Unwanted in the homeland? The image of Chinese international students on Chinese social media Zhihu

The COVID-19 pandemic, intensified by rising nationalism, populism, and China’s persistent emphasis on meritocracy, has adversely affected public image of Chinese international students (CIS). They not only experience discrimination abroad but alienation at home. Addressing these stigmas requires a critical understanding of popular images of CIS and underlying values. This study adopts the Discourse-Historical Approach to analyse 328 Zhihu comments, exploring how CIS are portrayed on this knowledge-sharing platform popular among well-educated Chinese netizens. The findings reveal an ambivalent attitude towards CIS, and identify several key themes: Mixed group, Victim, Trouble or Degenerate, Socioculturally Isolated, Meritocracy, Nationalism, Populism, Collectivism, and Misogyny. The dual stigma of discrimination abroad and alienation at home places CIS in a liminal social position, where they are denied full acceptance in either context. This marginality can undermine their sense of belonging and well-being, affecting their academic performance and mental health. Notably, both CIS and non-CIS users express ambivalent attitudes and engage with similar thematic framings, suggesting a substantial convergence in their perceptions of CIS. However, subtle differences are also evident: CIS more actively challenge negative stereotypes, emphasise their sociocultural isolation abroad, and portray CIS as cosmopolitans while non-CIS users often reject the victim frame, stigmatise CIS as troublemakers, place them within a meritocratic hierarchy, and assess them through a collectivist lens. The differences reflect elements of in-group favouritism but, more importantly, underscore how overseas education fosters competing worldviews between CIS and other educated Chinese netizens—divergences that may further exacerbate CIS’ sense of alienation.