of that really worth it? And what
awaited Yiwei at UC Berkeley were four more years of studying and homework.
It seems understandable that she started questioning her choices. In Yiwei’s case,
a severe depression developed from these doubts, led her to take a gap year and
focus on therapy and self-care during her sophomore year. Her experience was
far from unique. Many students recounted seeking counseling, psychotherapy,
or medication, as well as advice from self-help books. The openness of talking
about these issues and the willingness of students to get help runs counter to
research indicating conservative attitudes towards professional mental health ser-
vices among Chinese international students.73 The students also suffered from
isolation and loneliness both in regard to peers and family. The competitive
atmosphere compelled many students not to confide in their classmates.
As one student who was a junior at the time of the interview recounted (8/5–9):
Sometimes you don’t talk about it, because it becomes so deep and personal and you
have to have the right setting, like sometimes you don’t talk about it. You don’t talk
about it in a random way with your friends, it has a lot of emotions and a lot of you
know, you don’t talk about it easily and its too long, like really long story in order to
explain it well you have to say so much.
Another student, a psychology major at UC Berkeley, mentioned:
I don’t think they will think about me because they have their own life. Yeah. Every-
one has their own life to live.
The time difference, general busyness, and the already mentioned academic pres-
sure from parents increased the disconnect between students and their families.
Both students and parents prioritized academic performance to a great degree,
sometimes going so far as to avoid emotional topics altogether because they
were considered to be harmful for concentration and thus could negatively impact
grades. Students repeatedly recounted that their parents would omit telling them
about recent family events that could be seen as distracting, such as the death or
73 Chen, Akpanudo, and Hasler.

prolonged illness of a family member. Communication and trust between fam-

ily members possibly suffered from the physical distance. Even though students
kept in touch with their families through social media, the quality of interper-
sonal contact obviously differed from physically being together. The practices
of transnational bonding were examined by sociologist Siqi Tu in her study of
parachute children. She described some parents going to great lengths to make
themselves available to their children at 3 a.m. and trying not to show annoyance
at the time difference.74 Others formed innovative connections with their chil-
dren, for instance, by continuously reading their credit card purchases to monitor
their child’s activities.75 While these practices may have provided emotional relief
and a feeling of intimacy for parents, most students still dealt with their various
struggles alone—whether deliberately not confiding in their parents so as not
to worry them or simply not having the chance due to organizational constraints
and academic pressures. The distance further exacerbated the feelings of distance,
making students feel that parents couldn’t do much to help them anyway, as one
student from the central Chinese metropolis of Xi an expressed (90/4–6):
Yeah, they can’t really help me to study, can’t really just solve my problems. Like they
can’t address my concerns. Yeah. So I mean like all those responsibilities lies on me.
While some students coped reasonably well and grew with these responsibilities,
others felt their unmet needs acutely, such as Bianca, a junior from Shanghai who
reflected (127/46–48):
I always have a broken heart because I have a serious problem in dealing with close
relationships.
She attributed her difficulty with intimacy to all the factors mentioned above: aca-
demic pressure, loneliness in the university environment, and a lack of emotional
support from her parents. Her way of dealing with these issues was surprisingly
mature: as a psychology major, she read and researched about various coping
options and tried to better herself through introspection and self-reflection. She
concluded (127/47–48):
I’m on my way. At first I think it’s because of my background, like family background.
And I tend to think it’s unchangeable. Then I read a lot of papers and books, and I
74 Tu, “Destination Diploma: How Chinese Upper-Middle-Class Families ‘Outsource’ Sec-

ondary Education to the United States,” 82.
75 Tu, 80.
5.3 Education and the Family in China 109
realize it’s not a permanent thing. It’s not a fixed thing. I can still change, I can put
my effort in and I can change my life. Life is all depends on you, on myself. So I think
it’s going to get better.
In conclusion, even though this group of young Chinese are faced with numer-
ous challenges, their lives are so intricately linked with education that even their
coping strategies involve some form of it. This practice is not only revealing
of Bianca’s personal style but also the education-centered environment she has
been raised in. Furthermore, it should be acknowledged that most students in my
sample were surprisingly mature and independent in dealing with the challenges
of living and studying abroad. Cultural taboos and heightened familial expecta-
tions may have hindered the students in sharing their struggles with their parents
in some cases. Their narrative of themselves as active agents and crucial play-
ers in their families possibly enabled them to take matters into their own hands.
Throughout my sample, the students portrayed themselves as powerful members
of their natal families, sometimes even the most powerful family member with the
ability to persuade others and implement their plans regardless of others’ oppo-
sition. However, it should also be pointed out that pursuing education abroad is
a highly desirable goal for most Chinese middle-class families with sufficient
means, and thus parents’ opposition may be short-lived in light of the socially
sanctioned nature of this wish. The following chapter will look into this topic in-
depth as a necessary background for understanding and interpreting the narratives
in regard to their educational experiences in their native context.
5.3 Education and the Family in China
As mentioned previously, economic development, the perceived lack of domestic

educational opportunities as well as the increased marketization of education have
made studying abroad more viable for Chinese families. This chapter will take a
closer look at the dissatisfaction with the educational system within the country
as well as the perceptions of “Western” education as push-factors for studying
abroad. Additionally, scholars have pointed out that many Chinese middle-class
families valorize education and equate it with upward mobility.76 This knowledge
will serve as a backdrop for the analysis of the narratives of exceptionalism in
the following section.
76Vanessa L. Fong, Only Hope: Coming of Age under China’s One-Child Policy (Stanford,
California: Stanford University Press, 2004); Yang, The Pursuit of the Chinese Dream in
America: Chinese Undergraduate Students at American Universities.
5.3.1 Cultural Model of Education

In China, education is widely seen as the only path to individual advancement and
ultimate success.77
Statements such as D. Yang’s should, in my opinion, be regarded with a critical

eye and not taken as an absolute judgment on a population of 1.3 billion people.
Individual, situational, and class-related influences should be factored in when-
ever possible, as well as geographical distinctions. Given the size of the People’s
Republic of China, it seems highly unlikely that the same standards of success
are held up in rural Qinghai province and ultra-modern megacities Shanghai or
Beijing. It is, however, possible to look at the current trend of studying abroad
and relate it to historically rooted beliefs about education. It is factual that the
Chinese only-child’s life is intimately related to education, particularly higher
education, which is widely perceived as crucial for the future well-being of the
only-child and his or her family. Tsui and Rich point to the Confucian tradition
of equating a person’s educational achievements with success in life as a reason
for this.78 Others connect it to the increasing belief in academic attainment to
get ahead in today’s China.79 One-Child policy expert and sociologist Vanessa
Fong calls this belief system “the cultural model of upward mobility through
academic achievement”.80 Similarly, Asian American sociologist Yingyi Ma81
speaks of the “educational gospel” and educationalist Fengshu Liu82 details the
increased importance placed on education for young people nowadays, which is
in stark contrast to the previous generations. Fong believes this cultural model
has its roots in the imperial civil service exam system (detailed in Section 4.1.).
Even though the Maoist government (1949–1976) tried to destroy this notion
by persecuting intellectuals and severely limiting the socioeconomic rewards of
academic achievement, the post-Mao governments revived this cultural model.83
78 Ming Tsui and Lynne Rich, “The Only Child and Educational Opportunity for Girls in
Urban China,” Gender & Society 16, no. 1 (February 2002): 74–92, https://doi.org/10.1177/
0891243202016001005.
79 Liu, “Constructing the Autonomous Middle-Class Self in Today’s China,” 208.
80 Fong, Only Hope; Fong, Paradise Redefined: Transnational Chinese Students and the Quest
for Flexible Citizenship in the Developed World.

82 Liu, Modernization as Lived Experiences.
83 Fong, Only Hope, 101.
Educational reform commenced with China’s move to a market-oriented social-

ist economy. In 1985, the central government began decentralizing and allowed
local governments and institutions more autonomy. In 1993, a “user-pay” system
for higher education and a new job assignment system were introduced. These
changes led to higher education being seen less as an elite privilege. Instead, it
was perceived as a purchasable commodity. University students are now charged
as consumers, in the sense that their fees make up about 30% of the budget of
public universities, much more for the ten percent of students in private uni-
versities. With the introduction of student fees and the freedom to choose their
occupations, the majority of university students have discarded the old teaching
that they should put “the needs of the country first” and now prefer to look after
their individual well-being first.84 The pre-revolutionary valorization of education
combined with the meritocratic ideologies of the capitalist world system and the
commodification of education produced a much more powerful and widespread
cultural model than previously. This model promised upward mobility for all
youth, regardless of their gender or background. Additional factors such as the
empowerment of women and the leveling out of socioeconomic differences have
further contributed to strengthening this model.85 Under these circumstances,
extrinsic factors tend to dominate individuals’ motivation to pursue higher edu-
cation, and the formula “university degree = good jobs = better income = social
prestige” appears to have provided common people with a clear understanding
as to why they need to invest in education.86 Education, qualifications, social
mobility, and the “good life” have become inter-related concepts. Subsequently,
higher education diplomas have become highly sought-after since the reform era.
A widespread belief in credentials for individuals to get ahead is common. As a
result, one can observe a phenomenon reminiscent of the “diploma disease” that
Dore87 spoke of and the “Credential society” that Collins88 discussed. As such,
the assumption in today’s China—as in many other societies—that one should
get as much credentialized education as possible in order to cash in on as much
84 Limin Bai, “Human Capital or Humane Talent? Rethinking the Nature of Education in
China from a Comparative Historical Perspective,” Frontiers of Education in China 5, no.
1 (2010): 104–29, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-010-0008-z.
85 Fong, Only Hope, 101.
86 Bai, “Human Capital or Humane Talent? Rethinking the Nature of Education in China
from a Comparative Historical Perspective,” 120.

87 Ronald Philip Dore, The Diploma Disease: Education, Qualification and Development
(London: Institute of Education, University of London, 2000).

88 Randall Collins, The Credential Society: An Historical Sociology of Education and
Stratification (New York: Columbia University Press, 2019).

career advancement as possible often constitutes what Brown89 has referred to

as the “opportunity traps”. This means that in realizing the broadened range of
choices of opportunities in the neoliberal market economy, few can afford to opt
out of the competition for a livelihood, and meanwhile the return on investment
does not always materialize.90 Hamamura, Xu and Du pointed out the correlation
of the government’s expansion of higher education and the soaring number of
college graduates. Indeed, there are many more college graduates than available
white-collar jobs as the graduation rate has outpaced job growth. 91 Job growth
in China in recent decades has occurred in a number of sectors such as man-
ufacturing which require only low-level qualifications, thus making the career
outlook of college graduates bleak and fueling competition for the few available
white-collar jobs. This has led to societal tension and dissatisfaction with the edu-
cational system among Chinese families which will be detailed in the following
section. Before examining what Chinese families in general and the participants
of my study specifically hold against the educational system, I will shortly intro-
duce the structure and technicalities of secondary and tertiary education in the
country.
5.3.2 Dissatisfaction with the national Educational System
After undergoing various reforms since the opening up and reform period, the
education system is currently based on a 6-3-3 model. Six years of primary edu-
cation are followed by three years of junior high (初中chuzhong) and three years
of senior high school (高中gaozhong). After senior high school, students par-
ticipate in the notorious national University Entrance Exam, also referred to as
the gaokao (高考). In addition to the university-entrance stream, there are sev-
eral vocational or technical options for secondary education. The most desirable
option for most students are key point junior and senior high schools, which are
prestigious and competitive. These schools are model schools that have greater
resources and are considered to provide better education. In order to gain uni-
versity entrance, students must perform well in two dominant gateway exams,
89 Phillip Brown, “The Opportunity Trap: Education and Employment in a Global Economy,”
European Educational Research Journal 2, no. 1 (March 2003): 141–79, https://doi.org/10.
2304/eerj.2003.2.1.4.
90 Liu, “Constructing the Autonomous Middle-Class Self in Today’s China,” 197–98.
91 Takeshi Hamamura, Qinmei Xu, and Yushen Du, “Culture, Social Class, and Indepen-
dence–Interdependence: The Case of Chinese Adolescents,” International Journal of Psy-

chology 48, no. 3 (June 2013): 346, https://doi.org/10.1080/00207594.2011.647030.
the chukao (初考entrance exam for senior high school) and the gaokao (univer-
sity entrance exam), which consequently dominate the student experience. Poor
results in either of these can mean the closure of doors to academic success.92
As described by Heidi Ross and Jimin Wang:
The College Entrance Examination (CEE) is a centralized and high-stakes examina-

tion. The CEE defines who has the right to access higher education and what kind of
higher education. As the gap between quality and social recognition among Chinese
higher education institutions has expanded, in turn exacerbating social stratification,
the competition and desire for admission to elite universities has increased even as the
size of China’s college-going population has exploded.93
Students with average grades may be refused admission to an elite university but
be accepted by a second- or third-tier, less prestigious university. Applicants who
score below the minimum criteria, or ‘cut-off’ point, for their choice of institu-
tions must choose either to study at an allocated university, undertake a major
to which they have been allocated, or re-sit Gaokao by attending one more year
of high school.94 In university, students’ timetable is usually filled with com-
pulsory subjects and pre-decided appointments, making it nearly impossible to
individually select courses so as to pursue special interests. Students are sorted
into groups according to their majors, which they have determined in their appli-
cation and is difficult to change at a later time. These groups consequently form
a kind of class that completes the majority of courses together, often shares the
same dormitory, and are supervised by the same academic adviser.95 This stream-
lined system contributes to China’s remarkably low college dropout rate. In 2011,
Beijing-based MyCos Institute estimated that only 3% of China’s university stu-
dents drop out. China’s Ministry of Education immediately disputed that figure

tralia,” 18.
93 Heidi Ross and Yimin Wang, “The College Entrance Examination in China: An Overview
of Its Social-Cultural Foundations, Existing Problems, and Consequences: Guest Editors’

Introduction,” Chinese Education & Society 43, no. 4 (July 2010): 3–10, https://doi.org/10.
2753/CED1061-1932430400.
94 Sablina, Soong, and Pechurina, “Exploring Expectations, Experiences and Long-Term
Plans of Chinese International Students Studying in the Joint Sino-Russian Degree.”


as too high, saying the true number was just 0.75%. In comparison, the attri-
tion rates in the United States (54%) seem high.96 Despite ongoing reform and
modernization in recent years, this educational system obviously comes with its
own set of challenges and evokes complaints. After giving an overview of the
structure of this educational system, the following section will illustrate some of
the grievances with this system.
Firstly, the CEE has been critiqued for its unequal distribution of university
places. Provincial fixed quota admissions and province-specific questions place
rural students at a disadvantage compared with students in urban areas, especially
those with more available resources. This is especially true when competing for
places in elite universities. It was two to three times more difficult for exami-
nees from remote Tibet or Qinghai province to get into the prestigious Peking
or Tsinghua University compared with students from Beijing or Shanghai. The
researchers Hamnett, Hua, and Bingjie highlighted the direct correlation between
an applicant’s place of residence and their chances of admission.97 The corre-
lation is more indirect in other countries, such as through differences in class,
income, or race. Furthermore, the combination of decentralized admissions and
the centralized entrance examination forces students in some provinces to submit
their applications before knowing the results of Gaokao and thus directly affects
not only the number but also the kind of opportunities students from different geo-
graphical origins might have.98 Recently introduced policies aimed at balancing
these inequalities, such as recommendation-based university admission and inde-
pendent enrollment schemes for students with special leadership or artistic skills,
have not been successful. In contrast, they have exacerbated the discrimination
of students in rural areas, as well as those without significant cultural capital or
social networks.99 In spite of the competition and inequalities, the incentives and
96 Eric Fish, China’s Millennials: The Want Generation, 2016, 779, http://www.vlebooks.
com/vleweb/product/openreader?id=none&isbn=9781442248847.
97 Chris Hamnett, Shen Hua, and Liang Bingjie, “The Reproduction of Regional Inequality
through University Access: The Gaokao in China,” Area Development and Policy 4, no. 3
(July 3, 2019): 252–70, https://doi.org/10.1080/23792949.2018.1559703; Houxiong Wang,
“Research on the Influence of College Entrance Examination Policies on the Fairness of
Higher Education Admissions Opportunities in China,” Chinese Education & Society 43, no.
6 (November 2010): 15–35, https://doi.org/10.2753/CED1061-1932430601.
98 Sablina, Soong, and Pechurina, “Exploring Expectations, Experiences and Long-Term
Plans of Chinese International Students Studying in the Joint Sino-Russian Degree.”

99 Wang, “Research on the Influence of College Entrance Examination Policies on the Fair-
ness of Higher Education Admissions Opportunities in China.”

opportunities associated with success in the CEE remain attractive in the impov-
erished countryside, where the CEE is often the only avenue to postsecondary
education and social mobility for students. Some students in rural areas repeat
their senior year of high school several times and retake the CEE until their scores
allow them to enter university. Students in “Gaokao county” Huining in Gansu
province gained national fame for their persistence in retaking the CEE three
to four times each. Such phenomena further corroborate the meritocratic ideol-
ogy surrounding the CEE. The hope of “fairness” and the idea that “Everyone is
equal in the system of a grade” is still shared by many people and is reinforced
through the state’s national policy discourse and developmental agenda. This kind
of “fairness” also is seen as preferable to the politicized selection criteria of the
chaotic Mao period, which many parents still vividly recall.100
Secondly, due to the close link between degree attainment, personal income,
and social status, most schools construct their curriculum around exams and
tests, and the purpose of education is to pass the exams in order to advance
to the next level.101 More importantly, the examination system has been meta-
morphosed into a system encouraging students, parents, and teachers to pursue
high marks, which have become not only the purpose of schooling but also the
crucial factor determining students’ future. The critics of this examination sys-
tem have almost all agreed that students who perform well under this system do
not necessarily turn into rencai 人才, or human talent.102 Research conducted in
Yunnan province high schools by Kirkpatrick and Zhang explored the negative
influences of exam-oriented education systems on students.103 They warned that
the view of education as nothing more than merely passing examinations might
stifle students’ creativity and sense of self. The study pointed out that moderate
pressure in combination with deemphasizing high-stakes testing better motivates
students and improves students’ academic success and psychological health. As
university education is currently seen as significantly improving students’ future
100 Yimin Wang and Heidi Ross, “Experiencing the Change and Continuity of the College
Entrance Examination: A Case Study of Gaokao County, 1996–2010,” Chinese Education &
Society 43, no. 4 (July 2010): 75–93, https://doi.org/10.2753/CED1061-1932430407.

102 Bai, 108.
103 Robert Kirkpatrick and Yuebing Zang, “The Negative Influences of Exam-Oriented Edu-
cation on Chinese High School Students: Backwash from Classroom to Child,” Language
Testing in Asia 1, no. 3 (2011): 36, https://doi.org/10.1186/2229-0443-1-3-36.
career trajectory, this system creates heated competition in society and job mar-
ket.104 While Kirkpatrick and Zhang105 describe that the Gaokao as one of the
most stressful standardized national examination systems in the world Wei Li and
Yuxin Li106 go even further in their remarks:
Many schools, teachers, parents, and students admit that the study before the entrance
exam to university is a purgatory-style study that is against human nature and is a
physical and mental destruction for the human being. It is not surprising to say that
nowadays, in China, the most tired people are children. Their childhood which is
supposed to be pressure-free, has been deprived by various after-school classes and
classes for special skills. One more point of the score may decide a person’s whole
life, making students and families unbreathable.
Inter-student competition is indeed prevalent in secondary schools even before

preparation for the Gaokao begins. Students are streamed into classes within
schools and ranked within classes. This results in students having an objective
understanding of their comparative position as well as their chances of progres-
sion into the next level of education.107 A typical school day starts at 7:00 a.m.
with morning reading class followed by a 10-minute break every 45 minutes until
noon. Next, afternoon classes begin at 14:30 p.m. and end at 18:00 p.m.108 The
grind and pressure from the educational system have also been memorialized
in several idioms such as “Black July”, the month of Gaokao testing, and say-
ings such as “thousands of people trying to run simultaneously through a single
bridge which can only accommodate one person at a time”109 or “one examina-
tion determines one’s whole life.”110 Failure in Gaokao is sometimes regarded as
104 Zhang, “Past Expectations, Current Experiences, and Imagined Futures: Narrative
Accounts of Chinese International Students in Canada,” 36.
105 Kirkpatrick and Zang, “The Negative Influences of Exam-Oriented Education on Chinese
High School Students.”

106 Wei Li and Yuxin Li, “An Analysis on Social and Cultural Background of the Resistance
for China’s Education Reform and Academic Pressure,” International Education Studies 3,
no. 3 (July 12, 2010): 212, https://doi.org/10.5539/ies.v3n3p211.
tralia,” 18.
108 Kirkpatrick and Zang, “The Negative Influences of Exam-Oriented Education on Chinese
High School Students,” 37.

109 Li and Li, “An Analysis on Social and Cultural Background of the Resistance for China’s
Education Reform and Academic Pressure,” 212.


bringing shame to the whole family.111 The competition is daunting. Even in Bei-
jing, only 0,03% of applicants were able to gain admission to Peking University.
In the United States, even ultra-competitive Ivy League schools have admission
rates of 4–5%.112 The relentless pressure to succeed academically against almost
impossible odds was a widespread lament among parents, teachers, and students
alike in a study conducted by Yang. Parents frequently mentioned that given their
rising incomes and standards of living, they were more than willing to spend as
much as necessary to ensure that their children (all the only child in their respec-
tive families) escape the painstaking grind of preparing for the college entrance
examination.113 In such a context, going abroad for higher education becomes
a highly desirable alternative for many Chinese families. A study conducted by
Zhang even goes so far as to state that avoiding the highly competitive educa-
tion system, especially Gaokao, may be a decisive factor for studying abroad.114
When investigating the family decision-making process, Bodycott found that the
parents rated an inadequate supply of university places in China and improved
employment and immigration prospects as the most important push factors.115
The perceived quality of American education stood in contrast with negatively
viewed domestic institutions. In the eyes of many families, Chinese universities
are antiquated, research-anemic institutions bound up in red tape that have failed
in their mission to equip students with the knowledge and skills that are eas-
ily translatable to the marketplace.116 In conclusion, one father in Yang’s study
expressed this bleak view of education and opportunities in China:
There is no Chinese Dream. The rhetoric is present, but the reality is absent. The
American Dream, however, is alive and well in China. Anyone who wants to be any-
thing in life or strives to be the best in their industries will study abroad or send their
children abroad.117
112 Hamnett, Hua, and Bingjie, “The Reproduction of Regional Inequality through University
Access,” 266.



117 Yang, 73.
The following section will look into the perceptions of Western education when
compared and contrasted to domestic education. In order for the reader to better
comprehend the differences between these two systems, I also give an overview
of the U.S. American educational structures.
5.3.3 Idealization of “Western” Education
The United States has a decentralized education system with a great variety of
public, private, and home schools that set their own curricula.118 This is in con-
trast to the People’s Republic of China, where homeschooling is illegal, and all
public or private institutions undergo strict government control.119 Despite the
absence of a legally enforced national curriculum, there is considerable com-
monality across the U.S. education system. Examinations such American College
Testing Program (ACT) or Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) are widely admin-
istered and accepted by institutions and organizations.120 Even though there is
considerable diversity in the U.S. education system in regard to the structure and
content of curricula, many Chinese are convinced of its superior overall quality.
Decision-making processes are strongly influenced by perceptions of this for-
eign educational system as families may have limited personal experience in the
United States apart from short business trips or tourist excursions.121 University
rankings are often held at face value, and many families are not aware of the
measurement bias inherent in the majority of tertiary education ranking systems.
As large Anglo-Saxon research universities are usually ranked the highest, these
institutions are perceived as the most desirable options and allegedly provide a
better quality of instruction than domestic institutions.
118 U.S. Department of Education, “Structure of U.S. Education,” USNEI, 2008, https://
www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-structure-us.html; U.S.
Department of Education, “Structure of U.S. Education: Evaluation and Assessment,”
USNEI, 2008, https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-eva
luation.html; Accessed 7.4.2020. U.S. Department of Education, “Organization of U.S.
Education,” Government Website, USNEI, 2008, https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/
ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-org-us.html. Accessed 7.4.2020.
119 Central Government Portal, “中华人民共和国义务教育法—Compulsory Education
Law of the People’s Republic of China,” Government Website, June 29, 2006, http://www.
gov.cn/flfg/2006-06/30/content_323302.htm. Accessed 1.12.2020.
120 U.S. Department of Education, “Structure of U.S. Education: Evaluation and Assess-
ment.”
American Universities; Bodycott, “Choosing a Higher Education Study Abroad Destination.”

