Chinese international students are often portrayed in a monolithic manner in popular discourse. To offer a more comprehensive and critical representation of Chinese international students, this paper conducts a thematic narrative review of 128 English-language and 74 Chinese-language peer-reviewed articles published between 2015 and 2020.

Drawing on post-colonial theories, this review identifies four portrayals of Chinese international students: (1) neoliberal, (2) political, (3) pedagogic and, (4) racialised subjects. This paper celebrates heartening developments in the literature which affirm Chinese international students’ epistemic contributions, legitimate pedagogic needs, notable heterogeneity, wide-ranging political, cultural, and pedagogic agencies. It also highlights how aspects of these subject positions have exercised epistemic injustice on Chinese international students. Meanwhile, it pinpoints the Chinese international students’ acquiescence in exacerbating global education inequalities.

Among the first to bring the dominant English-language and ‘local’ perspectives of Chinese-language literature in dialogue, this paper notes divergent focuses and indicates unique contributions to historicising research on Chinese international students made by the latter. This paper challenges popular perceptions of Chinese international students, questions the production of knowledge, and pinpoints future research directions.

Dr Cora Lingling Xu's research interests include educational mobilities, inequalities and social theories. She has researched cross-border student and academic mobilities, ethnic minority and rural-urban inequalities topics within contemporary Chinese societies. From January 2022, Cora is executive editor of the British Journal of Sociology of Education. She serves as an Associate Editor of Journal of International Students and is an editorial board member of Cambridge Journal of Education and International Studies in Sociology of Education. She is founder and director of the Network for Research into Chinese Education Mobilities. Her publications have appeared in high-impact journals, including The Sociological Review, The Chinese Sociological Review, British Journal of Sociology of Education, among others.