Study in China can provide an amazing opportunity to gain education from one of the world’s most advanced and powerful countries, which will not only increase employability but help you develop as a person as well. Furthermore, as global economic power shifts east, studying in China gives you the unique chance of being at the epicenter of this shift.
China’s education system is managed by the Ministry of Education. Citizens aged six-12 must attend nine years of compulsory schooling beginning at age six until age twelve; tuition fees may be paid as supplement funding by families to supplement government-provided education funding.
Over the last several decades, as China transitions towards a market-based economy, its educational quality has seen dramatic improvements. This was made possible through loosening of restrictions on private business activities and foreign investment in education; furthermore, Chinese authorities have implemented reforms such as uniform national examinations to modernise and update its system of education.
However, during times of political upheaval such as the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, educational policy became heavily politicised, placing ideology over professional or technical competence. Universities closed during the Cultural Revolution; when they reopened afterward in the 1970s enrollments had decreased substantially from pre-Cultural Revolution levels; admission was only granted to students who possessed work unit recommendations (danwei), had adequate political dossiers, and were willing to engage in manual labour.
China currently hosts the highest concentration of international students from developing nations. China offers various scholarships that cover full or partial costs associated with tuition fees and living expenses for international students studying there.
Still, mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression continue to afflict this population due to isolation, loneliness, acculturative stressors and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic impacting daily life.
Scholarly literature on Chinese international students has evolved into two distinct bodies of research–one in Chinese-language scholarship and another in English-language scholarship. Chinese-language literature emphasizes historical studies of these students; its emphasis places special importance on those that align with political agendas or policies of host countries, favoring certain discursive orientations over others.
English-language literature shows how Chinese international students are situated at the intersection of multiple social and political structures and therefore occupy various subject positions. This article seeks to unpack these subject positions in both Chinese- and English-language literatures by showing how their subject positions may be affected by different kinds of power hierarchies they encounter, and by disseminating information through discursive tactics tailored towards certain power relationships.