The perceived differences between the educational systems are illustrated in

the material gathered by Zhao, Huang, and Zhou122 . One student made up two
diaries as responses to an open-ended essay question, in which he described a
contrasting image of a Chinese and an American student:
I am a 100% Chinese, a hard working Chinese student. I am sitting at my desk piled

with numerous reference books and examination papers. Above the blackboard in
front of the classroom hangs a bright five-star Chinese national flag, and beside it,
there are four big words: Love Our Country Dearly. Yes, our goal is: Contribute to
Our Country.
—Diary of a Chinese student
Yes! 7 days of holiday! At last, I can go to the mountain I’ve desired to practice my
climbing skills. My feet can hardly resist the temptation, and I long to fly there right
now. And the little game I started designing a couple of days ago! I must finish it soon.
The competition deadline is coming next month. I’m not far from victory. Hooray!!!
—Diary of an American student
To many, Chinese education cultivates students’ patriotic, collective spirit and

instills values of hard work and sacrifice. American education is perceived as
emphasizing the development of creativity and life skills. The Chinese student in
the imaginary diary is focused on his schoolwork, yet he does not have a chance
to develop his interests. The American student is depicted as absentminded in
the classroom, yet he has a dream as well as the ability to pursue hobbies. This
portrayal of a Chinese and an American student reflects many Chinese students’
idealization of American education. In their concluding remarks, Zhao, Zhou, and
Huang wrote:
Many believed that America has the best education and that every American student is
provided with ample opportunities to succeed. This belief stimulated students to learn
more about American education and contributed to the desire to study abroad.123
Unlike other aspects of American society, such as the availability of guns and
the prevalence of racism, American universities were admired and often equated
with Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and MIT.124 The students interviewed by Body-
cott also perceived the standard of education and teaching overseas to be better
122 Zhao, Zhou, and Huang, “Chinese Students’ Knowledge and Thinking about America and
China.”
123 Zhao, Zhou, and Huang, 20.
124 Zhao, Zhou, and Huang, 17–18.
than at home. This goes hand in hand with their criticism of the domestic sys-
tem as too rigid, traditional, and lacking a student focus.125 A study conducted
by Ozturgut among teenagers in Guangdong province revealed similar results.
He found that students’ idealization of American education correlated with the
academic and psychological pressure they experienced in school. Some students
thought that they did not need to go to school every day or only a few hours
per day. Students thus projected their ideals onto America, where they imagined
schooling to be fun, interactive, and leisurely.126 They appreciated the freedom
of expression, diversity of methods, and less academic pressure. The perceptions
of better quality education in the USA were shared by parents who asserted that
children learn better through American ways of teaching, with focuses on inde-
pendent creativity, problem-solving and efficient writing skills. These skills were
held responsible for yielding an entrepreneurial zeal that explains the perpetual
emergence of industry-changing companies on American soil.127 Not only the
content, diversity of opinions, and non-test-based methods of American educa-
tion were described as appealing, but well-known American institutions of higher
education carry a certain degree of prestige in the Chinese context. As stated by
Kraus, who investigated the connection between Western music education and
social status: “The trappings of Western culture are a status symbol for many
wealthy Chinese.”128 This section has examined the perceptions of Western edu-
cation through Chinese eyes. Many Chinese families are apparently aware of the
advantages of the American approaches to education and deem these as desirable
options for their offspring. In the following chapter, I will analyze the material
collected through my own fieldwork in light of this background.
5.4 Narratives of Exceptionalism
In the interview material, the participants indicated that many factors combined to
push them abroad. These factors were frequently mentioned during the interview
process and incorporated into the students’ narratives as justifying or explaining

126 Osman Ozturgut, “Chinese Students Perceptions Of Life In The U.S.,” Journal of College
Teaching & Learning (TLC) 9, no. 1 (December 21, 2011): 6, https://doi.org/10.19030/tlc.
v9i1.6709.

128 Richard Curt Kraus, Pianos and Politics in China: Middle-Class Ambitions and the
Struggle over Western Music (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), 25.
5.4 Narratives of Exceptionalism 121
their choices. This culminated in narratives of identification as a non-typical but

nonetheless talented learner. When taking a closer look at the narratives, several
tendencies can be observed. In line with Giddens’ theory of the reflexive self,
the students attempt to paint a coherent picture of their journey until the present.
They achieve this by rationalizing of their choices on the one hand and adapt-
ing their self-identifications on the other hand. Rationalizations included detailed
criticisms of the Chinese educational system and expressions of admiration for
the American, holistic style of education. The students portrayed the educational
system they grew up in as undesirable, exhausting, overly theoretical, and thus
inadequate in the transmission of knowledge. It is important here to distinguish
between perceptions and reality. Comparative educational studies such as PISA
have shown that education in cities such as Shanghai was indeed effective in the
transmission of knowledge.129 However, the students’ descriptions of such a sys-
tem made going abroad sound like the obvious choice. After all, who would want
to stay in such a rigorous and cruel environment? A crucial point that remains
unspoken in their characterizations is that while this educational style may not
be aligned with their preferences, many of them have simply not been successful
within it. For those who have not achieved the necessary grades, studying abroad
is often the only option left if they want to attend college. For others, who came
to the USA for high school, unsatisfactory performance in middle school may
have been influential and could have led parents to assume their child would
not thrive in China. Another unspoken factor is privilege. Some wealthy parents
may have wanted to spare their offspring the struggle of long hours of Gaokao
preparation.
5.4.1 “I don’t fit into the Chinese System”
While students may be aware of these somewhat unpleasant truths, they under-
standably have not highlighted them as central in their identification narratives.
They may feel embarrassed or ashamed of these facts. Instead, presumably influ-
enced by negative experiences in the Chinese system or observations of the more
holistic educational approach in the American context, an identity narrative of
the exceptional yet misconceived individual emerged. Within the Chinese educa-
tional system, they were diamonds in the rough. Their talents were unrecognized
129 OECD, “PISA—Internationale Schulleistungsstudie Der OECD” (Paris: OECD, 2018),

http://www.oecd.org/berlin/themen/pisa-studie/. Accessed 12.1.2021.
in the test-oriented and fast-paced curriculum. Only when completing their jour-
ney abroad, could they shine and develop their full potential. Ricky, a senior in
physics at the University of California Davis formulated it like this (24/27–29):
I’m not the average Chinese by any means, once you get to know me; and they knew
that I knew that the Chinese education system doesn’t fit me, I felt that the family felt
that too. (…). And they knew I had a great potential.
He does not go into detail about why “the Chinese educational system doesn’t fit
me.” There could have been a number of factors at play, such as the educational
infrastructure in his rural home province of Yunnan, lack of personal connections
with teachers, difficulties in keeping up with the material, or having a specific
personal learning style that is not appreciated. What he emphasizes instead in his
statement: “I had a great potential.” This was evident to both to himself and his
immediate family, who he portrays as being certain of it. The conclusion of his
experiences in his hometown is apparently that he is fundamentally distinct from
other “average” Chinese. He could be mistaken for a typical Chinese from his
appearance. But once the conversation gets going, it becomes obvious quickly
that he is not ordinary.
Bianca, a junior at UC Berkeley, went one step further when she declared
(119/41–43):
And though I am a purely 100 percent Chinese, but I don’t look like them a lot and I
don’t behave like them.
In her case “I don’t look like them” was a referral to her multiple tattoos and
piercings, which indeed set her apart from the mostly conservative fashion style
of her Chinese classmates. “I don’t behave like them” was further explained to
mean her extroversion, superior social skills as well as open-mindedness. Such
sentiment was widespread among my sample. Celia, a student who attended high
school in the United States before being admitted to UC Berkeley, summarized
these feelings succinctly (45/15–17):
I think I realized from like middle school that I don’t really fit into the Chinese
education system structure because I’m not really a good test-taker.
She was well aware of the unfavorable consequences of not being a good test-
taker e.g., not being able to get into a good university. As detailed in the previous
section, the CEE scores determine a student’s university admission chances in a
vast majority of cases. For Celia, continuing in this educational system which
clearly doesn’t match her learning style, would have meant: “to go to just a
mediocre university” (45/22). As this outcome was unacceptable for her and her
family, the option of studying abroad became a viable pathway. She elaborated
(46/34–43):
The students are supposed to be very obedient to teachers but I was like super active
and I couldn’t stop talking and those are the kids the teachers really don’t like. So my
primary school teacher like called her (Celia’s mother) a lot on the phone (…). She
basically talked to my teacher every week or something and my teacher said: “There
is something wrong with your kid because normally boys can be super active and girls
are super obedient to teachers or super quiet”. And I was just like, I just didn’t fit in.
Just as in the narratives of Bianca and Ricky, communication skills and extrover-
sion play a vital role in determining Celia’s position as a misfit in the perception
of her primary school teacher. Apparently, she was expected to be “obedient to
teachers or super quiet” when her disposition was “super active” and talkative.
This characteristic was not particularly welcome in the classroom. This is in
line with descriptions of the Chinese classroom as authoritarian, hierarchical, and
teacher-oriented by Cheng, Andrade, and Yan.130 From Celia’s perspective, she
was simply an energetic, curious, and sociable child, while her teacher proba-
bly perceived her as disruptive or inattentive. Celia went on to explain how her
mother dealt with the teacher’s complaints (46/44–48):
I think my mum was very caring because she didn’t really tell me what the teacher
said exactly. I think she just wanted me to fit in, but she didn’t want to suppress my
sort of nature. Anything from that point, she realized I’m probably just didn’t really
fit in the whole system. If I stay there I would probably be very constrained, like a lot
of my strengths couldn’t really come out, and I couldn’t realize what I’m really good
at.
Celia clearly marks the interaction between her mother and the primary school
teacher as the point of departure for her journey abroad. The recurring conflict at
school convinced her mother that it would be beneficial to send Celia abroad. The
130 Cheng, Andrade, and Yan, “A Cross-Cultural Study of Learning Behaviours in the Class-
room”; L. Jin and M. Cortazzi, “Cultures of Learning: Language Classrooms in China,” in
Society and Language in the Classroom, ed. H. Colemon (Cambridge: CUP, 1996), 54; Hong-
Yu Cheng and Shu-Yi Guan, “The Role of Learning Approaches in Explaining the Distinct
Learning Behaviors Presented by American and Chinese Undergraduates in the Classroom,”
Learning and Individual Differences 22, no. 3 (June 2012): 414–18, https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.lindif.2011.12.009.
underlying argument for this decision was that Celia: “just didn’t really fit in the
whole system.” The consequences of staying within this unbefitting system would
be (46/48): “I would probably be very constrained, like a lot of my strengths
couldn’t really come out, and I couldn’t realize what I’m really good at.” She
implies a strong sense of self here, an idea that her authentic self is unchanging
and static. This also becomes evident in her statement about “suppress my sort
of nature.” In her understanding, her nature appears as fixed and unalterable. In
her narrative, it seems as if moving into a different culture is the only option for
her to stay true to herself. This narrative, however, neglects to consider that she
could have developed in a different way if she had stayed in her hometown. Her
self-concept fits well into Gidden’s theory of the authentic self. He recognizes
authenticity of the self as the main criteria for structuring and organizing self-
narratives into a coherent whole. This narrative stands in stark contrast to the
narratives of the previous sections where students highlighted their agency and
determination in the family decision-making process but can also complement
such narratives. In a way, students and their families have spun the narrative of
the rough diamond—the disobedient yet talented learner—and have internalized
it over many years. When the question arises of how and when to go abroad,
parents may initially be reluctant to send their offspring far away. But this self-
image can serve as a motivator for students to continue on the path of studying
abroad.
The experience of Celia’s family during her primary school years is exemplary
for a growing middle class that holds education in high esteem while growing
dissatisfied with the options available from the government. Many parents have
a similar understanding of the so-called true nature and abilities of their chil-
dren as those expressed by Celia. The combination of parents striving for the
best education for their children with a highly child-centered environment has
led to the emergence of various forms of alternative education, including home-
schooling.131 This was especially prevalent among wealthy and well-educated
families in urban areas, who often accept great risks to move forward with this
illegal activity. Although motivations differed and included a multitude of factors,
sociologist Sheng concludes:
131 Xiaoming Sheng, Learning with Mothers: A Study of Home Schooling in China (Rot-
terdam: SensePublishers, 2014), https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6209-000-2; Fengshu Liu,
“The Rise of the ‘Priceless’ Child in China,” Comparative Education Review, 2016, 26.
It was noticeable that all the homeschooling parents surveyed in this study reported
that their children were unique and talented; however, conventional schools could not
adequately serve their children’s individual needs132
The parallel to Celia’s experience becomes evident in the following quote by

homeschooling mother Zoe:
My son is very smart. He is the kind of child who always has questions about some-
thing he is interested in. In particular he prefers to find an answer in a creative way
rather than just following the teacher’s instructions…However, the teachers do not
like him since he always questions the teacher in the classroom…the teacher some-
times blamed him in front of the other classmates…this makes him dislike going
school…I spent a lot of time and energy in teaching my son how to fit into a certain
environment, which he did not always adapt to…133
Similar to Celia’s mother, Zoe had to deal with complaints from her son’s teach-
ers. Just like Celia, her son was curious, communicative, and more active than
the teacher would have preferred. The parent in this scenario was faced with
the challenge of “teaching my son how to fit into a certain environment,” even
though the child’s learning style and personality weren’t a good match for this
classroom environment. Both Zoe and Celia’s mother deemed this undesirable
for their offspring and consequently started searching for alternative education
options. Parallels to Ricky’s narratives as misunderstood, yet brilliant students,
e.g., someone who had great potential, can also be found in media portrayals
of homeschooling.134 Both the substantial financial investments of overseas edu-
cation as well as the possible legal issues as a consequence of homeschooling
show parents’ immense motivation to secure the best possible schooling for their
children.
132 Sheng, Learning with Mothers, 58.

133 Sheng, 56–57.
134 Elaine Yau, “The Chinese Parents Who Homeschool Their Kids, and Why They Reject
Public Education,” South China Morning Post, July 5, 2018, https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/

families/article/2153883/chinese-parents-who-homeschool-their-kids-and-why-they-reject;
Accessed 16.11.2020. Dandan Ni, “Outlaw Educators: China’s Growing Homeschooling
Movement,” Sixth Tone, December 13, 2017, http://www.sixthtone.com/news/1001294/out
law-educators-chinas-growing-homeschooling-movement. Accessed 1.12.2020.
5.4.2 “American Universities really value my other type

of Skills”
Celia’s narrative is concluded from the present-day perspective of her experience

in the United States (45/40–42):
And also, I feel like American universities really value my other type of skills like
communication skills, leadership skills, other type of activities I’ve done and I’m
really passionate about.
Her appreciation of the holistic educational approaches she has observed in the
American university context is noticeable in this statement. She emphasized her
communication and leadership skills, which would not have been valued in the
same way in the Chinese educational context. She also demonstrated her under-
standing of American values when mentioning activities she is passionate about.
In fact, there are obvious parallels between her descriptions and American cul-
tural beliefs about success. Success was strongly associated with individualistic
values such as a passion for or personal interest in certain subjects among Amer-
ican students.135 It is possible that exposure to such ideas during her stay in the
United States unconsciously led Celia to emphasize them in her interview. As an
extraordinarily observant and self-reflected person, she may have experienced the
social fit of such explanations in conversations with her American classmates,
friends, and acquaintances. In contrast with Ricky and Bianca, Celia was aware
of the advantages of the Chinese system, even though it was not a good fit for
her. After recounting her experiences, she pointed out that the system was not at
fault for her struggles (45/38–39):
I’m not criticizing it, I know a lot of people like thrive really well in this system, I just
don’t think it’s like a really good fit for me.
The educational system just wasn’t a good fit. She elaborated (45/20–21): “I
do realize that I have other kind of skills that maybe others may not really be
that kind of good at it.” A strong sense of being an individual distinct from
their peer group emerged as central in many of these narratives. Innate talent
of some sort—leadership or social skills especially, but also creative thinking
and problem-solving skills—were mentioned as a distinguishing marker. Some
135 Katherine Y. Lin et al., “What Must I Do to Succeed?: Narratives from the US Premedi-
cal Experience,” Social Science & Medicine 119 (October 2014): 98–105, https://doi.org/10.
1016/j.socscimed.2014.08.017.
also noted their increased self-reflection or agency. These were mostly skills
that, according to the students, went unrecognized or undervalued in the Chinese
educational context. Haidong recounted it like this (21/11–14):
I describe Chinese high schools or middle schools or even college as a manufacture

chain. They just manufacturing students, following certain procedures, and they came
out from the factory all standardized. That’s not human beings; that’s machines; that’s
robots. They don’t really encourage creative thinking.
Bianca pointed out that the test- and memorization-oriented system doesn’t leave
much room for self-reflection (122/35–44):
So it’s basically just study, study, study and for an exam, not for the future. You don’t
need to have any of your own thoughts, you just need to learn, read, recites (…) Like
you have, you have gone through all your 19 years studying for an exam. And then you
suddenly go to the University. And you just, you just start, just slowly start to actually
think: What are you actually gonna do in the future? But it’s actually hard (…). You
never thought about that and you just all of a sudden you have to make decisions.
It seems that she feels a responsibility to take life decisions into her own hands,
repeatedly using the second person singular: “What are you gonna do in the
future? You never thought about that and you just all of a sudden you have to
make decisions.” She later detailed that this was an issue she and most of her
friends and classmates faced and perceived as extremely challenging.
5.4.3 Discussion
As mentioned briefly in the introduction, the privilege of being able to afford

to go abroad is a crucial yet unexpressed part of these students’ situations. This
becomes clear when contrasting the experiences of Bianca, Celia, Ricky, and
Haidong with the experience of Xiaoya, another participant of this study. Bianca
and Celia are the offspring of wealthy families from metropolises Shanghai and
Beijing. Ricky and Haidong, whose families come from Yunnan province’s cap-
ital city Kunming, were able to afford long years of middle school, high school,
and university tuition and living costs abroad. If their families had not been able
to cover these costs, they would have had to endure in the Chinese educational
system they so despised. Xiaoya was one of those students who lived through
the struggle of taking Gaokao even though she might have also preferred study-
ing abroad during high school. She had brought it up with her family during
her middle school years as she perceived the quality of education to be superior
in the West (e.g., the U.K. and USA). However, her working-class parents were
unable to finance her ambitions. Instead, she remained in her hometown Harbin,
the capital of Heilongjian, China’s northernmost province, and retook the CEE
three times until she was satisfied with her scores (or until her scores were good
enough for her to gain admission to the university of her choice). After successful
completion of her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in China, she pursued a Ph.D.
in the United States, which she was able to finance through a scholarship. She
came to America because she succeeded in China, while others such as Ricky and
Celia came to evade possible academic failure in China. What they all have in
common though, is the belief in the superior quality of education, instruction as
well as research, that is prevalent in the United States. Such beliefs should not be
taken at face value. Given the parents’ determination to secure what they believed
to be the best education for their children, guilt, and justifications of investing
in American schooling obviously also play a role. The eagerness of Chinese par-
ents to access American universities was further exemplified in the 2019 college
admissions scandal. The scandal implicated two wealthy entrepreneurial families
from China who paid $6.5 million and $1.2 million respectively to a college
consultant promising admission to prestigious institutions.136 While the students
in my study presumably come from upper-middle-class families and do not play
in the same league as those families, the financial expenditures for their studies
abroad are nonetheless substantial. Constructing narratives of one’s own excep-
tional talent as well as lambasting the educational options afforded at home can
serve as a justification for this investment. It may also assuage the guilt students’
may feel towards their parents, who often sacrifice a great deal to make these
study abroad dreams a reality. Indeed, emotional guilt over the high costs of
studying abroad was common among all international students.137 Additionally,
there are parallels to be found between the students’ narratives and organizational
framing discourses employed by Chinese cram schools and educational consult-
ing agencies. While it cannot be claimed that students are fully aware of such
discourses, it is nonetheless plausible that they have influenced the students’ nar-
ratives in some ways. The discourses surrounding such supplemental education
136 Kate Taylor et al., “Admissions Scandal: When ‘Hard Work’ (Plus $6.5 Million) Helps
Get You Into Stanford,” New York Times, May 2, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/
02/us/yusi-molly-zhao-china-stanford.html. Accessed 16.11.2020.
offers were analyzed by Le Lin138 who found that studying abroad was often
equated with exceeding one’s limit, making one’s life complete or even as “a
must in one’s life and a summit to climb.” Some students in his study even went
so far as to say: “If you can study abroad, you are a winner: otherwise you are
a loser.”139 Such discourses may have contributed to the self-identifications as
an exceptional yet misunderstood learner mentioned by the interviewees in my
study. For them, studying abroad was also a way of being or becoming a winner
in another educational system. Such thought patterns hold special significance for
students who ventured abroad for high school to evade undergoing the stressful
college entrance examination. In a system they perceived as highly dysfunctional
and unfitting for their learning styles, they might not have been the best perform-
ers academically, thus making overseas education the only viable option for them
to avoid failure in their eyes (defined in a broad sense). The student in Lin’s
study then continues: “I do not know if we have thought about what we would
do after we go out. Probably we study abroad simply for the sake of studying
abroad”.140 This mirrors the disorientation regarding her life goals expressed by
Bianca. The education-centered environment only children in China are raised in
may contribute to such feelings and leave students feeling lost once they enter
university. Studying abroad simply for the sake of studying abroad and especially
for the sake of studying is the norm without broaching the issue of why and what
will happen after.
Chapter 5 has detailed the self-positioning and self-perceptions in relation to
the family. In conclusion, the students in my study have complex and multi-
faceted relationships with their family, but they do have a tendency to portray
themselves as an influential agent and as extraordinarily talented in some way.
The following chapter will examine the individualization trends potentially under-
lying such statements in order to better understand the students’ self-definitions
in regard to their peer group.
138 Le Lin, “The Visible Hand behind Study-Abroad Waves: Cram Schools, Organizational
Framing and the International Mobility of Chinese Students,” Higher Education 79, no. 2
(February 2020): 259–74, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00408-1.
139 Lin, 267.
140 Lin, 267.
The Self and the Peer Group
6
For the numerous students who feel overwhelmed by the pressures of daily uni-
versity life detailed in the previous sections, the peer group of classmates offers
valuable social support, comfort, and a sense of belonging. In dorms, classrooms,
and study halls, as well as in their free time—for many students, it is the first
time to be away from parental supervision. There are numerous decisions to be
made as a young adult navigating independent life for the first time: How do you
want to live? In dorms or with roommates? Do you know how to cook, or can you
afford to eat at restaurants? How much time and energy are you going to pour
into your studies? What kind of activities do you fill your free time with? The
answers that students find to these questions reveal a great deal about their posi-
tioning within this crucial group. Firstly, there are some obvious ethnic, national,
and socioeconomic distinctions. Participants constructed ethnically Asian students
as a separate group from white, Latinx, or black students. Within the ethnic
group, there were further distinctions of national origin. Those who were born
and raised in China or another Asian country separated themselves from those
who had grown up in the United States and vice versa. Furthermore, students
from financially unstable backgrounds or on scholarships saw themselves as dis-
tinct from others who do not need to worry about money. Apart from these basic
sub-groups, there were several different subcategories that have emerged from
my material: the Enthusiastic Learner, the Global Citizen, and the People Person.
This chapter will investigate these categories and the backgrounds that could have
led to their formation. In order to fully comprehend these categories, however, I
find it necessary to delve into the developments of individualization in Chinese


https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40627-1_6
132 6 The Self and the Peer Group
society in modern times. The explanations in this chapter follow the question
posed in Section 3.4. (Giddens’ theories in the Chinese context) of whether theo-
ries of individualization and second modernity proposed by Giddens apply to the
Chinese context but consider more specifically how individualization plays out in
the lived experienced of the young Chinese in my study.
6.1 Developments of Individualization
As mentioned in Chapter 3, Chinese society has undergone fundamental changes

after the government introduced an ‘open door’ policy and economic reforms
in the early 1980 s. These changes have led scholars to categorize China as
falling into an East Asian pattern of “compressed modernity.”1 They have also
led to most Chinese international students coming of age in a continually trans-
forming society and contributed to their changed mindsets. Some scholars such
as Lian2 and Moore3 argue that the economic growth after the 1980 s reforms
has led to a transformation of social structure, including a growing emphasis on
materialism, consumption, urbanization, and the accessibility of Western culture.
Moreover, the one-child policy has led to altered family dynamics (as detailed
in Chapter 5). These societal factors are seen as reinforcing a changing ideology
of the younger generation, among which individualism is evident.4 Against this
theoretical backdrop, this section will give an overview of the studies examining
individualization tendencies over time.
Sun and Wang’s quantitative study on the influence of these social changes
on the values of Shanghai residents has demonstrated that the younger cohort
holds more modern, individualized, and secular values than their older counter-
parts.5 The younger study participants prioritized personal development, which
led the researchers to label them as carriers of individualistic values. Ma, Hu &
Goclowska propose a similar stance in their quantitative research on the cultural
1 Beck and Grande, “Varieties of Second Modernity: The Cosmopolitan Turn in Social and
Political Theory and Research”; Han and Shim, “Redefining Second Modernity for East
Asia: A Critical Assessment.”
2 Lian, “The Post-1980 s Generation in China.”
3 Moore, “Generation Ku.”
4 Ding, “Understanding Chinese International Doctoral Students in NewZealand,” 119.
5 Jiaming Sun and Xun Wang, “Value Differences between Generations in China: A Study
in Shanghai,” Journal of Youth Studies 13, no. 1 (February 2010): 65–81, https://doi.org/10.
1080/13676260903173462.
6.1 Developments of Individualization 133
orientations of different generations of employees in China.6 Other scholars such

