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Understanding Chinese Students on US Campuses
Siqi Tu
In recent years, the presence of Chinese international students in American universities has significantly grown. This tr mirrors China's socioeconomic transformation that has led to a plethora of upper and middle-class families who have accumulated wealth through white-collar jobs and rising property values. Yingyi Ma's Ambitious and Anxious: How Chinese College Students Succeed and Struggle in American Higher Education Columbia University Press, 2020 provides a much-needed sociological description of this diverse group navigating US higher education.
This pioneering work is the first comprehensive analysis dedicated to Chinese undergraduate students studying in the United States. It captures various stages of their experience: pre-arrival, post-arrival, and reflections on past experiences and future careers. Through rich data, Ma debunks common stereotypes about Chinese international undergraduatessuch as the ultra-diligent student, the ethnically suspect or non-assimilable student, and the second-generation rich. Contrary to these images, she portrays students from urban China with varied academic backgrounds, albeit a smaller segment of students originating from working-class families.
Yingyi Ma employs a mixed-method approach that combines online surveys conducted across 507 participants from institutions spanning fifty locations, in-depth interviews with sixty-five subjects selected from the survey pool, and fieldwork conducted at nine high schools in six cities across China. The data analysis covers broad trs without compromising the narrative aspect of student experiences.
The author places students' agency at the forefront of their lived experiences, advocating for a paradigm shift that recognizes educational, social, and cultural backgrounds of international students instead of focusing solely on assimilation. Yingyi Ma argues that Chinese college students are not only succeeding academically but also facing unique challenges that contribute to their anxiety around mntning class status and addressing social inequalities in China.
Ambitious and Anxious offers a nuanced portrayal of how Chinese students perceive hostility towards them as neoracismracism based on language, cultural barriers, or country of origin. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbating this issue with an increase in hate crimes agnst Asian-Americans and Asians worldwide. While Ma provides insightful analysis of discrimination faced by Chinese international students, she could have expanded the discussion around ethnic or racial identities to gn a more comprehensive perspective.
Yingyi Ma's work is essential reading for scholars studying education mobility, professors seeking insight into their Chinese international student population, policymakers, and higher education administrators committed to welcoming these students. It highlights the value of global education exchange while inviting critical reflections on whether it perpetuates global inequality by reinforcing class advantages relative to peers in China.
The year 2021 witnessed a tense relationship between US-China relations amidst the pandemic and trade war. The future trajectory of Chinese student enrollment at US institutions remns uncertn under the new Biden administration, which might offer a more favorable environment for international students compared to its predecessor's hostile stance. Yingyi Ma’s book serves as an insightful izing portrt of this understudied group of learners that will remn pertinent even in fluctuating geopolitical climates.
In summary, Ambitious and Anxious: How Chinese College Students Succeed and Struggle in American Higher Education by Yingyi Ma provides a nuanced understanding of the experiences of Chinese international students studying in America. This book serves as a resource for scholars interested in international student mobility, educators looking to understand their students better, policymakers making efforts to welcome these students, and administrators who are considering strategies to integrate them effectively.
Siqi Tu is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity. Her work primarily focuses on global education exchange, elite education, and the rise of the global middle class. She has contributed publications to Social Problems, Metropolitics, and the Journal on Migration and Security.
Contact: [email protected]
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