as Zhu, Chimita, and Xu, who studied Chinese youth in Europe, propose that
individualization is connected to immersion in popular culture (films and T.V.)
as well as higher educational attainments.7 This leads to a more prevalent sense
of independence and self-determination in the younger generations. Moore also
points to the emergence of a popular youth culture that took most of its cues from
America, Japan, and South Korea in the 1980 s and 90 s as both evidence of and
driving factor of individualization.8 He details the new clothing styles replacing
the universal, solid blue, grey, or brown loose-fitting shirt and pants combina-
tion of the Mao years, as well as the popularity of rock music and literature
from beat authors such as Jack Kerouac. While confronting various social forces
and competing values, younger generations and particularly the 1980 s cohort,
experienced contradictory psychological states (individualism versus collectivism
and traditional versus modern values). Croll suggests that this is due to a lack
of patterns and cues guiding new behavior in rapidly changing Chinese society.9
This claim has been disputed by notable Chinese academics such as Lau Sing
of Hong Kong Baptist University, who maintain that many pervasive assump-
tions about the values of Chinese youth are not based on evidence.He points out
that Chinese and Western teens alike have always been shown to value personal
freedom and achievement and prefer not to submit to parental domination. In
his opinion, the image of the Chinese as de-emphasizing the self and placing
the group interest above their own more than Westerners may have never been
accurate.10
As becomes apparent from this brief overview, the question of whether Chi-
nese youth are more individualized than their parents and grandparents is complex
and impossible to answer decisively. However, the accounts of students in this
study indeed show the impact of individualization developments on their daily
6 Jun Ma, Zhonghui Hu, and Małgorzata A. Gocłowska, “Cultural Orientation in China:
Differences Across Five Generations of Employees,” Social Behavior and Personality: An
International Journal 44, no. 4 (May 18, 2016): 529–40, https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2016.
44.4.529.
7 Zhu, Chimita, and Xu, “Self-Development of Chinese Overseas Students in Their European
Travels,” 58.
8 Moore, “Generation Ku,” 362–63.
9 Ding, “Understanding Chinese International Doctoral Students in NewZealand,” 119.
10 Sing Lau et al., “Chinese and American Adolescents’ Perceptions of the Purposes of Edu-
cation and the Beliefs about the World of Work,” Social Behavior and Personality: An
International Journal 28, no. 1 (January 1, 2000): 74–75, https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2000.
28.1.73.
life. These include a lack of social cohesion and solidarity within the peer group,
as well as high levels of subjective isolation, mistrust, and loneliness. In the
context of individualization among participants of my study, the impact of the sur-
rounding American cultural environment should also be considered. The United
States has often been described as one of the most individualistic societies11 and it
should thus not be surprising if individualistic values observed by students come
to influence their worldviews and behaviors over time. The following chapter will
examine in detail how living in an increasingly individualized environment can
be challenging for the interviewees.
6.1.1 Loneliness, Isolation, and Competition
The daily life of the students in this study was frequently described as lonely
even though they were surrounded by peers almost around the clock. The cut-
throat atmosphere both in their universities and their hometowns contributed to
a lack of social cohesion and general mistrust between classmates. Many stu-
dents remained guarded towards others as they perceived them to be competitors.
Several interviewees also mentioned difficulties in opening up to others about
sensitive or emotional topics, which made them feel isolated. Interpersonal con-
nections were obviously not made easier by the distance and time difference
which hindered students from keeping in touch with childhood friends or family
members back in China.
For instance, Bianca, a junior majoring in psychology, talked about her friends
back home in this way (124/40–46):
I don’t think they (her friends in China) will think about me because they have their
own life. Yeah. Everyone has their own life to live, and the only thing changes is we
are in different time zones. We don’t have that much chance to chat. For me, myself,
because I’m so like, I’m not that good at dealing with relationships. I have a lot of
11 Geert Hofstede and Gert Jan Hofstede, Lokales Denken, globales Handeln: interkulturelle
Zusammenarbeit und globales Management, trans. Petra Mayer and Martina Sondermann,
Originalausgabe, 5., durchgesehene Auflage, dtv 50807 (München: Deutscher Taschenbuch
Verlag, Verlag C. H. Beck, 2011); James Jinguo Shen, “Communicating Through Conflict,
Compromise, and Cooperation –The Strategic Role of Chinese American Scholars in the
U.S.-China Relationship,” in Expanding Roles of Chinese Americans in U.S.-China Rela-
tions—Transnational Networks and Trans-Pacific Interactions (Armonk, New York, London:
East Gate Book, 2002).
friends, but I’m not the one always texting my friends. It’s just like if we have some-
thing happen, if we have an event, I’ll just call you, and we can hang out. But no
further context from that.
She is aware that dealing with relationships is not her strength as she struggles in
maintaining her friendships. Her idea of everyone else’s life being more important
than her own shows confidence issues. She assumes that physical distance equals
immediate oblivion, giving her friends very little credit and attributing very little
meaning to her presence in their life. Indeed, the challenge of maintaining their
personal relationships seems to be common among Chinese youth, as research
has shown that Chinese students reported much higher levels of loneliness than
their American peers.12 Some social scientists even speak of “the loneliest gen-
eration” and attest a myriad of “social problems and personality disorders” to
young Chinese.13 The need for connection is acutely felt by many participants of
my study.
Jinlan, a 20-year-old sociology major, described her relations with her peers
in this way (104/26–30):
I think I just have no connection with my classmates because my class is always have
a lot of people, and it’s more likely to talk to the teacher about something and we just
listening, and the time before the class begin, everyone is silence. So we just watch
our phone and do something else.
While many freshmen or exchange students may face initial difficulty getting in
touch with their classmates14 , this feeling was shared by many who are not new
to the university environment. Yiwei, for instance, was a junior at the time of
the interview and had already spent several years in the USA. She expressed
a sense of deep isolation. She had immense difficulty talking about emotional
topics, such as her experience of culture shock during the first few months of her
stay (8/5–10):
Sometimes you don’t talk about it, because it becomes so deep and personal, and you
have to have the right setting, like sometimes you don’t talk about it. You don’t talk
12 Louise C. Hawkley and John T. Cacioppo, “Loneliness Matters: A Theoretical and Empir-
ical Review of Consequences and Mechanisms,” Annals of Behavioral Medicine 40, no. 2
(October 2010): 218–27, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-010-9210-8.
13 L. Cameron et al., “Little Emperors: Behavioral Impacts of China’s One-Child Policy,”
Science 339, no. 6122 (February 22, 2013): 953–57, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.123

0221.
14 Li, “University Integration of Chinese Undergraduate Students.”
about it in a random way with your friends. It has a lot of emotions and a lot of you
know… you don’t talk about it easily, and it’s too long, like really long story in order
to explain it well you have to say so much.
From this brief quote, the reader gets the impression that opening up about per-
sonal issues does not come easily for Yiwei. It seems talking about her struggles
and sharing the negative aspects of studying abroad is such a challenge for her
that she often chooses to avoid doing so, thus depriving herself of a profound
connection with her friends. Additionally, acculturative and psychosocial stress
from navigating a new environment may enhance the desire to belong to a group.
With shared language and cultural codes, the ethnic peer-group obviously pro-
vides an important safe space for recuperating from acculturative stress and for
exchanging anecdotes of cultural misunderstandings, as detailed by Moosmüller
in his study of sojourners.15 A participant of my study, a junior from Shanghai,
studying at UC Berkeley, explained (106/40–44):
When I stay with my Chinese friends, I will feel more comfortable. And the feeling is
just like to…sometimes we are very, very, very missing our home, and we talk about
this, and we feel better. I think one of them is the food, because Chinese food is very
delicious.
However, the urgency of fitting in at any cost can also induce stress, such as in
the experience of Juliane, an English major:
I seldom talk about my dreams to others. And most of my friends major in English or
math or computer science, and we’re very close friends. And I think I don’t want to
be really different from them. They will just think, maybe it’s just a one moment, one
second if they think: Oh, you’re so different from us.
For this student, being a part of her friend circle is of paramount importance. It
seems horrific to her that she could be perceived as different from her friends, and
it is something that she wants to avoid at all costs. Her statement stands in contrast
to strong proponents of individualization theories. It could be interpreted as a
collectivistic orientation with a focus on group membership. The students were
noticeably not free from the pressure to conform to the social norms of Chinese
society. Among these, the pressure to marry at a certain age and have children
was pronounced among female students. Both male and female students were
15Alois Moosmüller, Kulturen in Interaktion: deutsche und US-amerikanische Firme-

nentsandte in Japan, Münchener Beiträge zur interkulturellen Kommunikation 4 (Münster:
Waxmann, 1997).
concerned with following certain standard career paths perceived as “successful”.

Many youngsters feared that deviating from these standard pathways would lead
to even more loneliness.
Zishuo, for example, detailed her apprehension (69/41–48):
You are just at twenty-six, they (her friends) have a family, and they are having chil-
dren and around twenty-eight, and they are very stable, but when you are thirty, you
still don’t have a boyfriend. You need to have a boyfriend. You need to make up a
family (…). Your friends have a family, but you haven’t; that will be a gap for you.
It’s my worries.
Worries such as these speak to pronounced ageism and observations of age-related

discrimination or societal pressures as common in China. A comparative study
conducted by Luo, Zhou et. al. found significantly more negative attitudes towards
aging among Chinese students than their American peers.16
Anxiety about career prospects was also frequently mentioned in connection to
worries about getting older. There was a strong dichotomy in the descriptions of
students’. They seemed to have a clear idea of what constitutes a “right” choice
and a “wrong” one, frequently talking of “being lost” and “finding the way.”
The pressure and stress surrounding the “right” career choices are illustrated in
Yiwei’s statement (4/35–39):
Because there are so many things in Berkeley, you don’t know who you are, like which
road should I take? There are so many opportunities. But which one should you take?
Which one should you do? You’re not young anymore, you can’t just do all of them,
you have to choose, right?
Liang Yue, a 20-year-old student from Guangzhou, was a bit more optimistic,
considering her timeline provided ample chances for figuring things out (149/9):
Yes, I am one of the lost. I don’t have exactly idea what to do in the future so I think
maybe I still have chance to try all of them.
Bianca also mentioned (127/4–5): “I always feel bad when I’m not like other
people who have this whole clear future perspective.” And Xinyi subsumed the
predicament of young people all over the world in her own words (157/42–44): “I
16Baozhen Luo et al., “Ageism among College Students: A Comparative Study between U.S.
and China,” Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology 28, no. 1 (March 2013): 49–63, https://
doi.org/10.1007/s10823-013-9186-5.
think the biggest difficulty might be myself. To be confused, to be not knowing

what to do in the future, to be not sure what I want to do in the future.”
6.1.2 Positioning within the Peer Group
As the previous chapters have looked into the family context and the role of edu-
cation, it becomes clear that the students need to position themselves in regard
to their families and their educational achievements. Growing up in such an
education-focused environment and being continuously engaged in educational
activities throughout their life, the topic is unavoidable and naturally becomes
part of their identity narratives. The sophisticated ranking, grading, and examina-
tion systems have also contributed to the students’ quite objective understanding
of their capabilities.17 The students are thus ceaselessly invited to position them-
selves performance-wise. This invariably leads to positioning in regards to their
motivation and ambition. Students are incessantly being asked and also ask-
ing themselves: “How dedicated am I?” and “What is the outcome?”. Some
students fare well in this high-pressure system and lean into the identity of a
high-performing, high-achieving, dedicated learner who is curious, studious, and
passionate about his or her subject. The interesting amalgamation of American
and Chinese educational ideals and the construction of a narrative as an enthu-
siastic learner will be examined in detail in Section 6.2. Other students, those
who are perhaps not as academically gifted or interested, lean into a different
type of ambition to distinguish themselves from their peers. They claim superior
social skills, which they often want to use to influence others. In their eyes, being
able to empathize and communicate makes them ideal management material, or in
their own words: leaders. This category will be addressed in detail in Section 6.3.
Similar, but not quite identical, is the category of students who placed intercul-
tural competence18 at the center of their identity narratives. They see themselves
as glamorous globe-trotters with international travel experience and the ability to
speak several languages. Many used the term “global citizen.” I will investigate

tralia.”
18 “Intercultural competence is the ability to communicate effectively in cross-cultural sit-
uations and to relate appropriately in a variety of cultural contexts. (…). The intercultural
skillset includes the ability to analyze interaction, predict misunderstanding, and fashion
adaptive behavior.”
Dan Landis, Janet Marie Bennett, and Milton J. Bennett, eds., Handbook of Intercultural
Training, 3rd ed (Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications, 2004), 149.
6.2 Enthusiastic Learner 139
this category in depth in Section 6.4. It goes without saying that these are merely
a few categories that lay no claim to completeness. For those students who do
not fall into one of these categories, there might be numerous other in-between
categories and other ways to delineate themselves from their peers.
6.2 Enthusiastic Learner
A certain subgroup of students was well accustomed to the high-stakes, driven

academic environment of the Chinese educational system and subsequently felt
comfortable also in the context of a performance-oriented American college cam-
pus. The youngsters in this group distinguished themselves from others through
narratives about their love of learning. They claimed to be interested in many
or all subjects or highly invested in their majors. Many subscribed to ideals of
life-long learning or holistic whole-person education. It can be safely assumed
that these narratives do not originate with the students themselves (as detailed
in Chapter 3), but they have been formed in front of the backdrop of cultural
discourses, which will be explained in the following section.
6.2.1 Definition and Discourse

Growing up, the three-word phrase I heard most often was “for an Asian.” The label
of “model minority”—one that I rarely find any Asian American actually taking pride
in—is more discriminatory than it is flattering.19
As a freshman at UC Berkeley, student journalist Manya Zhao experienced the

pervasiveness of the model minority stereotype firsthand. The image itself is a
common one that both Asians and non-Asians, from adolescents to adults, are
acutely aware of.20 In fact, research showed that over 90% of Asian adoles-
cents living in America had had at least one encounter in which they felt they
19 Manya Zhao, “Model Minority Myth,” The Daily Californian, April 2, 2021, sec. Cal in
Color, https://www.dailycal.org/2021/04/02/model-minority-myth/. Accessed 4.5.2021.

20 Frieda Wong and Richard Halgin, “The ‘Model Minority’: Bane or Blessing for Asian
Americans?,” Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development 34, no. 1 (January

2006): 38–49, https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-1912.2006.tb00025.x.
were being stereotyped as a model minority.21 The term “model minority” was
coined in 1966 by sociologist William Petersen in an article he wrote for The
New York Times Magazine entitled “Success story: Japanese American style.”
After detailing the discrimination Japanese Americans faced as “agents of the
enemy” (including wartime internment), he presumptuously stated that Japanese
Americans were “better” than any other societal group, including “native-born
whites”.22 Petersen claimed that strong family structure combined with cul-
tural beliefs in hard work had permitted Japanese Americans to “succeed” in
the United States; success meaning high educational attainment and household
incomes, albeit pervasive discrimination against them. The popular press eagerly
picked up on this idea, and numerous articles about the accomplishments of Asian
Americans came out. Many journalists agreed with Petersen’s interpretation and
attributed these achievements to Confucian values, work ethic or the central role
of family. Most overlooked or underestimated the policy changes in 1965 that
reversed years of restriction on immigration from Asia and allowed only highly-
educated professionals to enter the United States.23 This radical change in U.S.
immigration policy thus partly explains some of the success stories in popular
press articles. Several scholars have since pointed out the problematic overgener-
alization of all Asian immigrants, which has led to a lack of support and social
services for the marginalized ones within this group, such as Hmong or Cam-
bodians.24 The students in my study may not be aware of this stereotype at
first when they arrive in the United States. Although their native context holds
educational achievement in high regard, and it can be assumed that they have
internalized the value of education and possibly associated it with upward mobil-
ity (s. Section 5.2), the specific racial component of the model minority myth is
new to them. However, it is likely that the students are quickly confronted with
this stereotype in the competitive university environment. It is key to how this
group of students is perceived by their host society. Thus, the students sooner
21 Taylor L. Thompson and Lisa Kiang, “The Model Minority Stereotype: Adolescent Expe-
riences and Links with Adjustment.,” Asian American Journal of Psychology 1, no. 2 (2010):
119–28, https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019966.
22 William Petersen, “Success Story, Japanese American Style,” The New York Times Maga-
zine, January 9, 1966, TimesMachine Digital Archives. Accessed 4.2.2021.

23 Office of the Historian: History, Art & Archives: United States House of Representatives,
“Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965” (Washington, D.C: Office of the Historian, 2021),
History, Art & Archives: United States House of Representatives, https://history.house.
gov/Historical-Highlights/1951-2000/Immigration-and-Nationality-Act-of-1965/. Accessed
4.2.2021.
24 Wong and Halgin, “The ‘Model Minority.’”.
or later need to position themselves in regard to it. Whether this reckoning is a

conscious process or happens on a sub-conscious level is not the question—both
are obviously possible and may lead to various degrees of identification with this
category. The process of positioning may be influenced by cultural ideals of the
host society as well and generate innovative belief systems that are an amalgama-
tion of both cultures. Specifically, cultural beliefs about success, the “American
Dream,” and the importance of critical thinking became central to the students’
identity narratives. The analysis in the next section focuses on the perceptions,
definitions, and categorizations of the students. It is beyond the scope of this
study to determine, if they are, in fact, as high-achieving or dedicated as they
claim to be.
6.2.2 “I’m Curious about the Truth”
Across the three different campuses, students with diverse majors and phases of
study, a pattern emerged of students’ passionate stories about learning. These
took different forms: some students reported that they were on a profound quest
for the facts of life in a certain area such as physics, while others claimed an
interest in all disciplines and wanted to absorb as much scientific knowledge as
possible. A typical statement in the category of “Enthusiastic Learner” came from
Xuanyi, a sophomore in mechanical engineering (73/33–35): “I feel like since I
was little, I’m a really curious person. I ask a lot of questions to my teachers
since elementary, middle and high school. And I care a lot about truth.”
It became clear in her further explanations that her high regard for “the truth”
and her subsequent dedication to academic excellence, which she considered a
quest for the truth, was an identity marker, used to distinguish herself from her
peers. “I think truth is like one of the most important things in life”, she con-
cluded (73/40–41). During her high school years, she had found connecting with
classmates to be an insurmountable challenge due to differing priorities and their
lack of interest in her quest for the truth. She went on to explain that she had
limited her social contacts in order to focus on her academic goals. While get-
ting into a good university was certainly one of them, she repeatedly emphasized
that her ultimate goal was coming one step closer to “the truth out there.” She
eventually came to the realization that being sociable was integral to her mental
well-being but made it clear that she only wanted to “build good relationships
with some people who have the same dream with me.” (74/5–6).
A strong motivation to learn from a naturally inquisitive personality but
with different views on the community can be seen in the following statement
by Mandy, a sociology major, when she is describing her behavior after class
(133/37–48):
I always have a question list and I’m always the last one in the question line because
I know everyone else has short questions but I have so many questions there. And
it becomes a tradition, I mean, three of us, we have a group of three persons, and
we come to him (the professor) every after class time and asking a bunch of ques-
tions from very basic to the miracles you can’t explain it, hope the professor will
give some explanation things like that. And you know the class after class will take
longer than the official class. So the class is one hour and a half but the last time we
did it almost two hours, standing there, asking questions (…) I feel like I’m not only
learning knowledge, but I’m creating the future. It’s amazing, it’s crazy.
Her eagerness to engage with her professor and the material indicates that she is
interested in more than a satisfactory performance in the exam. She also expressed
that she felt much more at home in American classrooms than in China as she
perceived the atmosphere to be more discussion-oriented. She recounted that she
had often been the only student in the class to ask questions during her secondary
education in China. Scholars have made similar observations and studied such
behavioral patterns in the context of educational cultures and ideals. Although
recent scholarship has criticized the essentialization and generalization of Chi-
nese learners, there seems to be agreement about a tendency towards a more
authoritative teaching style and memorization-oriented learning style in Chinese
classrooms.25 The unlikeness of academic cultures has led to intercultural con-
flicts between faculty and students, which have also been studied widely.26 In
this case, Mandy notably does not conform to widespread stereotypes of Chinese
learners who have been described as passive, uncritical, and shy. She portrays
25 Qi Wu, “Re-Examining the ‘Chinese Learner’: A Case Study of Mainland Chinese Stu-
dents’ Learning Experiences at British Universities,” Higher Education 70, no. 4 (Octo-
ber 2015): 753–66, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-015-9865-y; Jin, “Mind or Virtue: West-
ern and Chinese Beliefs about Learning”; Cheng, Andrade, and Yan, “A Cross-Cultural
Study of Learning Behaviours in the Classroom”; Cheng and Guan, “The Role of Learn-
ing Approaches in Explaining the Distinct Learning Behaviors Presented by American and
Chinese Undergraduates in the Classroom,” June 2012.
26 Wu et al., “Exploring Factors for Achieving Successful Educational Attainment among
Chinese Doctoral Students in the United States”; Trice, “Faculty Perceptions of Graduate
International Students”; O’Connell and Resuli, “Academic Challenges for Chinese Trans-
fer Students in Engineering”; Emma Kingston and Heather Forland, “Bridging the Gap in
Expectations Between International Students and Academic Staff,” Journal of Studies in
International Education 12, no. 2 (June 2008): 204–21, https://doi.org/10.1177/102831530
7307654; Jin and Schneider, “Faculty Views on International Students”; Gu and Brooks,
“Beyond the Accusation of Plagiarism”; Glass et al., “Uneven Experiences: The Impact
herself as vocal during class sessions, even during her secondary education in
China. Although she was often uncomfortable being the only student to take
an active role in class, this did not actually hinder her from speaking out. This
becomes a key point of identification for Mandy, who feels a strong attachment
to her new American classmates. She senses that she has found a community
of like-minded students who are just as curious and outspoken as she is. At her
American university, she is no longer the only one asking questions. Instead, she
is one of many who are actively participating. She feels that this new environ-
ment is actually a much better fit than her Chinese classroom. She conveys a
strong spirit of optimism and happiness when she says: “I’m creating the future.
It’s amazing, it’s crazy.”
6.2.3 “I’m Interested in all Subjects—I Want to Choose What

I Learn”
What these noble truth-seekers share with other students was a strong intrin-
sic motivation to learn. Many statements showed an inherent internalized value
of learning, possibly influenced by the high values attributed to education and
academic learning by many Chinese families (as described in Section 5.2).
Learning was seen not only as useful but also as meaningful and enjoyable.
Amy, a junior at UC Berkeley, expressed such sentiments in her own words
(43/26–31):
And I feel like learning is just much more fun. And I feel like a lot of times, when
you’re doing work, it’s a lot of repeated tasks, it’s like not always new things like you
can learn from, so yeah, so I feel like when I’m studying like every semester I’m tak-
ing a lot of really hard classes but like they all taught me a lot of things to learn, like
interesting and things I’ve never explored before. So I really like it.
From her statement, we can see her varied interest in all kinds of subjects and
her love of learning, as well as her intrinsic motivation for studying. She is inter-
ested in things “never explored before,” i.e., willing to broaden her mindset and
open up to new areas of knowledge. She also distinguished herself and her friend
group from other people in her major, computer science, emphasizing not only
of Student-Faculty Interactions on International Students’ Sense of Belonging”; Adrian-

Taylor, Noels, and Tischler, “Conflict Between International Graduate Students and Faculty
Supervisors.”
her commitment to her major but to learning and becoming a well-rounded indi-
vidual, an idea very much in line with the University of California pedagogical
philosophy27 which requires students to complete several courses outside of their
area of specialization (40/8–15):
Like I really wanted to take these classes so I can like explore a different view, but a
lot of people thought: oh, this is such a waste of time. I can’t even do more math or do
more C.S. anymore. And what they do is they pass-pass the course, they don’t really
go to the lecture a lot, so in the end, they don’t really learn almost anything. I feel like
that I don’t like this way. Ye::ah. Like I’ve been to really interesting breadth28 before
and I feel like they’re definitely worth my time of like actually seriously taking it.
From her statements, it is evident that she is convinced of the value of knowl-
edge and learning. She is fully invested in learning and finds it worthwhile. This
becomes a key point of demarcation from her peers in the highly competitive
environment of an elite university where many driven and ambitious students
invest all their efforts into excelling at their chosen major. For Amy, however,
the university experience holds more potential than “just” achieving excellence
in her given field. She wants to understand more about the world outside of her
field. She gives examples of philosophy and politics courses that really enriched
her life and gave her new perspectives. This shows her maturity as a student
and a learner, someone who appreciates the diverse courses a university like UC
Berkeley provides. It also shows that she values education deeply and sees it not
only as a means to achieve a career or upward mobility.
While a deep appreciation of learning could be associated with Chinese cul-
tural values, the idea of a well-rounded individual is more rooted in the American
educational system. Students such as Amy thus formed their own combination
of these two educational cultures, mixing different elements and incorporating
those which served them. A similar infusion with American ideals can be seen in
the following statement by Haidong in his criticism of the Chinese educational
system (24/4–9):
27 University of California Berkeley, “Seven-Course Breadth,” UC Berkeley Official Web-

page, 2020, https://lsadvising.berkeley.edu/degree-requirements/seven-course-breadth.
Accessed 24.9.2020.
28 The Breadth requirements at UC Berkeley: each student must take at least 7 classes outside
of their major: Breadth courses give students a view into the intellectual life of the Uni-
versity while introducing them to a multitude of perspectives and approaches to research
and scholarship, according to UC Berkeley pedagogical philosophy University of California
Berkeley.
What they (university administration) will do is they will still take you, and they’ll
assign you to a different major, and the students do not have any say in it. So that was
horrible for me. I see my five years here as solely escaping from that fate. Otherwise
I am may end up learning about something that I am not excited about. That don’t sit
well with me. I want to learn something I want. I’m escaping the probability of doing
something I don’t love. I don’t want that.
In his statement, he contrasts the Chinese educational system with assigned

majors to the American system, where students choose their majors freely. He
uses drastic words to express his displeasure with the Chinese system, calling
it “horrible” and wanting to “escape from that fate” as if it were completely
doomed. It is unimaginable to him that one might grow to love a subject one
was initially assigned to. Instead, he prefers to have the choice all to himself
and select something that he is passionate about. His strong individualistic values
are mirrored in sentences such as “I want to learn something I want.” His own
freedom and preference are paramount. This is in contrast to collectivistic orien-
tations frequently associated with Chinese upbringing, where the tendency might
be to subordinate one’s own desires to the benefit of the group.29 Previous gen-
erations of Chinese might have stated: “I will do whatever the party needs me to
do” or “I will do whatever my family wants.”30 Haidong’s statements could likely
be influenced by the American cultural environment surrounding him, where a
great emphasis is placed upon individualistic career choices. Individualistic ele-
ments such as passion, excitement, and a strong attachment to one’s chosen field
were associated with future success in a study of American undergraduates. Many
believed that without these individualistic connections to their majors, they would
not be able to excel.31
6.2.4 “I’m More Dedicated and Hard-Working than Others”
While personal freedom of choice was important for some students, others
emphasized a different point in their self-descriptions. Their commitment to hard
work and subsequent high-powered work ethic was apparent in the material.
Many students highlighted these aspects at the very beginning of the interview
and reiterated them often during the process. This makes it likely that they are
29 Hofstede and Hofstede, Lokales Denken, globales Handeln.

30 Liu, Modernization as Lived Experiences.
31 Lin et al., “What Must I Do to Succeed?”
key to their self-understanding. When introducing herself, for instance, Xiaoya

began her story in this way (162/11–16):
So initially I was admitted to the department of economics (…). Then I took a chance
to study a second degree in mathematics at the same university, but in a different
school. So from Monday to Friday I’m in econ department, and Saturday, Sunday and
any other holidays, I’m in math department.
While she does not explicitly state that she sees herself as more hard-working
than others, she later described other students as lazy and not dedicated enough.
She distinguished herself from them by describing her strict timetable, which does
not allow for any breaks while studying two demanding subjects simultaneously.
She also makes it clear that this choice was not driven by any external factors.
According to her, the decision to take on this extra workload was solely driven
by her love of learning and her personal interest in both subjects (although the
bureaucratic nightmare of changing one’s major in her previous university might
have contributed to such an arrangement). She wanted the extra challenge and
was dedicated enough to actually go through with it. Intellectual curiosity and
dedication to learning also became a key factor when choosing a social circle.
Statements such as the one below from Amy were not uncommon (42/42–45):
My friends are interesting enough for me to like them and be friends with them, and
they are also smart enough so that we can study together and I can get some help for
my study.
This statement elicits the question of whether not being able to study together
would be a hindrance for friendship. In any case, it seems as if she prefers
to surround herself with studious and high-performing classmates who would
be able to support her in her academic endeavors. While the competitive envi-
ronment undoubtedly contributed to such sentiments, academic performance and
dedication are nonetheless crucial distinguishing factors.
6.2.5 “I want to get an M.A. or Ph.D.”
The students’ commitment to learning and academic achievement also played

a role in their future plans: Out of twenty-two undergraduate students, sixteen
expressed the wish to pursue graduate education. Five students expressed the
goal to pursue a Ph.D. This seems like a disproportionately high number given
the young age of the students. Undergraduate studies are often seen as a time of
orientation. Especially in the United States, not all students need to or want to
pursue graduate studies. The search for an academic challenge seems to play a
key role in the students’ conviction that graduate school is the best way forward.
For instance, Hallie described studying abroad for graduate school as a more
intellectually challenging path (66/1–8):
Because it’s interesting, so I choose to go abroad. You know if I stay in China, I can
know what my life will be in five years. I will enter the graduate school, and perhaps
get a Ph.D. degree. It’s much easier in China. And I graduate, and get a job in a uni-
versity, and that’s boring. In China to get a PhD degree is much easier because less
workload. That’s much easier. Perhaps some of the top universities in China, it’s also
really difficult to get a Ph.D. degree but I think my hometown university not, it’s easier
to get a Ph.D. degree.
Even though the option of pursuing a Ph.D. degree in her hometown is described
as accessible and within her capabilities, she has little interest in it and finds
it unappealing: “… and that’s boring.” In fact, she reiterated that it was eas-
ier in China to get a Ph.D. four times. The statement: “Because it’s interesting
so I choose to go abroad.” says a great deal about her and her priorities. She
purposefully chose the more risky and possibly uncomfortable path because she
felt that there was more learning potential. In fact, most students perceived the
quality of education and research in China to be inferior to that of the United
Kingdom or the United States. This was further corroborated with examples from
their specific fields, such as criminology or special education, which were either
politically sensitive or underdeveloped in China.
Considering the prestige an overseas education confers upon graduates among
their Chinese family and friends, there may be hidden aspects of motivation not
mentioned here. Furthermore, the high value associated with education in Chinese
society and “the cultural model of upward mobility through academic achieve-
ment”32 may have been possible influences on Hallie and her attitude as portrayed
here. She seems to have some adventurous spirit in her as well, searching for cap-
tivating and fresh experiences. She does not specify that the interesting part of
living abroad is connected to academia. She merely states that getting a Ph.D.
in China would be “easier” and thus to her underwhelming and making her life
predictable in the sense that: “I can know what my life will be in five years.”
This sentiment is mirrored in Ye’s study of Chines doctoral students in the UK33 ,
32
Fong, Only Hope.
33
Ye, Intercultural Experience and Identity Narratives of Chinese Doctoral Students in the
UK, 2953–71.
whose participants expressed: “If you could anticipate everything, you will find
this very reassuring, but in the meanwhile, it becomes less interesting, right?”
And: “actually, we could have an easy life in China, right? Is there anything
that we cannot there, right?” For the doctoral student Peipei in Ye’s study, the
“easy life” that she could have had in China was not desirable, just as Hallie
felt that remaining in her hometown would have been uninteresting. Although
both women are aware of these alternative trajectories, the more traditional and
possibly gendered biography of staying in China i.e., finding a job, getting mar-
ried, and having a family, was not their preference. According to Ye, this life
trajectory is one where the students can be seen as reflexive and goal-oriented
agents of late modernity. By taking on the “thrill of risk-taking” and intentionally
exposing oneself to uncertainty34 , the future is colonized, and a life path consis-
tent with independence, courage, and goal orientation is plotted. As such, these
decisions are not about “how to act” but “who to be”, a lifestyle choice referred
by Giddens.
6.2.6 “Others are Better than me”
While some students identified with and internalized the importance of learning,
not all were so much in accord with the predetermined norms in this regard.
This section serves to illustrate the alternative narratives which were infrequent
but recurring among my sample. One student reversed the identity construct of
a dedicated learner and placed being unmotivated in her studies at the center of
her identity narrative.
She said (108/19–21):
Myself, oh well, I have to say that I’m not a really good student cause it’s how I define
myself. Yes. Because I, every weekend, I watch at least two movies.
Her definition of not being a good student hinges on not spending 100% of her
time studying. This is revealing of the competitive environment as well as the
high standard she apparently holds herself to. Seeing her friends and classmates
dedicate most of their weekends to homework and exam preparation, she sees
herself as a slacker who cares more for enjoyment than academic results. By
many other standards, it would be questionable if watching two movies on the
weekend is too much. In her further remarks, it became clear that studying is

simply not her priority, even though she was still able to perform satisfacto-
rily in terms of exams and grades. Those students who were motivated but not
high-performing would probably not be so casual about defining themselves as
“not good students”. Indeed, it came with a great deal of frustration as Mayu, a
recently arrived freshman, described (117/21–24):
I think it’s my problem, because students here are very hard-working and very out-
standing. I need to go see my adviser to ask her to give me some advice and some
learning strategies so that I can learn better. Maybe it’s my problem, I think.
In this student’s case seeing her peers outperform her was not something she
could easily cope with. Instead, it motivated her to better herself. However, such
descriptions could also be influenced by cultural values of modesty. It could
be seen as impolite to attribute excellence or extraordinary talent to oneself.
Speaking highly of others and modestly of one’s own achievements—or like this
student speaking of others’ achievements and one’s own struggles—is sometimes
considered the more appropriate social protocol.35
This can also be seen in external attributions of success, such as this one from
Wenzi (142/36–44):
So to be honest I’m not really the kind of person that could capable of anything and
I’m not really good at statistics, to be honest (…) I still got the support from my pro-
fessors, and I still got the support from the friends around me, and they helped me so
much and that’s how I ended here.
She attributes her success in entering a prestigious university largely to her

support system of teachers and peers and not to her own abilities. In doing
so, she diminished her own accomplishments while amplifying the role of her
surrounding.
6.2.7 Discussion
To sum up, the students seem to hold strongly internalized values of learning.
For many of them, studying is not only something that is expected of them but
also something they see as worthwhile, enjoyable, and coming close to the ideal
35Ana Sofia Gonzalez, The Influence of Cultural Contexts in Learners’ Attributions for Suc-
cess and Failure in Foreign Language Learning (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars
Publ, 2015).
life (such as Xuanyi with her ideal of truth-seeking as the only meaningful life
goal). This high regard for learning comes together with an idealization of higher
education and academic achievement, which is evident in the students’ expressed
desires to continue to graduate studies. However, such wishes may be influenced
by the cultural model of upward mobility put forward by Fong36 and examined
in detail in section 5.2. It is also worth mentioning that the observations from
my study in this regard run parallel to the research findings of Yuan, Li, and
Yu at Chinese universities.37 They found that many students took up the iden-
tity as a “dedicated learner” with a strong desire towards academic success in
the university. The researchers attributed the formation of such an identity to the
increasingly fierce competition in the job market. The cutthroat situation on the
job market as well as in the university environment may contribute to the stu-
dents positioning as enthusiastic learners. Their whole life, they have been told
that learning is a certain pathway to success. In this way, academic excellence has
become enmeshed with the ideals of “a good life” and subsequently appreciation
from family and society. It is, therefore, almost logical that the students chose
to identify with such ideals and portray themselves as very much in line with
following them. When considering such identifications vis-à-vis Giddens theo-
ries, it is questionable whether this identity category can truly be viewed as an
alternative, fresh identity category creatively constructed by the students. In this
case, I would argue that the students are re-interpreting certain cultural frame-
works to their own end. This is especially true of the amalgamation of cultural
elements from the two cultural contexts. It is evident that the students make sense
of their intercultural experience in combining values, viewpoints, and behavioral
patterns from both American and Chinese cultural backgrounds. Lastly, the stu-
dents’ commitment and dedication to hard work remains to be mentioned. From
an intercultural point of view, the glorification of labor, as well as the societal
recognition hard-working individuals receive, are a common element of both Chi-
nese and American value systems.38 It is quite possible that the students who are
already familiar with these values from their native contexts have witnessed a
confirmation or even amplification after their arrival in the United States. The
influence of the model minority stereotype as the key perception of this group
from the host society should not be underestimated in the process. As mentioned
36 Fong, Only Hope.

37 Yuan, Li, and Yu, “Neither ‘Local’ nor ‘Global,’” 969–70.
38 Yue Pan et al., “A Cross-cultural Investigation of Work Values among Young Executives in
China and the USA,” ed. Alan Kai Ming AU, Cross Cultural Management: An International
Journal 17, no. 3 (August 2010): 283–98, https://doi.org/10.1108/13527601011068379.
6.3 People Person 151
previously, however, it is not assumed that this reckoning happens on a conscious

level for the students.
While this chapter has aimed to analyze those narratives which emphasize
academic prowess and love of learning a central to their self-identifications, the
following chapter will look into the group of students who distinguish them-
selves from their peers not through academic rigor or curiosity but through their
gregariousness.
6.3 People Person
Students, who are not academically inclined, lean into a different type of ambition
than the Enthusiastic Learners to distinguish themselves from their peers. The
identity narratives presented in the following chapter center on superior social
skills, meaning the ability to interact and communicate effectively, reach out
and form new connections, as well as empathize with others. The youngsters
described in this chapter considered their social abilities to be more well devel-
oped than those of their peers. From the point of view of this group of students,
such interpersonal skills make them ideal management material, or in their own
words: leaders. This category will be addressed in detail in the following chapter.

Most of us who have attended an American University have seen the Chinese student.
We know him to be a clean, serious, earnest, thorough young man or woman, enthu-
siastic about the academic activities of the campus, little participating in the athletic
activities. Have we realized that these Chinese students in our American universities
are going back to be leaders in Chinese life, and that they are here obtaining that train-
ing which will enable them to achieve that leadership and wield it for the common
good?39
As Percival Symonds accurately observed in 1923, foreign-educated Chinese

often landed influential leadership positions in politics, business, and education
upon their return to China. Although Western-educated intellectuals were dis-
credited as a group after 1957, numerous examples of prominent ex-students can
be found: Hu Shi, who attended Columbia and Cornell universities and emerged
39Percival Symonds, “A Study of the Traits of Chinese Students in America,” Journal of

Educational Psychology 14, no. 1 (1923): 63–64.
as the chief spokesperson for the May Fourth Cultural Movement; Zhu Kezhe, a
Harvard-trained meteorologist who served as the vice president of the Academy
of Natural Sciences in the People’s Republic; Zhao Yuanren, a pioneer in China
in the fields of linguistics and musicology, whose Chinese-language textbooks
are still being used by universities across America; and Zhang Pengchun, a
Columbia-trained educator who contributed significantly to the development of
both Qinghua and Nankai, two highly acclaimed universities in twentieth-century
China, and who also helped introduce modern theater to China.40 The legacy of
these and many other influential foreign-educated intellectuals contributed to the
prestige and reputation of studying abroad in general and of American universi-
ties specifically. In this light, it is perhaps not surprising that many of the students
in my study consider themselves the leaders of tomorrow. Full of ambition and
confidence, this group of students portrayed themselves as managers-to-be and
visionaries with superior social skills. Experiences of being the praised only child
(s. Section 5.2) from their familial contexts, as well as the desire to justify the
sizeable financial investment of studying abroad, may further contribute to their
identification with leadership. However, they are not megalomaniacs. Underneath
their ambition lies a profound public spirit, a sincere interest in their surroundings
as well as an idealism typical of this age group.
6.3.2 “I Love People—I am Outgoing”
While students in the other categories pointed out their academic prowess (enthu-
siastic learner) or their worldliness (global citizen), some students chose to
highlight their sociability, likability, and extroversion. This became a distinguish-
ing maker in their narratives when they compared themselves to their friends and
classmates. As detailed by Wenzi, a graduate student in statistics (139/48):
I am a very outgoing person, so, but many of them are (…) introverted person. I would
say that’s the difference.
Juliane, an English major and junior, specifically mentions her distinctness from
her more academically inclined friends when describing herself (113/36–39):
97.
As you see, I’m really outgoing and love making friends. But many of my Chinese
friends, they are shy, and they think the most important thing here studying here is to
get a high score, gets high grades, get A plus, A.
The life of striving for academic excellence was not really enough for her. She
later explained that her classmates’ excessive studying bored her. She wanted to
explore her new surrounding and enjoyed socializing with locals. She felt that her
friends’ “shyness” often hindered them from immersing themselves in the new
environment (114/20–26):
When we have a trip together and think that: Oh, they need some help from the pas-
sengers, just like when they get lost. And really, I feel it’s really easy to seek for
help because I think I am friendly, and I think all the other passengers around me are
friendly, so they are willing to help me. Cause if they offer some… If they show they
need something, I would offer some help too. But my friends don’t think so. They are
shy to…They think this makes some trouble to others.
Even though she defended her friends by saying (114/28): “I don’t think shy
people are not good. I admire them because they have much more inner power
in their mind.”, it became clear that, in her eyes, shyness was not useful for
overcoming cultural barriers. She felt that (114/31–33): “as an open person, as
the outgoing person I’m more easy to overcome the culture shock or something.
I think so.” Research in the field of intercultural psychology has indeed indicated
that personality traits such as openness and extroversion alleviate sociocultural
adaptation, and individuals who scored high on these personality traits might be
better suited for international relocation.41 Among the group of Chinese students,
a high amount of intercultural contact with peers and teachers, was also shown
to facilitate students’ adjustment process.42 For Juliane, the process of getting to
know local people and their way of life is exciting and fun. The positive aspects
of intercultural exchange clearly outweigh the emotional challenges of culture
shock, in her opinion. She recounted (114/15–19):
41 Michael B. Harari et al., “Personality and Expatriate Adjustment: A Meta-Analysis,” Jour-
nal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 91, no. 3 (September 2018): 486–517,
https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12215.
42 Virginia M. Tong, “Understanding the Acculturation Experience of Chinese Adolescent
Students: Sociocultural Adaptation Strategies and a Positive Bicultural and Bilingual Iden-
tity,” Bilingual Research Journal 37, no. 1 (January 2, 2014): 83–100, https://doi.org/10.
1080/15235882.2014.893462.
I think, for me, the culture shock is enjoyable because after the culture shock, I’m sup-
posed to make some improvement. And I just improve myself cause I know another
kind of culture (…) But most of my friends don’t think so. They just shy, and they
don’t know to make friends with local people.
Similarly, Haidong felt that restricting his contacts to other Chinese would deprive
him of a unique learning opportunity. He assumed that other Chinese would have
similar experiences and backgrounds as he did, and could thus not bring much
novelty into the conversation. He expressed it in this way (29/28–33):
I’m a business major. I talk to people so I don’t want to talk to people I’ve been talking
to my entire high school, middle school. I want to get to know new things. I know
them already, well, now I don’t really know them, I don’t want to know them, I want
to know the better version more. It’s not something interesting to me or attract my
attention.
Even though he was aware that he was making an assumption about his Chi-
nese classmates not being interesting, he remained steadfast in his opinion that
it would not be worthwhile to spend time with them. His desire for new knowl-
edge and perspectives drove him to connect with students from more diverse
backgrounds—local or international from other countries—as well as locals from
different age groups and professions. He was proud of making friends with an
elderly American woman whom he had met on a study tour. He referred to
her affectionately by her nickname Kiki and told me how hearing about her
unconventional career trajectory as a writer and activist had really enriched
his life and made him think more deeply about what he wanted. It is worth
pointing out here that Haidong attributed a great deal of homogeneity to his
classmates—whether this is accurate and goes beyond obvious linguistic and cul-
tural similarities remains questionable. In further distinguishing himself from his
Chinese classmates, Haidong also mentioned the aspect of “face” or mianzi 面子.
When learning a new language and navigating a new cultural surrounding, making
mistakes—be it grammatically incorrect sentences or occasionally putting one’s
foot in one’s mouth in awkward social situations—is obviously unavoidable, and
the concept of face can contribute to being overly cautious in trying to avoid such
blunders. A longitudinal study by Min Wang at the University of Alabama has
given evidence of this.43 Haidong observed the issue and succinctly summarized
it (20/41–45):
43Min Wang, “The Impact of Cultural Values on Chinese Students in American Higher Edu-
cation:,” The Qualitative Report, April 3, 2016, https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2016.
2225.
And I’m a very outgoing person. I’m not afraid of making mistakes. As long as people
can understand me, that’s my goal. Personal opinion here, language is not something
that we use to take the exams. It’s something we use as human being for others to
understand our feelings, our thoughts. I don’t care about the face problem as many
Chinese students do here.
His understanding of communication as connection between people has helped

him overcome his pride and furthered not only his language skills but also
his intercultural adaptation. It can be assumed that Haidong has witnessed the
struggles of other Chinese who are more concerned with their appearance and
reputation to follow in his footsteps, which leads him to the premise that they
must care more about face than he does. He sees being outgoing and unafraid of
mistakes as a unique attribute that sets him apart from his classmates. However,
as research by Jingyue Maeder-Qian44 has indicated, personal attributes may not
be the only factor hindering interpersonal connection between Chinese interna-
tional students and their local peers. In a study of Chinese students in Germany,
she found that not only do modes of socialization vary among different student
groups but that Chinese students disliked “the favorite means of socialization of
most young people in the West” such as parties and sports. Even outgoing Chi-
nese might not feel comfortable in such settings due to intercultural differences.
This aspect is not considered in the narrative of Haidong. In his case, social skills
became something he could be proud of. This can also be seen in Bianca’s case.
As a psychology major, who needed to be socially well versed for her career
goal of becoming a therapist, she described her social skills as her only talent
(122/27–30):
I’m like super into people. I think that’s also saying I am good at this. I’m just gonna
keep this pace and just head on in. To use my talent. Yeah just. Like talk with people.
And I think it’s also like the only thing I think I’m good at.
From her statement it can be deduced that she sees her communicative finesse as
her only strongpoint but she also seems to enjoy social engagements. She further
explained (123/1–3):
I just really like people. I have this super strong instinct. Or I have this naturally born
talented on understanding what are you thinking about. I mean, I just can have a lot
of information when you’re talking to people.
44 Maeder-Qian, “Intercultural Experiences and Cultural Identity Reconstruction of Multi-

lingual Chinese International Students in Germany,” 583.
The ability to communicate and empathize with others was equated with coordi-
nation and management. Some students also delineated such social or managerial
skills from other competences.
This is evident in Zhaohui’s descriptions of her goal to one day run her own
company (34/12–14):
I feel like my ability is I can do leadership, I can organize my team, rather than do
some like real skill, like technical skills. Ye::ah, that’s my skill.
The difference of “real skills” and social skills was especially pronounced for
her as a double-degree student majoring in computer science and business. She
uses the terminology of hard technical skills versus soft skills prevalent in the
IT industry but exaggerated it a bit when she characterized leadership abilities
as not real. Social skills may not be as tangible as technical expertise such as
programming, but such skills are nonetheless a valuable asset for individuals and
companies alike.
6.3.3 “I want to Influence People”
The logical next question that arises for students after they have attested superior
social skills to themselves is how to use these skills and to what end. In this
sense, the students estimate their communicative abilities to be quite powerful.
This includes social and intercultural skills. In Haidong’s words (20/28–29):
For me, I always say, if there is a problem, let’s solve it. And if I know your culture, I
can get you to do anything. (…) I admire that phrase very much and I believe in that
very much. If I know your culture I can get you to do anything.
For him, convincing people to follow his ideas is positively connoted. While it
could potentially also be seen as manipulation, he equates it with being a leader
and role model. He continues his train of thought in this way (28/48–29/2):
I want to influence the people surrounding me, giving them the American values that
I inherited from these past five or six years, making them a better person, but also
giving my family a better life.
His goal is to influence his classmates and peers, both those of Chinese origin
and locals. It could be deduced from his descriptions that he views his way of
life and specifically the American values he has learned during his stay abroad
as clearly superior in comparison with the people around him. In this sense, he
sees himself as a self-appointed ambassador for the American way of life. This
becomes clear in the following statement (21/3–9):
For what I’m having is what I think is the good part of my culture I try to influence
them. That’s how a society evolves, that’s how people get better and better every day.
If people never think about others, never put themselves in others shoes, we never
learn, we never grow, never develop. And I think that’s a core problem for many inter-
national students. They need to be open-minded and thinking creatively and critically
here in the States.
In his opinion, his outgoing nature and expertise in the field of self-optimization
have made him successful enough in his context that he feels entitled to give
advice to others. He understands what they need to do, such as “be open-minded”
and think creatively. In doing so, he claims that they—his friends and peers—
will get be able to improve their lives. For a 21-year-old student without any
experience outside of the educational system, he yields an impressive amount
of confidence (or ignorance). It is interesting to note here the contrasting nature
of Haidong’s statements. On the one hand, he calls on others to be more open-
minded; on the other hand, his harsh judgments of Chinese culture, as well as
his understanding of Chinese as an extremely homogenous group, is not exactly
open-minded either. Similarly, he insists that critical thinking is vital, while he is
not critical of his own person.
Yiwei’s ambitions are even loftier than Haidong’s. She wants to influence
not only her surroundings but leave a lasting impact on society. This obviously
exceeds her friends’ more humble objectives of self-optimization.
She expressed herself in this way (6/37–41):
Some of them (her friends) say: I want self-development, I want to be a better version
of myself every day, I want to be a better self when I die. But I feel like that’s not
enough for me. I feel like I want to influence others or the society. I feel like that’s
how I got my satisfaction.
This statement shows her self-confidence and drive. She is not content with
merely improving herself and her own life. She believes that she has knowledge
and ability not only to improve the lives of people around her, but also everyone
in society. Such overarching confidence and ambition could be connected to the
vast sums these students’ families are spending on their education. Youngsters
such as Yiwei and Haidong may feel a need to justify their family’s expendi-
tures, and this may take the form of confident narratives. Obviously, such strong
self-conviction have also served them well in the past and possibly contributed
to their successful entrance into an American institution. Haidong’s case proves
a point. He became a student representative due to his being “energetic, loving to
help and having great ideas for other school-related stuff” (25/10) which led to
“the administrative staff and other people in the school they loved me.” He then
used this position to his advantage (25/13–16):
Every school has a certain number of students can participate (in a study abroad pro-
gram). When that nomination came to my school, they hand out the hand to me first.
They asked me to distribute and select the participants. I selected myself.
While his strong social skills enabled him to be in a position of influence, it

was his ambition, opportunism, and entitlement that more directly contributed
to his placement in the study abroad program of his school. This dynamic was
possibly enhanced by his dissatisfaction with the Chinese education system and
his sentiment of not fitting in, as detailed in Section 5.2. where he attributed only
very slim chances of success to someone with his outgoing personality type.
Such convictions possibly made it more appealing for him to select himself for
the opportunity to go abroad rather than giving a chance for his classmates to
compete. Although the moral of his actions could be questioned, he was proud
of his previous behavior and shared this story with no regrets. He appeared as
someone who is willing to game the system in order to get ahead, and such
cunningness in his eyes made him suitable for leadership positions.
6.3.4 “I am Shy”
While the outgoing types were numerous and vocal, they were certainly not the
majority. Self-selection bias should also be taken into account. It is possible that
more outgoing and self-confident personality types would feel more enticed to
participate in a research interview. Around one-quarter of the students highlighted
shyness in their self-introductions. This was frequently connected to a lack of
language fluency and other acculturation challenges. The following description
of the time immediately following the start of their studies from Yingkang, a
recent arrival at UC Berkeley meets several criteria of culture shock according
to theories first put forth by Canadian anthropologist Kalervo Oberg.45 Yingkang

explains her state of shock and disillusionment (51/45–52/3):
When I arrive here, what I want to do is just stay at home. I don’t know why. During
a period, about maybe one week ago, I just don’t, didn’t dare to go outside the house.
I even didn’t dare to go shopping. I’m just afraid of talking to others. Because what
they are talking is a little bit different from what I learned in China in the English.
Fear and stress stem from her unfamiliarity with the new environment led to a
desire for seclusion. She also mentions shyness in the sense of being afraid of
getting in touch with others but quickly points out that it is connected to language
difficulties. Similarly, LiangYue construes shyness as a common feature of all her
Chinese international classmates: “Although we come from different university,
different area of China, we are all a little shy.” However, she is aware that this
might not be most people’s dominant personality trait (151/31–38):
Maybe it’s not our personality. We may maybe not act like this in China because there
is no language problem. But here when the professor or the teacher ask some ques-
tions, and everybody is silence. Yeah, because it’s kind of like you need to think about
what you should say, and you need to make sure I will be saying makes sense so just
don’t have they don’t want to make mistake in front of people. So just don’t talk. It’s
not just about loosing face.
She brings up the topic of face, as mentioned by Haidong. The wish to avoid
embarrassment and mistakes apparently and understandably leads students to hold
back in class (or other social situations). While Haidong makes a point of over-
coming this—he mentions explicitly that making mistakes is an essential part of
the learning process—LiangYue is not at that point. She still very much cares
about not saying grammatically incorrect sentences and will prefer not to speak
at all if she is unsure. This section aimed to provide an alternative narrative to
that of the extroverted People Person, as it should be clear that not all partici-
pants of my study fell into this category. The following section will look into the
possible background of the formation of the narratives detailed in this chapter.
45Kalervo Oberg, “Cultural Shock: Adjustment to New Cultural Environments,” Practi-

cal Anthropology os-7, no. 4 (July 1960): 177–82, https://doi.org/10.1177/009182966000
700405.
6.3.5 Discussion
Several cultural and environmental factors should be considered as contributing

to the emergence of this particular narrative. Firstly, the highly competitive cam-
pus of a world-class institution such as the University of California Berkeley
could pressure students to accentuate their talents and strengths in their self-
presentations. Those who are not academically gifted or inclined may choose to
highlight other aspects of their personality, such as social skills and leadership
potential. The substantial cost of studying abroad could further reinforce this ten-
dency. The students may feel compelled to condone their parents’ considerable
spending and search for reasons why it is legitimate. After all, the narrative that
their parents are wasting their hard-earned money on them is not very satisfying
and does not contribute to a stable sense of self. The vital sense of coherence
in a narrative, according to Antonovsky46 and Giddens could not be achieved
with such a storyline. Consequently, the students form a narrative that includes
their extensive abilities and promising future careers in management as a central
element. Such a view on themselves and their capabilities ties into the percep-
tion of education as an investment and a pathway to upward mobility, as detailed
by Yang47 and Fong48 (s. Section 5.2). Lastly, the different cultural assessment
of shyness or extroversion could play a role. According to a study conducted
by Xu and colleagues49 , Americans tended to view shyness as social incom-
petence. In contrast, shyness or social inhibition was associated with maturity
and self-control in Chinese culture. The students may be taking these different
cultural meanings into account in constructing their identity narratives. The posi-
tive outcome associated with gregariousness and the subsequent emphasis placed
upon this characteristic may reflect the students’ adaptation to their new cultural
environment. In other words: students may have an understanding that this char-
acteristic is specifically valued in their American surrounding and subconsciously
include it in their identity narratives. The students who choose to highlight their
shyness might be more connected to their native contexts still, either recently
46 Antonovsky and Sagy, “The Development of a Sense of Coherence and Its Impact on
Responses to Stress Situations.”
American Universities.

49 Yiyuan. Xu et al., “Moving Away or Fitting In?: Understanding Shyness in Chinese Chil-
dren,” Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 53, no. 4 (2007): 527–56, https://doi.org/10.1353/mpq.

2008.0005.
6.4 Global Citizen 161
arrived and not yet immersed in American culture, or more inclined to consider a
future in China. As mentioned previously, these reckonings may be happening on
a subconscious level and be more intuitive than rational. For instance, students
are most likely not aware of the exact historical details of studying abroad as hav-
ing led to influential positions in society for previous generations of Chinese but
may still have a vague understanding of this being on an auspicious path towards
a comfortable life and successful career. The narratives in this chapter overlap
with those of the following: Global Citizen. For both groups of students, being
outgoing and immersed in American society is essential. The subtle difference,
in my opinion, lies in the desire for leadership which is more pronounced among
this group. The next chapter will examine the category of Global Citizen more
closely.
6.4 Global Citizen
Similar to the People Person-type, another group of students also emphasized

their social talents. In contrast to the previously mentioned group, they fore-
grounded the aspect of intercultural competence and placed it at the core of their
identity narratives. They see themselves as glamorous globe-trotters with inter-
national travel experience and fluency in several languages. I will investigate the
construction of this narrative in depth in the following chapter, beginning with
a short introduction to the general discourse surrounding the notion of global
citizenship.
In recent decades, the concept of global citizenship has increasingly been at the
forefront of academic and political discourse. The traditional concept of citizen-
ship as membership of and participation within a nation-state has been challenged
and reshaped in the context of globalization.50 The increasing flow of resources,
people, and ideologies across borders has “blurred boundaries of citizenship
rights and obligations, broadening the way in which citizenship is understood
50Rebecca Grimwood, “Producing Global Citizens? How New Zealand Universities Imple-
ment the Concept of Global Citizenship,” 2018, 97.
and debated.”51 Matthews and Sidhu add that: “contemporary interest in global
citizenship is prompted by the need to explore alternative understandings of loy-
alties, membership, identities, rights, and obligations arising in the context of
globalization.”52
However, understanding of two crucial categories—global citizen and global
citizenship—remains a subject of debate.53 That debate is due to their various
theoretical and ideological underpinnings, as well as diverse meanings associated
with them: from Kantian cosmopolitanism, through the neoliberal ideal of “the
citizen of the world,” to the notion of the critical, engaged global citizen.54 For
some scholars, global citizenship implies “universality and a deep commitment
to a broader moral purpose”, while for others it cannot exist, due to the “absence
of a ruling authority (e.g. a world government) on which to base such an idea
of citizenship”.55 Some see global citizenship as a “descriptive term, intended
to capture various cross-border identities, relationships and allegiances that have
been developing during the current period of intensive globalization”.56 The term
connects moral and political ideas, promotes engagement with or acceptance of
multiple worldviews, signals a move away from national ties and places a greater
51 Engin Isin and Bryan Turner, Handbook of Citizenship Studies (1 Oliver’s Yard, 55 City
Road, London EC1Y 1SP United Kingdom: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2002), 4, https://doi.
org/10.4135/9781848608276.
52 Julie Matthews and Ravinder Sidhu, “Desperately Seeking the Global Subject: Interna-
tional Education, Citizenship and Cosmopolitanism,” Globalisation, Societies and Education

3, no. 1 (March 2005): 53, https://doi.org/10.1080/14767720500046179.
53 Nigel Dower and John Williams, Global Citizenship A Critical Introduction, 2016, https://
public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=4511846; Hans Schattle,

“Education for Global Citizenship: Illustrations of Ideological Pluralism and Adaptation,”
Journal of Political Ideologies 13, no. 1 (February 2008): 73–94, https://doi.org/10.1080/135
69310701822263.
54 Magdalena Kuleta-Hulboj, “The Global Citizen as an Agent of Change: Ideals of the
Global Citizen in the Narratives of Polish NGO Employees,” Journal for Critical Educa-
tion Policy Studies 14, no. 3 (2016): 220; Dower and Williams, Global Citizenship A Critical
Introduction; Martha Nussbaum, “Education for Citizenship in an Era of Global Connection,”
Studies in Philosophy and Education 21 (2002): 289–303.
55 Laura Oxley and Paul Morris, “Global Citizenship: A Typology for Distinguishing Its
Multiple Conceptions,” British Journal of Educational Studies 61, no. 3 (September 2013):
303, https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2013.798393.
56 Linda S. Bosniak, “Citizenship Denationalized,” SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000, 449,
https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.232082.
focus on collective responsibility for global issues.57 While these basic founda-
tions of global citizenship are generally accepted, there is an absence of consensus
on the practical value and meaning of the concept. Definitions in the literature
can range from a vague sense of global belonging to participation in global politic
to a desire for a world government.58 When critically evaluating this concept, I
find it worth pointing out that the international mobility associated with global
citizenship ideals is usually connected to vast amounts of cultural and economic
capital. This remains attainable only for the privileged few, mostly from indus-
trialized countries.59 It is not a lifestyle nor an identification that is available to
every unskilled migrant who would like to benefit from the opportunities of a
globalized economy. Not every migrant is afforded freedom of movement with
existing visa restrictions in place. Only few, usually highly skilled or wealthy
migrants, have the ability to transition between national contexts frequently.
6.4.2 “Global Citizen” in the Chinese Context
During the past decade, Chinese educators have joined educators in other coun-
tries in trying to add global content to curricula. The international divisions of
many public high schools in China have touted the value that they place on global
education, sometimes explicitly framing this value in terms of global citizenship.
The Chinese government apparently is concerned about the content of citizenship
education due to its affinity with Western democracy and its potential to be devoid
of national identity. Ma recounted that educators engaged in teaching courses on
citizenship education were pressured by the municipal government. One such
57 Valerie Clifford and Catherine Montgomery, “Challenging Conceptions of Western Higher

Education and Promoting Graduates as Global Citizens: Promoting Graduates as Global Cit-
izens,” Higher Education Quarterly 68, no. 1 (January 2014): 28–45, https://doi.org/10.1111/
hequ.12029; Kevin Lyons et al., “Gap Year Volunteer Tourism,” Annals of Tourism Research
39, no. 1 (January 2012): 361–78, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2011.04.016.
58 Grimwood, “Producing Global Citizens? How New Zealand Universities Implement the
Concept of Global Citizenship,” 98–99; Elena VanderDussen Toukan, “Educating Citizens

of ‘the Global’: Mapping Textual Constructs of UNESCO’s Global Citizenship Education
2012–2015,” Education, Citizenship and Social Justice 13, no. 1 (March 2018): 53, https://
doi.org/10.1177/1746197917700909; Ian Davies, Mark Evans, and Alan Reid, “Globalis-
ing Citizenship Education? A Critique of ‘Global Education’ and ‘Citizenship Education,’”
British Journal of Educational Studies 53, no. 1 (March 2005): 68–70, https://doi.org/10.
1111/j.1467-8527.2005.00284.x.
59 Vanessa Andreotti, ed., The Political Economy of Global Citizenship Education, 1st
published (London and New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2014), 33.
course was eventually renamed from “global citizenship” to “global outlook,

Chinese heart.”60 According to Ma, the Chinese government’s sensitivity is not
surprising because the concepts of citizenship and global citizenship are rooted in
the discourse of Western democratic institutions. Especially the advocacy-based
forms of global citizenship related to civil or human rights activism are hard to
enact among Chinese students and may be viewed as undesirable by the Chinese
government. Ma concludes:
The Chinese government, conversely, has been pursuing and promoting social har-
mony and stability in the face of various kinds of social tensions and injustices in its
fast-changing society. The last thing it wants is to nurture a form of education that
promotes outrage and, thus, potential instability.61
However, cosmopolitan-based understandings of global citizenship are

widespread among Chinese, as shown in a study by Hui Han.62 Other schol-
ars, such as Cheng, Lin, and Aiai point out, that concepts of cosmopolitanism
are not confined to western civilization.63 As Appiah64 argues, the ideal of cos-
mopolitanism has independently existed all around the world at various times in
history. In his comprehensive history of civic ideals, Heater compares the concept
of greater unity in Confucianism to “the world commonwealth in which all men
once strove for general welfare and harmony and which should be restored”.65
He concludes that this is quite similar to cosmopolitans’ allegiance to humankind.
However, given the limitations on citizenship education in China, Chinese stu-
dents seem to have more opportunities to engage with such ideas after they come
to the United States. Courses on citizenship or global citizenship are popular

61 Ma, 15908.
62 Hui Han et al., “Exploring Perceptions of Intercultural Citizenship among English Learn-
ers in Chinese Universities,” in From Principles to Practice in Education for Intercultural

Citizenship, ed. Michael Byram et al., Languages for Intercultural Communication and Edu-
cation (Bristol, UK; Tonawanda, NY: Multilingual Matters, 2017), 25–44.
63 Baoyan Cheng, Le Lin, and Fan Aiai, “The New Journey to the West: Chinese Students’
International Mobility,” 2020.

64 Kwame Anthony Appiah, “Education for Global Citizenship,” in Why Do We Educate?
Renewing the Conversation., ed. David Coulter, John Wiens, and Gary Fenstermacher (Hobo-
ken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2008), 85.
65 Derek Benjamin Heater, Citizenship: The Civic Ideal in World History, Politics, and Edu-
cation, 3rd ed (Manchester; New York: New York: Manchester University Press; Distributed
exclusively in the USA by Palgrave, 2004).
freshman electives in the universities of this study, thus further bringing such
discourses to the forefront of the students’ consciousness.
The typology presented by Oxley and Morris serves as a theoretical tool in
categorizing the students’ perceptions of global citizenship. Oxley and Morris
identified eight prevailing conceptions of global citizenship and grouped them
into two types66 : cosmopolitan and advocacy. According to them, cosmopoli-
tan types dominate the literature on the subject and hence can be perceived as
mainstream.
Cosmopolitan types include:
– Political global citizenship, which focuses on the relationship between the

individual and the state.
– Moral global citizenship, rooted in Stoicism and in Kantian cosmopolitanism
and focused on the ethical aspects of global community, on the idea of human
rights and moral obligations.
– Economic global citizenship, which brings into focus “the interplay between
power, forms of capital, labor, resources and the human condition”67
– Cultural global citizenship, which promotes values of cultural awareness and
highlights the role of cultural symbols uniting and dividing people.
– Advocacy types of global citizenship are described by Oxley and Morris
as embracing “more relativistic or holistic (anti-individualistic) ideologies”.68
This category includes:
– Social global citizenship, which manifests itself mainly through civil society
organizations working toward global community and focuses on interconnec-
tions and interdependencies;
– Critical global citizenship rooted in critical, post-colonial and post-
development theories and promoting deconstruction and critique of social
norms, institutions and structures reproducing inequalities and oppression. The
proponents of this type advocate action to improve the lives of those who have
been marginalized and to be responsible towards them—not for them.
– Environmental global citizenship, which focuses on environmental issues, both
from ecocentric and, more often, anthropocentric positions with the main con-
cept of sustainable development. It advocates changes in human actions in
relation to the environment.
66 Oxley and Morris, “Global Citizenship.”

67 Oxley and Morris, 6.
68 Oxley and Morris, 11.
– Spiritual global citizenship, which “generally promotes a form of a holism and

connections between faith (or emotion) and our relationship to the world”69 .
It includes faith-based conceptions of global citizenship.
These definitions and different types will serve as a framework for the analysis
of my data in the following section. The material indicated that self-identification
as a global citizen was central to the students’ identity narratives. Reiterations,
detailed elaborations, and prolonged lingering on the topic also point in this direc-
tion. The analysis of the students’ global citizenship narratives shows that their
understandings of the term almost exclusively fall into the cosmopolitan-based
category. Their definitions and ideas of what constitutes a global citizen are most
closely aligned with Oxley and Morris’ categories of “cultural global citizen” and
“economic global citizen”. While several students explicitly made use of the term
“global citizen”, others spoke about related concepts such as cultural awareness,
critical reflection of stereotypes, and intercultural competence70 .
The interviewees often mentioned their international travels or encounters
with different cultures even though such topics were not explicitly raised by the
interviewer. Usually, the topic came up naturally when discussing either future
plans or interactions with classmates on the American campus. Most of the stu-
dents’ plans for the immediate future of the next three to five years involved at
least one international move, either back to China or “wherever the opportunity
arises,” although most wanted to gain several years of working experience in
the USA before leaving. Several participants specifically welcomed international
mobility for career-related reasons. Some expressed a preference for working
for international companies which could facilitate expat life or business trav-
els. When discussing relations with their classmates, the distinguishing marker
of being more open-minded, well-travelled or immersed in American culture
emerged. The constructed “other” in this peer group was frequently the with-
drawn, shy Chinese classmate who preferred socializing and cohabitating within
the ethnic community (or alternatively the locally oriented, sedentary Ameri-
can). Although students were careful in their phrasing, avoiding negative language
when describing such classmates, they nonetheless clarified that this “other” was
distinct from them and their social group and thus not their desired choice of
69Oxley and Morris, 15.

70“Intercultural competence is the ability to communicate effectively in cross-cultural sit-
uations and to relate appropriately in a variety of cultural contexts. (…). The intercultural
skillset includes the ability to analyze interaction, predict misunderstanding, and fashion
adaptive behavior.”
Landis, Bennett, and Bennett, Handbook of Intercultural Training, 149.
friend. The demarcations between out- and in-group ran along the line of global-
mindedness and interest or immersion in American culture. Confrontation with
a white, foreign researcher could have augmented the release of such identi-
fications. Advertising the search for participants in Chinese (Mandarin) and on
Chinese-language social media (WeChat), as well as providing the option of using
Chinese as the primary language of the interview (s. Chapter 2), were meant to
counter-balance self-selection of participants. Although self-selection could have
played a role regardless of these cautionary measures, the material also shows
counter-narratives of culture shock, homesickness, and the preference of one’s
own comfort zone. These will also be addressed, albeit briefly, in this chapter.
6.4.3 “I Really Like Learning Languages”
As has been shown in numerous studies, exposure to different culture and inter-
national travel contribute to the forming of intercultural skills.71 The following
quote from Yanhao (146/11–14) exemplifies this:
Actually, I also went to Germany. I went to Belgium, UK, France, and Mexico, many,
many places. I think it opened my mind. I talked to people from different places. For
example, sometimes they are similar. Sometimes they are different. It’s changing me,
changing how I see the world, changing how I think the world.
The conclusion he drew from his visits to the countries mentioned above is: “peo-
ple from different places (…) sometimes they are similar.” The chance to interact
with people from different backgrounds made him appreciate the connections
between diverse people that could transcend cultural or national boundaries. He
attributed personal transformations to this experience by stating: “It’s changing
me, changing how I see the world, changing how I think the world.”
He highlights two points here: his perceptions of the world (“see the world”)
and opinions he forms about the world (“think the world”). According to British
71 Kun Dai and Jaime Garcia, “Intercultural Learning in Transnational Articulation Pro-
grams: The Hidden Agenda of Chinese Students’ Experiences,” Journal of International
Students 9, no. 2 (2019): 362–83; Lixian Jin and Martin Cortazzi, eds., Researching Chinese
Learners: Skills, Perceptions and Intercultural Adaptations (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmil-
lan, 2011); Yuefang Zhou, Keith Topping, and Divya Jindal-Snape, “Intercultural Adaptation
of Chinese Postgraduate Students and Their UK Tutors,” in Researching Chinese Learners:
Skills, Perceptions Intercultural Adaptations, ed. Martin Cortazzi and Lixian Jin, 2011.
sociologist Delanty72 , each intercultural encounter makes a unique contribution to

the individual’s learning experience and developing cosmopolitan identity. Lilley,
Barker, and Harris described these transitions in learning as self-formation.73
Other students went out of their way to emphasize their interest in learning about
different languages. A junior in psychology described her approach to foreign
cultures like this (48/36–41):
So besides German, I also know little bit of Spanish, French. Only a couple of words.
I sort of had to have it when I travelled somewhere I had to learn a couple of words,
so to show like respect. So I travelled to Serbia last summer, so I learned a few words,
but I was travelled by a Russian airline, so I also learned a few Russian words. I really
like learning languages.
For her, learning some basics of a language is a sign of respect towards the
people who speak it. She then detailed all the languages she had started learn-
ing: French, Spanish, Serbian and Russian in addition to her mother language
Chinese (Mandarin), as well as English. By making a point of mentioning her
efforts to master multiple foreign languages simply for the purpose of traveling,
the importance she places on appreciating other cultures comes across. She is not
learning languages for self-serving purposes such as career advancement, but her
only motivation is “to show like respect.” Her example of learning a few words
of Russian merely for traveling with a Russian airline further depicts the impor-
tance she places on showing a sincere interest in other cultures. She also conveys
an image of herself as very well-traveled by implicitly listing the countries she
has been to as equivalent to the languages she has learned. To the experienced
intercultural scholar, however, neither Yanhao’s statements nor interest in learning
languages qualify as intercultural competence, in the sense of having the ability
to communicate effectively in an intercultural setting. These statements merely
illustrate that the students perceive these international experiences as central to
their identity.
While the previous two examples didn’t make any direct mention of the term
“global citizen” and paraphrased intercultural competency skills, there were also
72 Gerard Delanty, “Cultural Diversity, Democracy and the Prospects of Cosmopolitanism:

A Theory of Cultural Encounters: Cultural Diversity, Democracy and the Prospects of Cos-
mopolitanism,” The British Journal of Sociology 62, no. 4 (December 2011): 633–56, https://
doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2011.01384.x.
73 Kathleen Lilley, Michelle Barker, and Neil Harris, “The Global Citizen Conceptualized:
Accommodating Ambiguity,” Journal of Studies in International Education 21, no. 1 (Febru-

ary 2017): 8, https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315316637354.
several explicit uses of this term, such as in the following remark by Roberto, a
freshman at UC Berkeley (79/28–30):
I consider myself to be a citizen of the globe, not like citizen of China or citizen
of United States, I consider myself citizen of the globe, since I’ve been to so many
places.
It is important to note here that even though Roberto references two nation-states
and explicitly mentions the concept of “citizen”, his understanding of citizen-
ship is not the literal one of a “constitutionally defined relationship between an
individual and a nation-state”74 , comprising rights and obligations. As observed
by Toukan75 , the construct of global citizenship does not imply a legal status76
and instead refers to a sense of belonging to a broader community and common
humanity. For Roberto, this sense of common humanity arises from encounters
during his international travels. What constitutes global citizenship for him is
not a relationship to an ominous world government. It is having visited “so
many places” that makes him global-minded. Roberto elaborated his experiences
(80/40–81/4):
So I guess partially due to the background from my mom’s side, I got to travel a lot.
I’ve been to Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong,
China, United States, of course Qatar, United Arab Emirates. You know where Dubai
is? There are some more. Like Turkey. Plenty more. I guess there are a few more but I
can’t remember at the time. Yes, I guess I got to travel a lot early on, so I formed this
global perspective early on and it’s like built inside of me. So I see people more in a
global way instead of like a local perspective, although a lot of Americans do tend to
have just a very local perspective. I think the most important thing in life for people
living in 21st century is to have to form this special global perspective. It’s like it’s
going to be essential for your success, I guess, for people’s success.
Notable is his enumeration of countries that he has visited. He mentioned Aus-

tralia twice, followed by questioning the interviewer: “You know where Dubai
74 Michael Karlberg, “Discourse, Identity, and Global Citizenship,” Peace Review 20, no. 3
(September 2008): 310, https://doi.org/10.1080/10402650802330139.
75 VanderDussen Toukan, “Educating Citizens of ‘the Global.’”.
76 According to Bowden the notion of global citizenship is incompatible with the “general
theory and ideal of citizenship.” Bowden argues that any potential ‘world citizenship’ would
be hollow, constantly giving way to existing nation-states because it is still nation-states that
are responsible for securing and maintaining international laws (such as human rights). Brett
Bowden, “The Perils of Global Citizenship,” Citizenship Studies 7, no. 3 (January 2003):
349–62, https://doi.org/10.1080/1362102032000098913.
is?” and concluded that his travels had been so copious he could scarcely remem-
ber all the places he had frequented. Traveling and experiencing different cultures
seem to be at the core of his self-concept. Although he acknowledges that “the
background from my mom’s side”, as being employed in the tourism industry,
contributed to his international upbringing, he sets himself apart from others
through the forming of a “global perspective”. The ability to “see people more
in a global way” is what distinguishes him from “a lot of Americans”. This
statement may not make him seem very critical or reflective towards his own
stereotypes. He later detailed that this “global perspective” not only encom-
passed physically being in other countries but also being open-minded towards
different lifestyles, striking up conversations with people who think or look dif-
ferently, and keeping a check on your own judgments. This “global perspective”
was “essential for people’s success”, according to Roberto. Obviously, several of
these statements are problematic. Research has shown that the development of
global perspectives is complex and not easily achieved through touristic travel.77
Whether a global perspective does, in fact, crucially determine someone’s career
success remains questionable. His statements could also be interpreted as a sense
of superiority. He believes global mindedness to be crucial for success in the 21st
century and “the most important thing”. Additionally, he is convinced that he
has developed this “global perspective” whereas many of his peers have not, thus
making him more likely to succeed than his classmates, friends, and acquain-
tances. His worldview fits in neatly with self-beliefs of being extraordinarily
global-minded: the quality he finds to be essential is conveniently also the qual-
ity he has developed since childhood. It is also interesting to note that he connects
this “global perspective” with being successful and not with other attributes such
as general life satisfaction, tolerance, or mental health. He further portrays him-
self as the ultimate cosmopolitan in making an effort to spread his cosmopolitan
spirit (81/17–22):
But also in the meantime, there are so many people who are not that open minded.
You do still have a lot of discriminations and bias. Yeah that’s something that we can’t
really change overnight. I guess it’s like a slow process. So I tend to encourage people,
to influence people who are around me by forming just a global perspective.
He shows awareness of the deep-rootedness of internalized stereotypes, bias, and

prejudices, which can lead to discrimination when he says: “that’s something
that we can’t really change overnight.” Simultaneously, he makes it his mission to
“encourage people, to influence people.” The goal is for others to develop a global
77 Davies, Evans, and Reid, “GLOBALISING CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION?”.

perspective just like him. Haidong’s position is quite similar. He even asserts that
it is entirely pointless to study abroad if you are going to pass up the opportunity
to build relationships with host nationals. In his own words (29/25–28):
You don’t get yourself into the American society; you just stay in your comfort zone,
stay with those Chinese students all day long; you speak Chinese. You play Chinese
games; you do Chinese stuffs. What’s the reason to be here in the States?
Yiwei’s understanding of global citizen was less associated with Roberto’s love
of travel or Haidong’s disregard for co-nationals but shared the emphasis of open-
mindedness and diverse viewpoints.
She explained it in her own words (6/47–7/5):
I see myself as a global citizen, especially in your thoughts. You can’t be stagnant in
your thoughts, like sticking to one thought or one value you have to see things from
different perspectives. I feel like I get bored a lot, so I can’t be in the same place for
too long. Because I went to high school at the east coast, so I had to come to west
coast. I was accepted to Georgetown, but I was like, no I want to see what California
is like.
She portrays herself as a dynamic personality, someone who gets itchy feet if
she feels too comfortable. She is understimulated quickly and often, which in her
mind necessitates a constant change of location. She presents herself as some-
one who can’t stay “in the same place for too long”. She had moved from her
hometown, Xi’an, to a private boarding school at the Eastern Coast of the United
States and then transitioned to college life across the country in California. Even
though she described the challenges of settling into a new environment when
she first arrived in the USA, she seemed to see the advantages of this itinerant
lifestyle. A junior at the time of the interview, she had already made plans to
move to Hong Kong after graduation, work there for a few years and eventually
move again to Mainland China. The self-concept of an itinerant world traveler
also arises in a story she tells about an old friend in her hometown who was
planning to participate in a student exchange (7/45–8/3):
I don’t want to spill cold water on her like … no, no… I feel like it’s going to be very
hard for her to live in another country, because for me I have been through this whole
thing, but for her, she has not, and she is so hopeful. Like I hesitate to warn her but
…. It might be different than what she is expecting… But she has to experience it to
know it, there is nothing we can do.
Even though Yiwei and her friend share a similar family background and upbring-
ing, Yiwei sees herself as distinct due to her international experience. In her
explanations, the fact that: “I have been through this whole thing” whereas her
friend has not is an insurmountable difference between them. She portrays her
intercultural skills as something wholly untransferable: “there is nothing we can
do.” She cannot reiterate or explain her intercultural learning process to her
friend. She also cannot give her friend any advice: “I hesitate to warn her.”
However, she does not elucidate why she cannot convey any of her experiences
to her friend, choosing instead to portray her silence as the kinder option: “I don’t
want to spill cold water on her.” She prefers not to shatter her friend’s hopeful
expectations. In contrast, in a study conducted by Tang Heng78 , students currently
studying abroad were asked to give advice to incoming internationals and had a
great amount of helpful and concrete tips. The students stressed the importance
of linguistic and cultural preparation, extroversion when meeting new people and
self-care in overcoming culture shock. Yiwei could have given her friend similar
advice but chose not to.
6.4.4 “Just See Where the Opportunities Come from”
Yiwei’s descriptions of herself as a cosmopolitan world traveler who could

flexibly follow opportunities comes close to Oxley and Morris’ definitions of eco-
nomic global citizenship. According to them, economic global citizenship, which
brings into focus “the interplay between power, forms of capital, labor, resources
and the human condition”79 assumes the neoliberal, internationally mobile self.
Many students expressed the belief that they could follow opportunities
wherever they arose, epitomized in the following statement (77/1–3):
I don’t really have a strong desire to either stay here or go back to China. I would
just see where the opportunities come from, maybe all about another country or
something.
This statement indicated that the students in my study may have already inter-
nalized concepts of the neoliberal self who could completely submit to market
78 Tang T. Heng, “Chinese International Students’ Advice to Incoming First-Year Students:

Involving Students in Conversations With Them, Not About Them,” Journal of College
Student Development 59, no. 2 (2018): 232–38, https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2018.0020.
79 Oxley and Morris, “Global Citizenship,” 6.
demands, to a great extent. However, this global mobility did not stretch to devel-
oping countries of Latin America, Africa or Asia. The broad “all about another
country” usually encompassed European countries, which were deemed as desir-
able locations due to employee-friendly labor laws and equitable gender policies,
as well as China and Anglophone countries, such as United States, Canada, and
Australia. This internalized hierarchy of countries has been part of criticisms of
the concept of global citizen as “intended for those who can afford to think glob-
ally”.80 In other words, the “free-floating, fleet-footed, globally mobile individual
for whom the world is borderless and opportunities boundless is problematically
premised on the dispositions, aspirations, and opportunities of the first world,
elite, masculine subject”81 . The question of who can be a global citizen arises,
as well as who is the one making such decisions.
Furthermore, the students also showed a clear hierarchy of occupations,
revealing an interesting paradox. The participants of my study were eager to
demonstrate their global-mindedness and show off their various travels, but none
of them expressed an interest in admittedly internationally-oriented (but not con-
ventional) career paths such as developmental aid, diplomacy, journalism, or
advocacy. Instead, white-collar jobs in finance, engineering, or academia were
frequently mentioned as career goals. These jobs, in the imaginary of the stu-
dents, included glamorous business trips or work-related relocations for which
their intercultural skills would come in handy. Conservative influences from par-
ents who had invested a lot in their children’s education in the United States may
have contributed to the forming of such life goals. Several students expressed
that they had adapted their career choices to their parents’ wishes: Huaguan had
wanted to be a professional soccer player and had promising career prospects in
this regard, but his parents: “want me to be highly educated and find a better
job” (14/2–3). At the time of the interview, he was pursuing a Ph.D. in computer
science, which shows how far he had strayed from his original intention. Juliane’s
dream was to become a director. As she knew her parents would never agree for
her to follow this ambition, she was presently considering changing her major
from English literature to mathematics in order to earn more money. Drawing on
these observations, the question arises of to what extent international education
and the pursuit of certain majors constitute mechanisms of class reproduction
among this group. According to Siqi Tu’s study of Chinese parachute students
in the United States, narratives of this sort could be considered as a discursive
80 Grimwood, “Producing Global Citizens? How New Zealand Universities Implement the
Concept of Global Citizenship,” 100.
81 Matthews and Sidhu, “Desperately Seeking the Global Subject,” 53.
re-enforcement of class status.82 The students are—probably unintentionally—

showing off their transnational lives and gained intercultural competence. Both
of these are only made possible through the considerable privilege of being able
to afford expensive tuition costs, international travel, and high living expenses in
California.
6.4.5 Discussion
In the typology of global citizenship conceptions by Oxley and Morris, the stu-
dents’ descriptions can be categorized into the first type: cosmopolitan-based
global citizenship. The students almost entirely omitted advocacy-based forms of
global citizenship. Few students were involved in political or civil society orga-
nizations or pursued advocacy of any kind. Some interviewees mentioned joining
humanitarian organizations as volunteers. However, they viewed this a part of
their college application process with the goal of improving their admission
chances. None of the students mentioned interest in continuing their volunteer
engagements after entering university. Nonetheless, it would be going too far
to say they were not interested in politics. The topics of human rights, inter-
national relations (especially the trade war between China and the USA), and
reflections on political and social issues in both countries came up often during
the interviews, even though such topics were not prompted by the interviewer.83
The focus on or reduction to cosmopolitan-based forms of global citizenship
was widespread among students in other countries as well, as comparative stud-
ies by Irina Golubeva and colleagues have shown.84 The description of a global
citizen as someone who „traveled a lot, has been to many countries, knows about

83 This social dynamic may also be connected to students’ preconceived ideas of socially
acceptable statements towards a Westerner (s. Methods Chapter).

84 Irina Golubeva, Manuela Wagner, and Mary Yakimowski, “Comparing Students’ Percep-
tions of Global Citizenship in Hungary and the USA,” in From Principles to Practice in
Education for Intercultural Citizenship, ed. Michael Byram et al., Languages for Intercultural
Communication and Education (Bristol, UK; Tonawanda, NY: Multilingual Matters, 2017),
3–24.
different cultures and their traditions“ or „speaks different foreign languages” 85

was mentioned by 18.9% of participating students in their study. Such defini-
tions are similar to those expressed by Roberto, Celia, Yiwei, and Xuanyi in the
previous sections. Other aspects such as the right of abode, mentioned by 13%
of students, or equality, mentioned by 6% of students, were not at the forefront
of perception. It could be observed that students’ understanding of global cit-
izenship was mostly equivalent to intercultural awareness or some facets of it.
Students in Golubeva’s study emphasized “knowledge” in the sense of learning
facts about other cultures rather than about social interactions in intercultural
contexts. The same could be said about students in my study. Although they
were keen on interacting with people from different backgrounds, knowledge
about foreign cultural traditions or the ability to speak several languages was
more weighty in their eyes. In conclusion: “global citizenship was seen merely
as resulting from travel or from having the right to live in more than one coun-
try(…). Responses tended to point to a vision of global citizenship that happens
rather than is actively achieved. And the implication is that we can only achieve
global citizenship through traveling (…) and more importantly that nothing more
is required”86 . Such an understanding is also apparent in Yiwei’s explanations of
why she couldn’t give her friend any advice on coping abroad. In her opinion,
global mindedness is something that develops automatically through the experi-
ence of staying overseas for a longer time period. It cannot be taught or actively
accomplished through any other means. Educators specializing in intercultural
awareness or competence training would probably respectfully disagree with such
a narrow comprehension.87 Research by Yuan, Li, and Yu88 has even indicated
the emergence of cosmopolitan identity constructs of Chinese students in China:
“Even though students remained in their domestic university, exposure to inter-
national classmates and teachers in an internationalized business program lead to
the development of a cosmopolitan identity.” 89 The identity as a global citizen
with high English proficiency, strong abilities in intercultural communication,
as well as an international perspective was central for the students in Yuan,
85 Golubeva, Wagner, and Yakimowski, 8.

86 Golubeva, Wagner, and Yakimowski, 11.
87 Michael Byram et al., eds., From Principles to Practice in Education for Intercultural
Citizenship, Languages for Intercultural Communication and Education 30 (Bristol, UK;

Tonawanda, NY: Multilingual Matters, 2017).
88 Yuan, Li, and Yu, “Neither ‘Local’ nor ‘Global.’”.
89 Yuan, Li, and Yu, 971.
Li and Yu’s study. Students placed a strong emphasis on international experi-

ences and engagement with peers from other cultural contexts, which became an
essential component of their identity constructs. Obviously, exposure to different
cultures is magnified during a longer period of studying abroad and can thus
contribute to the development of intercultural skills, as well as the forming of a
cosmopolitan identity. This has been acknowledged as a key feature of students’
intercultural learning experience.90 According to Lily Ye and Vivian Edwards91 ,
studying abroad encourages the kind of self-reflexivity essential for stimulating
self-exploration and self-critique. This self-reflection eventually facilitates inter-
cultural adaptation as it enables students to question their own perspectives and
show empathy for others. The narrative of global citizenship also allows students
to reflexively re-organize their experiences from the standpoint of the present
so as to maintain a sense of ontological security in Giddens’92 sense. By por-
traying themselves as having successfully formed a cosmopolitan mindset, they
are not only highlighting their agency in navigating a new cultural environment
with divergent social protocols but also minimizing the challenges of doing so.
The processes of intercultural adaptation at the beginning of their stay, includ-
ing struggling with a second language or undergoing culture shock might not
be their most fond memories. However, when weaving everything together into
the narrative of becoming a global citizen, such difficult times become a heroic
and necessary part of their path to the present moment. The poignant idea of
this global-mindedness being essential for success in later life, as formulated by
Roberto, further adds to a sense of continuity and thus ontological security. This
narrative provides much-needed stability in a lifestyle portrayed as itinerant by
Yiwei and others. The idea of “I could live and work anywhere in the world”
becomes less intimidating when combined with the conviction of possessing the
ability to adapt to any culture at will. In conclusion, even though the students’
conceptions of global citizenship are superficial and connected to clear hierar-
chies of countries and professions, this narrative can be seen not only as a direct
result of the need for ontological security but also as a perfect solution in making
sense of stressful intercultural encounters and adaptation processes. Furthermore,
this narrative offers students an elegant solution to the dilemma of having to sit-
uate themselves between two national contexts. Establishing an identity narrative
of global citizenship allows them to switch between contexts at will and select
90 Lilley, Barker, and Harris, “The Global Citizen Conceptualized,” 8.

91 Ye and Edwards, “Chinese Overseas Doctoral Student Narratives of Intercultural Adapta-
tion,” 8.
92 Giddens, Modernity and Self-Identity.
positive aspects from cultures all around the world to incorporate into their nar-
rative. However, those students, who have not successfully adapted to the new
cultural environment, may also not be able to develop such a narrative. Those
students who still face sociocultural adaptation difficulties on a daily basis may
center Chinese-ness in their narratives and construct China as a place of belong-
ing and security. These aspects will be discussed in the following chapter on
national identity.
The Self and the Country
7
Their geographical region of birth provides most people with a certain group
membership — nationality.1 Nationality is an imagined membership because an
individual member will never know most of the fellow members; yet in their
minds, each lives with an image of his or her community2 . National identity,
as an ideology, encompasses the ideas of belonging wherever you are and being
recognized by the surrounding people.3 It is the “reproduction and reinterpretation
of the pattern of values, symbols, memories, myths and traditions that compose
the distinctive heritage of nations, and the identifications of individuals with that
pattern and heritage” 4 .
7.1 Literature and Media Review
Chinese overseas students who engaged in pro-Beijing protests in 2019 have

lent a specific visibility to this aspect of identity. Images such as the one above
1 Joan Kelly Hall, Teaching and Researching: Language and Culture, 0 ed.(Routledge, 2013),
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315833712.
2 Benedict R. O’G Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread
of Nationalism (London: Verso, 1983).

3 Madan Sarup and Tasneem Raja, Identity, Culture and the Postmodern World, Repr (Edin-
burgh: Edinburgh Univ. Press, 1998).

4 Anthony D. Smith, Nationalism: Theory, Ideology, History, Key Concepts (Malden, Mass:
Polity Press, 2001), 18.


https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40627-1_7
180 7 The Self and the Country
sparked interest from the public and have been covered extensively by the media.
Numerous scholars have examined this phenomenon. Social scientists in China
have investigated how to strengthen Chinese overseas students’ bonds with the
motherland,5 and how the students can promote positive images of China abroad.6
In his research on the backgrounds of patriotic sentiment among Chinese students
in the United States, American sociologist Henry Hail found that the experi-
ence of studying abroad may even cause international students to identify more
strongly with their home countries. Chinese sojourners in his study commonly
reported that living in the United States caused them to feel more attached to
China and appreciate China’s positive sides. Many felt uncomfortable hearing
host country nationals criticize any aspect of China, including topics as specific
as China’s air quality or the government’s repression of free speech. Most took
the criticisms as a personal attack. Such encounters led to a closer alignment of
the concepts of “the people” and “the government” in sojourners’ minds. Some
interviewees reported that they had often questioned the Chinese government
before coming to the United States. Their stay abroad, however, changed this, as
national identity became more salient.7
Hail further details this dynamic:
Sojourners realized that members of the host country saw them as foreigners, and they
would never be “totally accepted.” Feeling that China was the only place they could
identify with and think of as home, it became more important for them to view China
in a positive light.8
Additionally, disillusionment with America, negative media portrayals of China,

as well as encounters with stereotypes or racism may reinforce this tendency.
Yige Dong, a Chinese American sociologist, points to the anger and frustration
triggered by such negative experiences:
5 Xiaoting Xu and Hong Jiang, “Investigation of Patriotic Consciousness of Overseas Uni-

versity Students,” Journal of Anhui Agricultural University (Social Science Edition) 27, no.
2 (March 2018): 137–40.
6 Xiaojian Liao, “中国留学生促进中外文化交流的作用初探- A Preliminary Study on the
Role of Chinese Students in Promoting Sino-Foreign Cultural Exchanges,” Overseas Chinese

Journal of Bagui 2 (June 2016): 20–27.
7 Henry Chiu Hail, “Patriotism Abroad: Overseas Chinese Students’ Encounters With Criti-
cisms of China,” Journal of Studies in International Education 19, no. 4 (September 2015):
311–26, https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315314567175.
8 Hail, 319.
7.2 Position as a 3rd Country Researcher 181
Without a critical vision that can transcend the unit of analysis beyond the nation-
state, they (the students) handle these feelings of frustration by reconsolidating a psy-
chological link with the motherland. Once cynical about the CCP, they are now giving
more credit to its achievements in eliminating poverty, providing welfare, developing
infrastructure, and so forth.9
While the analyses of Dong and Hail are concise and surely accurate for certain
subgroups of students, Siqi Tu10 and Yingyi Ma11 show a counter-tendency in
their research. The families who sent their children to study abroad may have
conflicted relationships with the Chinese nation-state or hold critical views of the
CCP’s policies. Such critical views fuel the desire to go abroad. Some parents
may even consider overseas degrees as the first step of long-term immigration
for the whole family and building a new life in the United States. This holds
especially true for criticisms of the Chinese educational system and labor market
conditions, which even insiders considered as problematic in Ma’s study.12 This
perspective has been underrepresented in research on Chinese students and their
national identity so far. Due to my unique position as a third-party researcher,
which I will examine in the following section, my findings constitute an enriching
contribution to this discussion.
7.2 Position as a 3rd Country Researcher
As mentioned in the methodological chapter, my own identity as a third-party

researcher has the potential to yield unique contributions to the field. A new
dynamic comes into play when talking to a researcher from a country that is
neither the host country nor the country of origin of the study participants. In
the following section, I would like to illuminate the challenges for both ethnic
Chinese and American researchers in contact with Chinese international students
in the United States. Chinese scientists working with this group have pointed out
9 Yige Dong, “How Chinese Students Become Nationalist: Their American Experience and
Transpacific Futures,” American Quarterly 69, no. 3 (2017): 563, https://doi.org/10.1353/aq.
2017.0050.
in American Higher Education (New York: Columbia University Press, 2020).

12 Ma.
the benefits of being part of the ethnic or national in-group such as easier con-
tact and connection. The shared language and culture lowers inhibitions for study
participants and makes it more likely for them to open up. Additionally, many
researchers share similar experiences of living abroad and can naturally relate.
They have neglected, however, to consider the negative ramifications of such a
research setup. For instance, students may feel suspicious about the background
or intentions of a Chinese researcher. They may not be too forthcoming about
criticism of China or the CCP’s policies with regard to possible future conse-
quences this could entail. Students may feel pressured to assert their loyalties for
the Chinese nation-state, praise the government or state their plans of returning to
China for similar reasons. In short, students may be subject to underlying pres-
sure to conform to social norms or approved discourses. Speaking to an elder and
higher-ranking Chinese researcher may also trigger their sense of hierarchy. This
may lead them to avoid voicing differing opinions out of respect or to express
only those thoughts they assume the researcher wants to hear. As the topic of
national identity and belonging can be seen as controversial and divisive in the
context of being a Chinese abroad, this subject may be especially vulnerable to
such social dynamics. Conversely, when talking to an American researcher, stu-
dents may feel defensive and hesitant to express criticism of their homeland. This
was experienced and reflected by Hail, who is American, in his study of patriotic
sentiment among Chinese students:
While being interviewed, several Chinese participants started to complain about var-
ious problems in China, only to follow their complaints with an expression of guilt
and a desire to reestablish their sense of loyalty to China. For example, one student,
after spending several minutes talking about corruption in China, suddenly asked me,
“Do you think that I’m a traitor? I shouldn’t say bad things about China to you.”
Although the respondents had personal complaints about some aspects of China, it
was also important to them that they profess loyalty to China while talking to me, an
American.13
Both dynamics mentioned above can influence an increase in nationalistic

responses from study participants, leading to an overrepresentation in scholarly
research on this topic. I observed similar patterns as Hail during my interviews.
This included frequent relativizations and repeated assurances of loyalty after
stating criticism of China. In the words of one participant (147/48–148/3): “But
I’m not saying everything about the China is bad, but I’m just seeing the problem
of China. Maybe US also have some problems. You know I still like China.”
13 Hail, “Patriotism Abroad,” 316.

7.3 China—National Identity 183
However, I still feel that there is a different dynamic at play when it comes to
my interviews and Hail’s or other American researchers’. Firstly, talking about
national identity was not a primary goal or specified subject of my interviews. The
topic arose naturally in conversation, and utterings surrounding this topic were
thus more casual and authentic than in studies explicitly examining this subject.
The fact that interview participants brought up this subject of their own accord
shows that it is at the forefront of their consciousness. This also led to more
diverse statements about national identity and feelings towards the two national
contexts in question, the United States and the People’s Republic of China. I
tried to give the interviewees a neutral platform to voice their opinions regarding
both, and the data reflects my efforts. There were complaints and praises of
both national contexts and systems, as well as various expressions of emotional
attachment, cultural familiarity, or opportunistic opinions on the benefits of living
in either of the two nation-states. I found that students’ understanding of national
identity was more nuanced than previous research had led me to believe. Much
more than blind patriotism, the students in my study expressed fondness for China
as a nation-state as well as a cultural and emotional place, as well as criticism of
both. Their sentiments will be examined in detail in the section below.
7.3 China—National Identity
When discussing national identity, the question of inclusion quickly arises: Who
is Chinese and who is not? Where is the boundary of who belongs to this commu-
nity and who doesn’t? And more importantly, who is drawing these boundaries?
For the scope of this chapter, I will focus my interpretations on the definition
of the students in my study. They were very clear in their delineations of who
they included in the national peer group. Asian Americans, i.e., Asian immigrants
of the second generation who were either born in the United States or arrived as
children, were a distinctly separate group in their understanding. They also didn’t
include Taiwanese, Singaporean, or Hong Kong international students in their
demarcations of who belongs to the in-group. Their peer group of other Chinese
international students only included Mainland Chinese with their own experi-
ences of migration in their adult or late teen years. The students also identified
several significant sub-groups within the national-ethnic peer group, which will
be mentioned here but not discussed in detail. Firstly, they distinguished between
Chinese who had attended high school and those who had come as freshmen in
college. Those who had been in the United States longer felt in a separate group
from those who had only recently arrived. They attributed a better understanding
of American culture as well as higher English proficiency to their in-group. The

second subgroup constituted “rich kids”. The stereotype about this group, which
nobody openly identified with, was that they had been academic failures in China
and had only gotten admitted to their American universities due to the financial
contributions of their parents. They were seen as spoiled and lazy, as well as unin-
telligent. While my sample undoubtedly included students from wealthy families,
nobody placed him- or herself in this category. This group remained a rumored
one: everyone knew one of these rich, lazy kids and pointed out that they were
not one of them. One student, for instance, delineated her friend group from the
rich kids in the following terms (49/22): “We like to save money, so we travel by
bus instead of Uber.”
Lastly, there were several subgroups with pronounced regional identities,
which seemed to hold a strong, although not overwhelming significance, for the
study participants in question. The most conspicuous of these subgroups were
students from Shanghai, all of which expressed a great sense of pride for their
city and detailed how different Shanghainese were from other Chinese. Another
notable group consisted of Cantonese-speaking students, mostly from Guangdong
province, with an obvious attachment to their mother tongue and a sense of dis-
tinctness from their Mandarin-speaking classmates.14 In conclusion, all of these
subgroups are worth mentioning here but were not prominent enough to override
the Chinese national identity, which I will focus on in the following section.
7.3.1 China as an Emotional Space
As mentioned previously, the participants of my study did not express strong

nationalistic sentiments about China. There were no statements of superiority
about Chinese culture, people, or the government. Instead, what I encountered
were well-thought-out personal reflections of the pros and cons of living in China
and the United States. The students I spoke with used relative terms and avoided
strong judgments in the process of positioning. What became clear more than
anything else was the emotional attachment students felt towards both countries
and imagined communities. China emerged from their various and multi-faceted
descriptions predominantly as a home and referred to places where they felt
comfortable. It was a place of family, security, and familiarity, which they were
14 It is safe to assume that students who have been educated in Mainland China are also fluent
in Mandarin; the only difference between the two groups is that Mandarin is not their mother
tongue.
adept at navigating and where they felt socially connected. Obligations towards
their families also played a role. As Huaguan stated (16/23–24):
I’m considering going back to China is because of my parents. I really want to take
care of my parents. They are getting old.
As most of the interviewees were singletons, the responsibility for their aging par-
ents fell exclusively to them. This contributed to a strong sense of commitment
towards their parents. The students were keenly aware of the duty of supporting
their parents in old age and would never shirk from it. However, it was not only
familial ties that bound them to China. Other social connections such as friend-
ships were also embedded with deep meaning for most of the students. Sabrina,
a 20-year-old psychology major, for instance, felt such a strong connection with
her friends in China that the option of staying in the USA seemed ridiculous
to her. When I asked if she could picture a future outside of China, she only
laughed, as the answer seemed extremely obvious to her (37/16–19).
Researcher: Do you prefer to live in America or China?

Participant: Of course China. (laughs) Because I have friends in China. I can play with
them all the time and eat foods. They gave me warmth and encouragement.
Having friends in China while being on your own in the United States—this sen-
timent was shared by many students who felt that social ties and long-standing
friendships in their hometowns or universities were no match to the new connec-
tions they had formed in the United States. This contributed to a sense of comfort
zone. Lynette, a junior at UC Berkeley, explained (57/33–35):
I love my city. I love Shenzhen. I want to work here. It’ more comfortable for me. My
parents here… I don’t feel that lonely sometimes and most of my friends live there.
From Lynette’s statement, we can see that several points are important to her: not
being alone i.e., living in close proximity to her friends and family, and being
comfortable in the working environment of her hometown Shenzhen. This sense
of being comfortable seemed to be essential for students who may feel exhausted
from adapting to a new environment. Familiarity was key for them. This becomes
clear in an analogy from Zhaohui (34/34–41):
Personally, I feel like I want to go back to China. I feel like that’s my country; I feel
like I’m more familiar with there. Especially I saw a video of the North Korea, like
you know the North Korea, is like people live there have like a very difficult life; even
though they have a very difficult life in North Korea, even though they have a chance
to escape the North Korea and go to South Korea, I saw one video, the North Korean
saying that the happiest time I have is during the time living in North Korea because
that’s my country.
She describes China as her country—although the only connection she explicitly
states is the aspect of familiarity. She then goes on to compare her connectedness
to her country to those of North Korean refugees who admittedly live a burden-
some life. In Zhaohui’s understanding, even though life in one’s own country
can come with a number of challenges and hardships, the sense of belonging
can make up for almost anything and contribute to profound happiness. “Because
that’s my country” can apparently be enough to constitute satisfaction and con-
tentment with life. It is interesting that she chooses such an extreme example of
the world’s most secluded dictatorship. Her statement could even be considered
romanticizing the conditions in North Korea. Following her line of thought, China
is the challenging place that still makes one happy, albeit all the difficulties one
is faced with, whereas America is the place of refuge, where one might be safe
but never truly belong. Her reasoning doesn’t seem to allow for the option that
one could become familiar with a new place and subsequently belong there, even
though being familiar with a place is the only argument she gives for belonging
to her country. Furthermore, it is questionable if she will still be as familiar with
Chinese culture and society after her return and after having spent several years
in the United States. She had already been living abroad for four years at the
time of the interview and was planning to stay for at least three more. In the
descriptions of most students, familiarity with China is something they count on
and take for granted. It is not something that can also evolve or fade away. Some
students even felt so secure in China that they became uninterested in planning a
future there. Statements such as Meixiu’s were not uncommon (96/10–13):
My life in China is some kind of boring and you know what all the things will be
and what you will learn and what you will exam. It’s predictable but life in here is
unpredictable because I know nothing about this.
The attributes of boring and predictable made life in China unattractive for her.
She portrays China as an unchallenging place while she herself comes across as
a confident adventurer-type, looking for fresh experiences and ready to explore
(s. Section 6.4. Global Citizen). Instead of fatigue with her new cultural envi-
ronment, it is precisely the lack of knowledge about “life in here” that makes
it exciting for her. In this sense, her home country has become a comfort zone
that is too confining and not challenging enough. She is looking to make life
more entertaining and stimulating for herself, which led to her decision to study
abroad. She wants to break free from the standard pathways of life in China,
where life is foreseeable. These views are similar to the desires for an academic
challenge in the American context as expressed by Hallie in Section 6.2.2.4. who
perceived continuing her studies in China as predictable and uninspiring. These
views stand in contrast to others, such as Mimi, who is also an English major.
She stated (97/13–16):
There are really a lot of people in the university in China and the competition is every-
where in China. So many people want to get better education; so many people want
to go to a high social status and want to be better than their parents.
While there is unquestionably tough competition in China, the contrasting views

of Chinese education as competitive and of mediocre quality may play into state-
ments such as these. A degree from an American university may be imbued with
higher value and prestige due to the influence of rankings and various dynamics
detailed in Section 6.2. American universities may also be desirable due to the
fact that it is comparatively easier to secure admission in a highly-ranked univer-
sity than in China. The statements in this chapter show the nuanced relationship
the study participants have with their homeland. While it is a safe haven above
all else for some like Sabrina and Zhaohui, others, such as Hallie and Meixiu
find it boring to remain in their comfort zone. There are obvious parallels to the
self-identification as a global citizen or an enthusiastic learner among those who
expressed such sentiments. For yet others, such as Mimi, the intense competi-
tion over university admission and white-collar jobs makes their native country a
stressful and unappealing place to plan a future.
7.3.2 China as a Political System
Apart from these emotional descriptions of their home country, the students also
had a great deal to say about political and systemic issues. They showed that they
were well informed and critical of the circumstances they had grown up in. The
experience in the United States and their various travels since leaving China,
as well as their education, prompted them to compare the different systems.
Although the interviewees were aware of the problematic issues in American
society (see next section), such comparative reflections did not always shed a
positive light on China. Favoritism or corruption, lack of freedom of speech as
well as harsh working conditions, and labor laws were the most commonly men-
tioned criticisms. Many students supported the ideal of a socially equal society.
For Yanhao, this was also connected to his own experiences (146/37–44):
I hope China can be more open, can treat everyone fairly. I think now it’s not very fair
in China, because some people from the powerful families, they control the railway,
they control the IT industry, they control the bank. It’s very hard for maybe… I think
before I went to college, I was a low-class people in China. Now I go to China, they
will treat me maybe as a high-tech person, yeah. But before I went to college, I’m a
low-class people. It’s very hard for the low-class people to succeed in China.
Yanhao is aware of the social and cultural capital he has gained from his Amer-
ican education that significantly improves his chances for upward mobility and
career success. However, he still decries the importance of guanxi (关系)—or
connections—or getting ahead that has been described by numerous scholars15 ,
as unfair. He considers such instances of favoritism or corruption an obvious
obstacle to upward mobility. He concludes by expressing his hope that this could
change and more fair treatment of individuals could become possible. Through
these statements, he shows his continued solidarity with “low-class people”, a
group that he used to belong to and had now moved on from through his
education. At this point, it should be noted that the Chinese government has
installed a number of measures aimed at both combating corruption (such as
the Anti-Corruption Campaign in 2012), alleviating poverty, and improving liv-
ing conditions of lower social classes.16 However, the one-party state is neither
transparent nor fully accountable to its citizens, which makes Yanhao’s hope for
fairness seem somewhat optimistic. In his own words, he goes even further in
denouncing the government and wishing for change (145/33–35):
I think China should be more open, should have a … I think the Chinese government
is kind of dictator now. But they think China should keep the same.
The wish for transparency was also connected to the importance he placed on
a free and neutral press. From the following statement, Yanhao’s dissatisfaction
with government-affiliated media becomes apparent. It should be noted for better
15 Gold, Guthrie, and Wank, Social Connections in China.

16 Amanda Lee, “China’s Xi Jinping Declares Victory on Poverty Alleviation, but Warns of
‘Unbalanced’ Development,” South China Morning Post, December 4, 2020, https://www.
scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3112554/chinas-xi-jinping-declares-victory-pov
erty-alleviation-warns. Accessed 19.2.2021.
understanding that most news outlets make extensive use of the social media
platform WeChat to spread their publications (145/36–43):
And also, there are many rumors in WeChat every day: it says China invented that, but
it’s a fake news, not all of it is true. For example, my father, he only graduate from
high school, he went to college, but I don’t know he graduate or not. So he didn’t
know something about technology, it’s very easy for the Chinese government to cheat
him, to mislead him. You know I’m studying CS (computer science), I know some
technology, some technological details so I can tell which one is fake news, which
one is true.
In Yanhao’s understanding, the government does not have any interest in genuine
news coverage, but only uses the media to further their agenda, regardless of
objective facts. He claims the government could have an interest in misleading
people like his father on purpose. The use of the verb “cheat” which implies crim-
inal intent shows how strongly he feels about this subject. Other students used
such extremely negative language when describing government-related events in
China as well. One mechanical engineering major, for instance, referred to a sit-
uation when her school was being inspected by the local governors (71/42–44):
“Teachers teach you how to tell lies sometimes (…) they just tell you what to
tell.” It can be assumed that the teachers understandably wanted to show the
school in the best possible light. But for this student’s understanding of absolute
truth, this was equivalent to lying and deception. The underlying questions in both
statements revolve around what is “true” and what is “fake”. Some things are
“fake news” and “lies” while the absolute truth exists. Many students pondered
such profound philosophical dilemmas. Ricky, a physics major at UC Davis,
brought up the idea that (25/38–39): “News it’s not something that we can com-
ment on. News is the fact.” And he entered into a discussion with his friend being
interviewed alongside him. While both agreed that news was biased to a certain
extent and rarely completely objective, they stressed the importance of various
news sources and education in crafting one’s own opinion. They both viewed the
lack of diverse media voices as well as people’s lack of critical thinking skills as
problematic. In Haidong’s own words (26/3–18):
And here in the States, I cannot say the CNN or CBC are news; they are a channel of
news. But for me as an individual, I can get more information. And I got more angle
to look at different things. But in China things from one, two, or maybe three differ-
ent angles and never get the full picture. While I don’t get the full picture here either,
I get more angles so I can make a better decision. And this is also related to educa-
tion, definitely. If you don’t have the mindset to analyze or to think in that way, how
would you know what is happening around you? How would you observe the society
in an objective way, right? So the news, the entire freedom, the first amendment to the
second amendment, what happened with laws and rules that we have here that protect
our freedom. Freedom of speech, the five freedoms I cannot name them all right now.
That’s the fundamental basis, I think, for education. Education is not I tell you, you
should do this and then you do this. Education is a process. On teaching you how to
think as an individual individually.
There are several points I would like to underline in this statement. Firstly, while
he acknowledges that news in the United States also cannot reach his ideal of
news as a fact, he appreciated the availability of different views and comments.
Even though there might also be different news sources in China, they are all
under government control and thus can never contribute to a genuine understand-
ing of events or “the full picture”, as he puts it. Secondly, it is very interesting
how he connects the aspect of a free press to education. These freedoms are a
vital prerequisite for education, in his opinion. Otherwise, the function of edu-
cation of “teaching you how to think” could not be fulfilled. In consequence,
education enables people to think critically and form their own opinions, which
may or may not be in line with official agendas. He placed paramount importance
on education and the cultivation of this ability when he states that it would be
impossible otherwise to understand or observe society. He also implicitly makes
a statement about himself: he and his friend, who live in the United States and
are educated there, are the ones who have this ability. In this way, they also
distinguish themselves from others in China who have not had the chance to
develop this ability. They are the ones who are educated and thus able to think
for themselves, no longer subject to the government guidelines or vulnerable to
input from government-affiliated news outlets. Such an understanding of the self
and the role of the self in the context of the Chinese political system is even
more pronounced in the following statement by Hailu, who places herself clearly
above other Chinese (59/7–8):
Because most civilians are stupid to believe such propaganda… not stupid, but I feel
pity that they can’t see more, the larger world.
While the others are unable to comprehend the reality of society or transcend
government propaganda, she attests superior critical thinking skills to herself.
Not only does she understand the “real” social and political goings-on, she even
expressed pity for the others who do not have the ability to “see the larger world.”
She thus places herself in a separate category as an independent, smart, critical
thinker and discerns herself from other Chinese citizens. As in Yanhao’s case, her
family doesn’t always agree with her views. This does not make her doubt or re-
evaluate her position. She is nonetheless hesitant to enter into an argumentative
confrontation, especially with her senior family members (59/12–19):
First of all, I can’t publicly resist their view and say: oh, you are stupid, because they
are my family members and they are older than me, most of them, and I am supported
by them now, so I can’t reject what they say generally, so I think just being eclectic, I
will just say: Oh, I’m not here to support America, I’m just here to contact with more
people, to see the larger world and fulfill my personal academic goals… to experience,
that’s all I can say now. I hope they can comfort; I hope that this views can balance
their nationalism and their expectations for me.
It is nonetheless a strong image that she paints through this statement. Firstly,
she again uses the very strong attribution of “stupid” to describe the majority of
Chinese and also her own family members. She emerges as clearly superior in
comparison. It is only her financial dependence on the aforementioned “stupid”
family members that hinder the expression of her political opinions. Could it be
assumed that once she has completed her studies and is able to support herself
financially that she would more openly try to further her political convictions
and influence her family? She also proves her understanding of social norms and
expectations placed upon her by listing off the acceptable aspects of studying
abroad. She is aware that her family will not object to such goals as pursuing
academic excellence, making new friends, or expanding her horizon through trav-
eling. She makes a decision to leave it at that in order to avoid conflict. However,
she still secretly wishes to show her family a fresh perspective and counteract
their nationalism.
In conclusion, while many students expressed their criticisms towards political
conditions in China, they were more reserved when facing their family mem-
bers. The students most frequently mentioned corruption, censorship, propaganda
(or misinformation) as problematic. In a broader sense, they wished for a more
transparent government and more accountable and critical press. The sentiments
of Yanhao and Hailu in this chapter were shared by other interviewees. They
often saw themselves as more politically informed and more critical towards the
government when compared to their friends and family members whom they
perceived as gullible, willing to believe the obvious misinformation from the
government. These critical views of the Chinese government also fed into the
students’ opinions on the United States and the political and legal circumstances
there. The following chapter will look into this in more detail.
7.4 USA—a new National Identity?
Chinese students have usually had some type of exposure to the popular ver-
sion of the “American culture” prior to their arrival in the United States. Their
impressions are based on books, media, Hollywood movies, and the filtered inter-
pretation of friends or relatives who have preceded them to the United States.17
For them, the Statue of Liberty is the symbol of freedom, welcome, and wealth.
Some of their impressions are accurate; others are exaggerated. This may make
the Chinese students feel more confused about the new culture facing them. When
they actually arrive in their new host country, they suddenly realize that some of
their dreams are illusions.18
7.4.1 USA as a Land of Freedom and Human Rights
There were a number of positive aspects that the students admired about the
United States. While there were obvious mentions of the weather and pleasant
campus environment, most of the topics they highlighted were surprisingly polit-
ical. The majority of students expressed support for ideas connected to social
equality and inclusion. They complimented practices they had observed since
their arrival, such as wheelchair accessible buildings around campus and the
inclusion of sexual minorities in public discourse. One student personally iden-
tified as LGBTQ and named a more accepting environment in the USA as the
main motivating factor for her stay abroad. Participating in public pride events
and LGBTQ-related social events was a unique chance and a welcome change
from being closeted in China. These experiences inspired her to plan a future in
the United States, where she felt she would have more freedom from the social
conventions of marriage and child-rearing. She described the pressure she felt in
interactions with her parents and peers in China (63/2–17):
Oh, you don’t get married, is there some problem with you, maybe your colleagues
will say that (…). You have to get married, you have to have children, you have to
have a stable job, you have to otherwise you are deviant. Not only failure, but also
17 Xiaokang Tang, Daniel Collier, and Allison Witt, “Qualitative Study on Chinese Students’
Perception of U.S. University Life,” Journal of International Students 8, no. 1 (January 1,
2018), https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v8i1.158.
18 Yanhong Huang, “A Study of Chinese Students in the United States and Its Implication for
English Teaching in China,” Sino-Us English Teaching 2, no. 2 (2005): 45.

7.4 USA—a new National Identity? 193
very odd, very queer, very quirky. How can you be like that, you are not like us, not
like normal people.
She saw a potential future in the United States as a great opportunity, that she
wished she had realized and planned for earlier. However, she remained hopeful
to eventually successfully settle down in the USA (63/11–12): “Maybe there are
still opportunities open for me. I hope that it’s not too late for me.”
Another frequently mentioned topic were the working conditions and labor
laws in the United States which were perceived as more fair to employees. Chi-
nese companies were seen as undesirable employers due to long working hours,
normalized as “9-9-6” i.e. from nine a.m. to nine p.m. on six days of the week.
The top-down hierarchical structures of many Chinese companies which usually
leave little room for ideas of junior staff were criticized as well.
Worries and complaints about the Chinese working style and companies as
well as expressions of admiration for American circumstances were especially
prevalent among female interviewees. They cited concerns about gender-based
discrimination in the context of the Chinese labor market such as harsh conditions
surrounding maternity leaves and childcare-related job absences. Most students
had heard of cases where companies had let go of female employees due to
family-related time constraints. The students reflected upon both the legal aspect
of such instances as well as the social pressures surrounding ascribed gender
roles. They felt that the United States could offer protection of individual rights
to a certain extent and placed trust in the American judicial system. In the case of
being fired for pregnancy or maternity-leave-related issues, for instance, it was a
viable option to seek retribution in court in the United States. The same could not
be said about China. Mistrust of the judicial system and perceptions of corruption
ran deep among this group.
In summarizing the comments made about the USA by the participants of this
study, most statements were concerned with the political, and legal environment
and very few were related to the economic or career-related possibilities. This
is surprising when compared to the previous literature on this group. Vanessa
Fong, for instance, had claimed that studying abroad was a long-term strategy
for families to gain flexible citizenship and global mobility through high-profile
careers.19 It is possible that since Fong’s study, there has been a shift in attitudes
19Fong, Paradise Redefined: Transnational Chinese Students and the Quest for Flexible
among young people who prefer equitable working conditions and value work-
life balance. Some are no longer willing to invest all their efforts into building
lucrative careers.20
7.4.2 USA as a Land of Racism and Violence
While many students had idealized the United States before their arrival, imag-
ining it to be a promised land of fair competition, freedom, and personal success
and wealth, they soon realized that America is not as perfect as they had thought.
Feelings of disillusionment and disappointment were common for many.21 Some
aspects brought forth by the participants of this study were related to the chal-
lenges of acculturation. This included convenience and organization of everyday
life as well as adaptation to the new academic and social environment. There
were several acknowledgments of the difficulties of opening a bank account and
how such handlings would have been much more efficient in China. Students
who had already been in the United States longer were more adept at navigating
daily life and thus did not mention such aspects. Continued feelings of disap-
pointment, however, hinged on two factors that were mentioned by the majority
of participants: the perceived difference in safety as well the challenges of liv-
ing in a racially diverse society. These societal issues were commonly seen as
“American” problems, which, according to the students, simply do not exist in
China.
Firstly, frequent robberies and other crimes in neighborhoods around campus
were shocking to students who all criticized the lax gun control laws in the
United States. Vast numbers of homeless people in surrounding areas, especially
around UC Berkeley, also scared students and contributed to their perception of a
dangerous environment.22 These concerns were shared and amplified by parents
and family members in China who generally viewed America as an extremely
unsafe place and definitely much more dangerous than the Chinese hometowns.
They frequently worried about their offspring’s safety and warned them of the
20 Lydia Feng, “‘Lying Flat’: The Millennials Quitting China’s ‘996’ Work Culture to
Live ‘Free of Anxiety,’” ABC News, October 13, 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-
09-23/tang-ping-lying-flat-generation-rejecting-chinas-work-culture/100477716. Accessed
12.10.2021.
21 Dong, “How Chinese Students Become Nationalist,” 562.
22 Marissa Kendall, “The Bay Area Is Fed up with Homelessness,” Times Herald Online,
April 5, 2021, https://www.timesheraldonline.com/2021/05/04/bay-area-residents-are-fed-

up-with-the-homelessness-crisis-2/. Accessed 12.10.2021.
7.4 USA—a new National Identity? 195
dangers of going out at night. Almost all students and parents in my study voiced
such opinions.
Secondly, entering the complex racial reality of America from an ethnically
very homogenous society was certainly a novel experience for Chinese interna-
tional students.23 Being part of the dominant majority group and then becoming
an ethnic minority was challenging and brought new reflections on race and
status in their new environment. As most students were the target of racist
(micro)aggressions for the first time in their lives, many understood racism to be a
specifically American issue. Some even went so far as to claim that there was no
racism in China. As pointed out by Lee and Rice, international students studying
in the U.S. are likely of a high-socioeconomic status in their home country and
may not have been subject to discrimination in their native contexts. Therefore,
many students may be especially sensitive to prejudices that place them beneath
the dominant culture in the U.S. in economic and social terms.24 The study par-
ticipants were keenly aware of such prejudices and stereotypes. Discrimination
during the search for part-time jobs or scholarships had been experienced by
several interviewees and was a shared concern for all. Frustrations surrounding
such experiences led to strong feelings of disillusionment and profound doubts
about the decision to come to the United States. As one student expressed it
(26/46–47): “We hear about the opportunities, and then you come for that, and
you don’t get it.” Such sentiment was often a crucial factor when deciding to
return to China. The multiracial American dream of upward mobility and success
no longer seemed to be within their grasp. Given the setting of California with an
extremely high share of Asian immigrants, which are not a marginalized group
by any means, such strong disenchantment can be considered surprising and has
significant consequences on identity formations. These will be investigated in the
following section.
23 The United States are more racially diverse than the People’s Republic of China. This is
obvious: various ethnic minority groups make up around 40% of the U.S. population, while
in China—even though there are 55 official minority groups—they constitute less than 10%
of the overall population. The dominant ethnic group, Han Chinese, make up around 92% of
the Chinese population.
United States Census Bureau, “National Population by Characteristics: 2010–2019,” Cen-
sus 2018 (blog), 2020, https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2010s-
national-detail.html. Accessed 8.4.2021. University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, “Chi-
nese Ethnic Groups: Overview Statistics” (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 2021),
https://guides.lib.unc.edu/china_ethnic/statistics. Accessed 22.1.2021.
24 Jenny J. Lee and Charles Rice, “Welcome to America? International Student Perceptions
of Discrimination,” Higher Education 53, no. 3 (March 2007): 392, https://doi.org/10.1007/

s10734-005-4508-3.
7.5 Discussion
Through these descriptions of their home country, the students painted a certain
self-portrait of their role within the Chinese system. They presented themselves as
caring and social—but also superior and critical thinking. Being close to family
and friends in their hometowns was an important part of their self-understanding.
As most of the interviewees were singletons, they shared an acute sense of
responsibility for caring for their aging parents. Living in close proximity—in
the hometown maybe—or at least in the same country and time zone as their
parents was a big motivator for the move back to China. Friendship ties were
another factor that drew many students back to their hometowns. Many still kept
in close contact with friends from their childhood. Such connections constituted
a vital sense of community. The desire of not wanting to be alone—as they felt
they were alone when abroad—was a powerful emotion. It can be assumed that
the general atmosphere of collectivism described by intercultural scholars such
as Hofstede25 possibly plays a role in this. The shared sense of isolation that
many students felt while in the United States could be explained by a culture
of individualism which stands in contrast to community life in more collectively
oriented societies such as China. Even though developments of individualization
have been observed in Chinese society, and it is plausible that young Chinese
today hold more individualized values than previous generations (s. Chapter 6),
the United States is still considered to have one of the most highly individu-
alistic cultures overall by intercultural scholars. This environment thus can be
challenging to adapt to for people who are more community-oriented.
Apart from social ties to family and friends, career aspirations also factored
into the decision-making process of whether to stay in the USA or to return to
China. Especially for students from bigger cities such as Shenzhen, Shanghai, or
Xian, a return to their hometowns provided attractive career options. Armed with
a foreign degree, fluent English, and overseas experience, the students assumed
they would be able to land suitable jobs easily. They were confident in their abil-
ities to navigate the job market even though they were aware of the seemingly
vast competition. Some could even be called over-confident. They described the
option of a successful career in China as so easily achievable that it became bor-
ing. This is key in their self-descriptions and for their sense of identity. They see
themselves as the ones who have done everything right and who are readily able
25Geert Hofstede and Gert Jan Hofstede, Lokales Denken, globales Handeln: interkulturelle
Zusammenarbeit und globales Management, trans. Petra Mayer and Martina Sondermann,
Originalausgabe, 5., durchgesehene Auflage, dtv 50807 (München: Deutscher Taschenbuch
Verlag, Verlag C. H. Beck, 2011).
7.5 Discussion 197
to succeed. In other words: after having braved their foreign adventures, they can
accomplish anything once they return to their native context. They are the adven-
turers who can succeed outside of their comfort zones—in the United States—and
also within their comfort zone—in their hometowns. In their understanding, this
puts them at an advantage compared to their peers who have stayed in China for
university. Through their overseas education, they have not only overcome their
own limitations and become more attractive for Chinese employers. They have
also gained invaluable critical thinking skills allowing them to transcend Chinese
societal issues and understand them better than the average citizen. A frequently
cited example was the ability to distinguish between government propaganda and
“real events” or facts which was gained through American education and life
overseas. This ability was not attributed to the rest of the Chinese population:
average citizens who were vulnerable to the misinformation by the Chinese gov-
ernment. In short: the students saw themselves as more educated and experienced
and, in consequence, more open-minded than the average Chinese who had never
lived abroad.
An interesting point I would like to highlight here is that even though the
interviewees’ sense of superiority and distinctness from other Chinese was sub-
stantial, none of them expressed a desire to settle down in America. Only one
student, Haidong, expressed a desire to stay in the United States permanently
and become a citizen. For others, their rootedness in and connection to China
was still stronger. Even for Haidong, although he saw his future in the United
States, he did not deny the deep attachment he felt to China. In his own words
(22/22–25):
And like I told you I want to become the better version, and here I got more things
to learn to involve than in China. I study from American society. I can benefit from
American society. Also, I know in the very core I’m a Chinese.
From Gidden’s point of view, this combination of national identities is very much
in line with theories of modernization. Haidong’s amalgamation of learning from
American society while being a Chinese at his core is a perfect example of
a newly formed, self-reflective identity that encompasses two previously incon-
testable identity categories. For him being Chinese at his core and envisioning
his entire future in the United States are not a contrast. Instead, he created a
new identity category for himself: that of a global citizen. The formation of such
in-between identities also supports Giddens’ observations that previously fixed
identity categories such as nation, ethnicity, religion etc., have lost significance
in modern times and could even be considered obsolete in some cases. The stu-
dents in my study have self-reflexively formed their own identity categories and
thus avoided the question of whether or not to include themselves into these more
traditional categories such as national identity. They are no longer asking them-
selves: Am I Chinese OR American? In forming their own categories, they can
be both or neither. Such individualized identity categories reflect perfectly their
own experiences of navigating these two cultural contexts. Their subjective feel-
ing may indeed be that of “both and neither.” While their distinctness from other
Chinese may feel obvious to them during visits back home, alienation and cul-
ture shock may also discourage them from complete assimilation into American
culture. Forming an in-between identity and positioning themselves as global cit-
izens provides stability for their identity and a sense of coherence for evaluating
future experiences.
Conclusion
8
…Many have lost themselves in the environment

They step on a thousand flowers in the red carpet;
…A caller wants to discuss conditions in the old country;
The boys blush and know not what to say.
Though they can use the foreign tongue to call one another to play,
To summon the waiters to the dinner tables,
To chat on varying subjects among themselves,
Or to sing high-pitched solos,
Yet, as for the Shanghai or Canton dialect,
They have forgotten and ceased to understand.
… They live a mirage, a paradise,
And are showered with fragrant blossoms by the fair ones.
They have found the country of superb happiness;
They are too happy to think of their fatherland.1
This poem written by Huang Zunxian, the consul-general of China to the USA in
1881, commemorates the premature closure of the Chinese Educational Mission.
It touches upon the transformations that the students have gone through in regards
to adaptation to their new environment and in regards to their self-identity. They
are no longer interested in the “old country” but have established a new sense
of belonging in the “country of superb happiness.” This poem also serves as a
reminder that migration has been associated with identity re-positioning for as
long as it existed. While Huang Zunxian’s conclusion is relatively negative in
claiming that the participants of the Chinese Educational Mission are living in
1William Hung, “Huang Tsun-Hsien’s Poem: ‘The Closure of the Educational Mission in
America,’” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 18 (1955): 50–73.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40627-1_8
200 8 Conclusion
an illusion, he even acknowledges the benefit of successful integration and re-

positioning in a strange environment. His idyllic notion of being showered with
delectable flowers by the “fair ones,” i.e. the foreigners, illustrates the satisfaction
of having found one’s place in a new country. For the present-day successors of
the students described in this poem, the interviewees in my study, this place of
happiness might not be either China or the USA—it might be the more abstract
space of global opportunity. The dominant narratives that have emerged show the
students as global-minded and highly agentic individuals. This chapter draws the
dissertation to a close by providing a summary of these narratives in relation to
the research questions. Furthermore, the chapter highlights the contributions to
the body of knowledge on this topic. It considers the limitations of this research
project as well as potential areas for further inquiry.
As outlined in the introduction, this study aimed to investigate the students’
views on themselves and their experience abroad. This includes their detailed
self-positioning and self-definitions in regard to the most important social groups,
namely the family, the peer group, and the nation-state or broader cultural envi-
ronment. In short, the question I set out to answer in this study was: what are
the students’ narratives of self-identity? How do they tell their stories? Which
points do they emphasize when telling their stories? Furthermore, I intended to
discuss which societal and cultural discourses could have contributed to the for-
mation of the narratives in my sample. As these processes are multi-faceted, it
is evident that the origins of such narratives cannot be finally designated. How-
ever, I chose to address certain discourses which I found to be connected to the
formation of the narratives or being so dominant as to necessitate a positioning
from the side of the study participants. In organizing my findings, I have been
inspired to follow the chronology of the students’ journey from China to Amer-
ica. I first inspected their positioning when growing up in China, including their
experiences in the Chinese educational system and the family decision-making
process preceding studying abroad. I then moved on to their arrival in the United
States and discussed their self-definitions in relation to their peers and their new
cultural environment. I examined how they set themselves apart from their peers,
and what they construed as distinguishing markers. Lastly, I investigated their
positioning within the broader national context and their considerations for the
future.
In conclusion, this study has illustrated how participants interpret their expe-
riences in the United States and which issues they identify as significant for their
self-definitions and self-identity. At the center of the analysis is the individu-
als’ articulation of their perceptions, experiences, and themselves in relation to
their surroundings. Students’ narratives reveal how they reflexively reconstruct
8 Conclusion 201
their narrative of past events in China, make sense of their present in the United
States, and actively engage in strategic future planning in a highly transnational
way. This study has explored the identity formation of Chinese students in the
context of study abroad against the backdrop of late modernity. The research
project investigated how these individuals construct their self-identity by reflex-
ively creating and maintaining narratives of the self. The participants’ narratives
have illustrated how their decision to study abroad shapes their self-identity in
the sense that it leads to a reordering of their previous experiences within the
Chinese educational system and their families; how they position themselves in
regard to their peers and their new environment.
According to theorists of late modernity such as Giddens2 and Beck3 , today’s
post-traditional society is characterized by globalization and individualization to
a greater degree than in previous generations. Subsequently, personhood is no
longer predetermined by traditional collective categories such as ethnicity, gen-
der, age, and social class, but it is self-reflexively constructed by each individual
in terms of his or her life trajectory and becomes a “reflexive project of the self.”4
The reflexive organization of identity involves maintaining coherent biographical
narratives which are dynamic, flexible and revised in order to include critical life
events. These narratives typically include memories and future plans in which
private “stories” are shaped by the external sociocultural environment in order to
create a coherent storyline. Narrative offers a way of understanding the self as a
unity. The ability to narrate life events of all kinds—including the transformative
move abroad to study—provides individuals with a vital sense of continuity of
identity.5 The post-traditional world allows for more freedom of choice in the
process of identity construction.6 Nonetheless, there are constraints on the stories
individuals’ produce, since narratives of identity would simply not make sense if
they did not accord with the broader ‘intelligibility norms’. Social and cultural
milieus provide a set of resources on which individuals draw to produce their
stories. There are, for example, the plots provided by the literary tradition, by
soap operas, ‘expert’ advice talk shows, and so on.7 This understanding of iden-
tity forms the basis of my study of Chinese students’ self-definition narratives. In

3 Calhoun, “Beck, Asia and Second Modernity.”
202 8 Conclusion
line with Giddens’ concept of the reflexive project of the self, I have used narra-
tive methodology to collect material from the study participants. This approach
allows the focus group members to share their perspectives and aims to approxi-
mate their lived experiences. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 29
currently enrolled degree students from Mainland China at three University of
California institutions. As pointed out by my adviser, Professor Hochgeschwen-
der, California has one the highest densities of students from Mainland China and
thus offers better availability of research participants. As it can safely be assumed
that the one-child policy, which has been implemented in the People’s Republic
of China, excluding Taiwan, Macao, and Hong Kong, has had profound effects on
family dynamics and identity, I have selected students who come from the areas
where the policy was enacted. The data I collected shows that the child-centered
environment brought about by this policy has indeed shaped the young Chinese’
sense of self and contributed to growing individualism in this generation. The
interviews prompted participants to reflect on the perception of the United States
as a place of study, life experiences before and during their course of study, and
potential career progression after graduation. In the interviews, the participants
were guided to share their individual backgrounds and previous learning experi-
ences, reflect on their decisions, as well as project into their future. Furthermore,
the students were asked to describe their relationships with family members and
peers. At the end of the interview, I gave the interviewees space to share some-
thing they felt was important but had not come up in the interview. This allowed
research participants to direct my attention to new issues.
The shortcomings of this qualitative approach, such as the limited rep-
resentability and generalizability, were considered in the Methods Chapter.
Nonetheless, the nature of this highly personal topic necessitated such an
approach. My position as a third-country, non-Chinese researcher certainly influ-
enced the interview responses, and implications of this circumstance were
mentioned throughout the empirical chapters. The transcribed interview proto-
cols formed the main data for analysis. These were supplemented with several
expert interviews, which served the purpose of more thoroughly understanding
the study context. Qualitative content analysis, according to Mayring, was used
to identify the main themes in relation to the research questions.8 This method
for qualitative analysis illustrates data, analyses, and identifies patterns or recur-
ring themes from the data. Throughout the interviews and transcription process,
8Philipp Mayring, Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse: Grundlagen und Techniken, 12., überarbeitete

Auflage (Weinheim Basel: Beltz Verlag, 2015).
8 Conclusion 203
the data were continuously searched and coded for themes which were then ana-
lyzed and interpreted as described in the Grounded Theory method.9 The data
analysis process is an iterative and recursive process as I moved back and forth
between the data and the conceptual framework. Analysis began with open cod-
ing, whereby the experiences of the participants were assigned to categories for
comparison. I then identified a range of identity codes. All the identity codes
were compared across different participants, leading to a set of main identity
categories. The specific denominations of the categories were taken from the
interview data itself, with only one exception in the category of “People Person.”
This denomination was chosen by me as I deemed it the closest approximation
of the students’ self-descriptions. All other categories were aligned closely to the
students’ self-designations.
In the following chapter, an in-depth examination of the historical beginnings
of and societal factors fueling the study abroad trend among young Chinese
served as an introduction to the context for the reader. Traditions and values asso-
ciated with education in Chinese culture were discussed, as well as the appraisal
of Western education in the context of previous waves of the study abroad
movements such as the Chinese Educational Mission and the Boxer Indemnity
Scholarships. Factors leading to the establishment of studying abroad as a stan-
dard career trajectory among certain social classes have been identified as: firstly,
the increasing economic affluence combined with a willingness to invest in edu-
cation as a pathway to upward mobility; secondly, the cutthroat competition for
university places in the domestic setting and growing dissatisfaction with the local
educational system; and lastly, the increased marketization both in the Chinese
and the American context has consolidated this phenomenon. These develop-
ments have been placed within the greater context of the internationalization of
education and the growing international student mobility in recent decades.
After this historical and societal overview, the Chapters 5, 6, and 7 present the
main empirical findings from this study. Chapter 5 examines the self-identity in
the familial context and in regards to the domestic educational system. Regarding
the decision-making process surrounding the transition abroad, it is notable that
the study participants emphasized their agency and portrayed themselves as the
active part of the family equation. They often mentioned that they had initiated
the conversation about studying abroad or convinced their family members that
this was an idea worth pursuing. This was discussed in detail in Section 5.1.
The narratives constructed by the students highlighted their dominant role within
9 Juliet M. Corbin and Anselm L. Strauss, Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and
Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory, Fourth edition (Los Angeles: SAGE, 2015).
204 8 Conclusion
the family and presented them—mostly singletons—as a powerful family mem-

ber, while the parents often appeared as mere financial enablers. While other
research on the single child generation confirms such tendencies and points to
the gained emotional value and generational impact of children, the bias inher-
ent in the data, which was collected only from the students, is not lost on this
researcher. If detailed interviews had been conducted with the parents, it would
have allowed for a more nuanced view of actual communication in families. This
was initially included in the study design but not implemented due to Covid-19-
related travel restrictions. The following Section 5.2. investigated the connections
between education and upward mobility in the perception of the Chinese families
who decided to send their offspring abroad. Their views of an overseas degree as
a sort of investment leading to a competitive edge in the job market, a potentially
lucrative career, and finally, financial security for the other family members were
discussed. This chapter also looked into the study participants’ experiences in the
Chinese educational system, which contributed to their desire to study abroad.
Their narratives centered on their uniqueness and individual talents which were
not recognized in the Chinese system, such as leadership abilities, critical think-
ing, or creativity. A common storyline constructed by the students was that they
were full of potential but not able to thrive within the confines of the rigid edu-
cational system in China; that their bubbly or practically oriented personalities
made them a better fit for the more holistically oriented American educational
structures. Many students appreciated the integration of sports or social engage-
ments such as volunteering into the application process and assumed that such
activities were more valued in the context of the American system. In Chapter 6,
I examined the different subcategories that have emerged from my material when
it comes to positioning within the peer group: the Enthusiastic Learner, the Peo-
ple Person and the Global Citizen. The chapter investigated these categories and
the backgrounds that could have lead to their formation. While it would not have
been feasible within the scope of this dissertation to conduct a discourse anal-
ysis on each of these categories, the societal, cultural, and historical backdrop
is vital for their analysis. For instance, the pervasive stereotype of Asians as a
model minority could influence the students’ positioning as model pupils. The
term “model minority” was coined by journalists in the 1970 s after immigra-
tion reform made it possible for highly qualified migrants to enter the United
States in unprecedented numbers. Their skills and education made the “American
dream”—stable, white-collar employment, homeownership, etc.—more attainable
for them than for previous working-class immigrant groups. The students in my
study are probably not aware of these historical details; however, they may have
8 Conclusion 205
been confronted with this common view on people of their ethnicity in main-
stream American society, and this in turn potentially shapes their self-narratives.
Students in the category People Person chose to highlight their sociability, lik-
ability and extroversion. This became a distinguishing maker in their narratives
when they compared themselves to their friends and classmates. They centered
their superior social skills which they wanted to use to influence others. From the
point of view of this group of students, their interpersonal skills make the ideal
management material, or in their own words: leaders. While the two previous cat-
egories consider worldliness (global citizen) and academic prowess (enthusiastic
learner) as their main distinguishing criteria when relating to their peer group,
this category is speaks less to obvious externally measures criteria but is more
personality-oriented. In an environment rife with stereotypes about shy Asians, it
seems plausible that the participants of my study feel the urge to set themselves
apart and rectify this patronizing image. For the category of Global Citizen, I
pose the question of where this term comes from and what is associated with
it in the context of the lived experience of the students. In fact, the students
had a relatively narrow understanding of this very nuanced term. For them it
was equated with travel experience and speaking more than one language. It is
nonetheless interesting to witness how they highlighted the transnational aspects
of their lives and strove to present themselves as cosmopolitan. It certainly speaks
to the deep meaning they attach to living and studying abroad as a vital compo-
nent of their identity. In order to fully comprehend these categories, I also delve
into the developments of individualization in Chinese society in modern times.
These follow the question posed in Chapter 3 (Identity) of whether or not theories
of individualization proposed by Giddens apply to the Chinese context but con-
sider more specifically how individualization plays out in the lived experiences
of the young Chinese in my study. The profound political and societal changes
that have taken place in China during their lifetime have certainly entailed a shift
in values. Several studies have shown that today’s youth is more secular and
individualized than previous generations. The findings in my study also show
the tendency of the young generation to orient themselves towards smaller social
units than before, such as the family or their immediate friend group. Whereas
it might have been the norm in the 1960 s or 1970 s to submit personal inter-
ests to the greater good of the work unit or the Communist party, today’s youth
are more pragmatic, opportunistic, and self-actualized. However, the participants
of my study may also have been influenced by the highly individualized cultural
environment surrounding them and come from urban, affluent backgrounds. Many
have grown up in child-centered families with their parents’ and grandparents’
attention focused on them. They are thus a specific group of Chinese that may
206 8 Conclusion
be more attuned to individualistic viewpoints than other societal groups, such as

in rural areas.
The last chapter inspects national identity narratives. I tried to give a neutral
platform for students to voice their opinions regarding both countries—China and
the United States. There were complaints and praises of both national contexts
and systems, as well as various expressions of emotional attachment, cultural
familiarity, or opportunistic opinions on the benefits of living in either of the
two nation-states. I found that students’ understanding of national identity was
more nuanced than previous research had led me to believe. Much more than
the blind patriotism discussed in previous scholarship and in the media, the stu-
dents in my study expressed fondness for China as a nation-state as well as a
cultural and emotional place, as well as criticism of both. Among the topics most
frequently criticized were corruption, censorship, and misinformation from the
government paired with a lack of transparency, accountability, and free press.
Several interviewees also expressed their frustrations with the lack of equitable
working conditions and labor laws in China, which made them hesitant to take up
employment there. Simultaneously, the students still felt very connected to their
families and friends in their hometowns. Only children were acutely aware of
the responsibility of taking care of their parents in old age, and most saw this as
an obligation to take seriously. While students remained emotionally attached to
China, many expressed admiration for the American way of life, specifically for
the inclusion of minority groups such as LGBTQ or disabled people and more
favorable working conditions. Overall, the students positioned themselves towards
the United States in a balanced and critical way, showing off a deep understand-
ing of cultural practices and societal realities. However, even those students who
planned a future in the USA didn’t identify themselves as American. Most still
foregrounded their Chinese-ness and perceived it as a central part of their iden-
tity. The participants of my study all showed great agency and determination to
create a good life for themselves.
Although this study offers various contributions, it is unrealistic to regard any
study as ‘perfect’ and, thus, it is necessary to be critical and transparent about
the limitations of the present study. Firstly, the 29 participants of this study are
obviously too small as a sample to offer broad generalizations to other interna-
tional student groups or other intercultural settings. The sample certainly does
not intend to be representative, and this is one of the study’s main shortcomings.
While this dissertation has illustrated the processes of identity formation, reflex-
ivity, and agency in depth through the benefits afforded by a qualitative research
design, it is nevertheless only a partial account. Secondly, a longitudinal approach
would have allowed me to map out identity developments during the participants’
8 Conclusion 207
stay in the United States in a more profound way. Identity is, after all, not static
but highly dynamic, and it can be assumed that identity formations change to
a great degree during a critical life event such as a transition abroad. Unfortu-
nately the limited available time and high living cost in California hindered me
from spending more time on the ground. A certain amount of attention has been
paid to temporal milestones through participants’ retrospective interviews, but a
longitudinal study design would have enriched the data and served to understand
the students’ experiences better. Following the students over the course of several
years would have allowed the researcher to map out their identity development
and acculturation process in great detail. It would have been highly interesting to
see how their self-positioning shifts and transforms as they adapt to life in the
United States and would have opened up valuable comprehension of integration
processes. Most social scientists would probably agree that longitudinal studies
are highly useful and provide rich insights but are also, in most cases, costly,
laborious, and demanding to organize. As longitudinal studies typically run over
the course of several years, it would have clearly gone beyond the scope of this
doctoral dissertation. However, a longer time period of fieldwork and more expo-
sure to the study participants would still have been desirable for this study. If I
had been able to stay longer, I might have succeeded in recruiting a more diverse
sample. While I am content with having found sufficient participants for my study
during my short time in the United States, I am nonetheless aware of the slant of
my sample towards female undergrads majoring in social sciences and humani-
ties. In order to offer a more well-rounded representation of this student group,
I should have offset this imbalance by recruiting more male or STEM students,
as well as more students from advanced phases of study. Lastly, another poten-
tial limitation is linked to the difficult research conditions brought about by the
Covid-19 pandemic. While I had originally planned to conduct fieldwork both in
the United States and China to gain a detailed understanding of the students’ situ-
ation and to interview several other involved parties such as educators and family
members, the Covid-19 pandemic made this impossible. Although I began my
fieldwork in China in January 2020, the lockdowns and other related restrictions
forced me to return prematurely and without having completed the interviews as
planned. I have not been able to return since China’s borders remain closed at
the time of writing and will probably not open again for scholars in the fore-
seeable future. Additionally, the pandemic has triggered anti-Asian hate crimes
and increased anti-Chinese racism and thus crucially altered the environment that
Chinese international students enter when they come to the United States. Polit-
ical relations between the two countries have also grown tenser, manifested, for
208 8 Conclusion
instance, in restrictive visa policies and even in some cases, the revocation of
visas for Chinese students and scholars.
Future research might investigate the experience of other student groups with
an ethnographic perspective as opposed to viewing international students as work-
ing towards a certain extraneous goal such as completion of a degree or successful
integration into the labor market. It might also be interesting to examine Chinese
students’ plans, and expectations for their future careers, including aspects such
as interculturally variant work ethics and opinions on ideal working conditions.
Foreign-educated Chinese are highly sought after employees in both the United
States and China. Thus, gaining a better understanding of what makes this often
profoundly qualified and driven group tick is relevant and helpful not only for
researchers but also for employers.
There are several topics that I would have liked to look into but proved to be
too extensive for the scope of this dissertation. I observed an interesting pattern
of digital communication and non-disclosure between students and their family
members in China. Although they were digitally connected on a daily or weekly
basis, and many scholars thus argue that technological advancements have made
transnational families closer, culturally taboo topics such as academic failure,
death, or illness were still avoided in the same way as in non-transnational fami-
lies. It would be interesting to examine the question of how technology and social
media impact culturally formed patterns of communication in more detail.
Another topic that was at the forefront of students’ consciousness and clearly
challenging to them was the lack of adequate Chinese food options during their
stay abroad. While this may seem mundane at first, the students’ insistence and
detailed reports on the topic led me to believe that food holds more significance in
the acculturation process than previously thought. Additionally, food and food-
related activities provide meaningful opportunities for cultural learning for all
parties involved, Chinese students themselves but also host country nationals and
other international students.
The present study explores a topic that has been neglected by the scholarly
community so far: the identity negotiation of Chinese international students in the
United States, specifically in California. As mentioned in the literature review
section of this thesis in the introductory chapter, most of the research on this
group of students has focused on their difficulties in the adaptation to a new
environment. Their social and academic acculturation processes have been inves-
tigated in numerous studies. Culturally distinct notions of academic ownership,
citation, and writing, as well as differing cultural patterns regarding interactions
with the teaching staff, have been the topic of a multitude of studies seeking to
assimilate Chinese students into the conventions of Western academia. Chinese
8 Conclusion 209
students were often essentialized and stereotyped, for instance, when discussing
their allegedly distinct learning styles. Their social behavior was frequently prob-
lematized, and they were described as self-segregating with nationalist tendencies,
lacking critical thinking skills and intercultural competence. In contrast, my study
offers a more nuanced portrait of Chinese students’ lived experiences, explor-
ing in-depth their perceptions and perspectives by foregrounding their individual
narratives. I hope to contribute to a more balanced view of this group of stu-
dents by moving away from problematic overgeneralizations. As social scientists,
we continuously attempt a balance between addressing certain cultural tenden-
cies in our work and still representing the heterogeneity of the social groups we
investigate. It is my sincere intention that this study could paint a more colorful
picture of the specific group of my interviewees and of Chinese international
students in general. This is all the more meaningful in a COVID19-stricken
world where racism against the Chinese has reportedly increased.10 As I fin-
ish writing this dissertation, Chinese in America are faced with an unprecedented
number of racist attacks and micro-aggressions that have increased through the
Kung-Flu rhetoric and biased news coverage of the “Chinese virus” as being
connected to unhygienic dietary habits. In providing alternative perspectives on
Chinese international students, I wish to counter stereotypes and build a bridge
for intercultural understanding. In my opinion, it would be highly beneficial to
all individuals involved if communities receiving large numbers of Chinese or
other international students developed a more nuanced understanding of them.
After all, intercultural connections such as the ones created during an educa-
tional sojourn entail not only confusion and conflict but can inspire us with fresh
ideas and prompt us to question our worldviews and thus crucially enrich our
lives. In fact, the receiving communities and sojourning international students
can equally benefit from each other and provide valuable learning opportunities.
International exchange in the formative years of youth can contribute to genuine
intercultural competence and open-mindedness on the side of the students. The
students gain an invaluable chance to broaden their horizons, interact with people
from different backgrounds, and experience a different lifestyle. It is my personal
conviction that every student and, in fact, every person should have the oppor-
tunity to do so if they are willing and able. Universities and teaching staff can
build up their international networks for future research collaborations through
encounters with international students who may later become leading in their
fields. The learning opportunities for teaching and administrative staff who are in
10Liu, “Covid-19 Has Inflamed Racism against Asian-Americans. Here’s How to Fight
Back.” Accessed 17.6.2021.
210 8 Conclusion
contact with international students on a daily basis are often overlooked. While
systemic issues such as time constraints and a multitude of tasks may contribute
to an inclination or desire to assimilate international students into the domestic
culture, the opportunities for cultural dialogue and exchange are ignored. It is
my hope that university staff in charge of international students come to view
these students as more than representatives of their countries and find a way to
communicate with them openly and individually rather than relying on stereo-
types. It is my experience—through this study and also through my occupation
as a social worker in China and Hong Kong—that Chinese youngsters are much
more than the common stereotypes held by Westerners. I have not found them to
be shy, uncritical, or oblivious to name just a few commonly held stereotypes.11
In contrast, I have encountered many bright, hard-working, and engaging young
people who are ready and willing to make their mark in this world. In the context
of conducting interviews for this study especially, I have often been pleasantly
surprised at their maturity, high degrees of self-reflection and self-actualization,
and critical thinking. After all, intercultural adaptation is a challenging and often
frustrating process no matter what age we are or what background we come
from. Re-forming one’s own identity and finding one’s own place after migration
is onerous and intricate for everyone who has to do so. But it is also enriching
and offers so many new opportunities for growth and self-development. In other
words, I hope that my study can contribute to a better understanding of these
processes and provide more nuance to people who encounter Chinese interna-
tional students. The students in my study were not the first to wander between
the United States and China, and they may not be the last. I wish them and all
other travelers, migrants, and sojourners the very best on their journey.
11 Ruble and Zhang, “Stereotypes of Chinese International Students Held by Americans.”

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Self-Identity Narratives of Chinese Students in The United States - Sarah Y. Köksal - 2022

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Sarah Y.

ISBN 978-3-658-40626-4 ISBN 978-3-658-40627-1 (eBook)

晚 稀 少wan, xi, shao ; later, longer, fewer

5 The Self and the Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

6.3.4 “I am Shy” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Figure 1.1 Growth in international or foreign enrolment in tertiary

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden 1

& be a painting, an amateur’s hilltop & stars,

1 Chen Chen, When I Grow up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities. (Hexham,

Norththumberland: Bloodaxe Books, 2019).

1.1 Chinese Students and International Mobility Trends

3 Institute of International Education IIE, “Open Doors Report,” 2020, https://www.iie.org/

ten an Einer Deutschen Hochschule, Europäische Hochschulschriften. Reihe XI, Pädagogik,

unesco.org/en/uis-student-flow. Accessed 25.3.2020.

interkulturelle Hochschulentwicklung in Deutschland und Kanada, Perspectives of the other

Figure 1.1 Growth in international or foreign enrolment in tertiary education worldwide

The skills needs of increasingly knowledge-based and innovation-driven

7 Yu Chen, Verbessern Chinesische Studierende Ihre Sprechfertigkeit Im Deutschen Während

by Host Region,” 2020, http://data.uis.unesco.org/Index.aspx?queryid=172. Accessed

of the growing middle classes to seek educational opportunities abroad. At the

1.2 Research Overview

The phenomenon of young Chinese increasingly pursuing education abroad has

in other countries such as Korea15 , Thailand, Russia16 , Japan17 , and Myanmar18 .

Kultureller Differenzerfahrung; Jiani Zhu, “Academic Adjustment of Chinese Students at

mar,” Modern Linguistics 09, no. 01 (2021): 75–81, https://doi.org/10.12677/ML.2021.

Mifflin Harcourt, 2016).

in American Higher Education (New York: Columbia University Press, 2020).

adherence to the host culture and psychosocial adjustment or depression.29 Other

American College Students.”

Behaviours in the Classroom: From a Thinking Style Perspective,” Educational Psychology

received a lot of attention, accusations of plagiarism– or in other words, diverg-

International Education 11, no. 1 (March 2007): 90–117, https://doi.org/10.1177/102831530

3 (September 2008): 337–52, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2008.01.004; Robert M

Undergraduates: Examining Issues of Academic Persistence”; Shengjie Lin, Carlton J. Fong,

Australia” (Dissertation, Adelaide, University of Adelaide, 2010).

self-segregating behavior and nationalist tendencies.41 Chinese researchers, most

connections; network)45 or work experience many employers value.46 Age dis-

Citizenship in the Developed World.

Washington Press, 2002).

dents’ Academic Socialization Experiences in a U.S. University,” Frontiers of Education in

1.3 Research Questions

In this dissertation, I would like to investigate the students’ narratives of self-

national Students,” Contemporary Education and Culture 6, no. 3 (2018): 78–83.

dents’ Identity Paradoxes in the Internationalization of Higher Education,” Higher Education

side of the study participants. In organizing my findings, I have been inspired to

59 Fong, One Child.

is intriguing. How do they portray themselves and their background in front of

Stanford Univ. Press, 2008).

1 (January 1997): 5–34, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-0597.1997.tb01087.x.

2.1 Study Design

The following section discusses two questions: firstly, how do I, as a researcher,

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden 17

to relativize and distance myself from some extreme interpretations of construc-

4 K.L Henwood, “Qualitative Inquiry: Perspectives, Methods and Psychology.,” in Handbook

Qualitative research is defined by subjectivity, rich description, focusing on

in the UK (New York, NY: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2018), 1202.

2.2 Selection and Recruitment

in my sample hold a significant Chinese student population.14 Furthermore, the

2.3 Description of the Interviews

I endeavored to conduct as many face-to-face interviews as possible. As this

15Raymond Opdenakker, “Advantages and Disadvantages of Four Interview Techniques in

language, compensation, and addresses the methodological challenges of name

16 Linda Tsevi, “Survival Strategies of International Undergraduate Students at a Public

晚稀少wan, xi, shao ; later, longer, fewer