Contained in:
Book Chapter

Fears and hopes: Chinese university students in Italy during the first wave of Covid-19

  • Hao Xu

In recent years, Chinese students have enjoyed a prominent presence in the Italian higher education system. A recent survey conducted by Uni-Italia shows that Chinese students account for 24% of non-EU students in Italian universities. When the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) erupted in Italy at the beginning of 2020, panic spread quickly through social media; numerous fears, generated by the tide of information available online, permeated the Chinese university student community in Italy. This chapter first analyses the problems encountered by Chinese university students in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic, and then introduces the artistic and cultural response from within that same community. Such forms of creative response also shine light, more generally, on a growing Anti-Asian sentiment in Italy. Despite the enormous challenges posed by COVID-19, Chinese university students in Italy have developed a mode of communication that builds bridges between different cultures— quite different from “mass media” or “major news outlets”—because it is personal, honest, and intimate.

  • Keywords:
  • Covid-19,
  • Chinese student,
  • Italy,
  • art,
  • anti-Asian racism,
  • intercultural communication,
+ Show More

Hao Xu

University of Florence, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0003-2168-2066

  1. Chen, Luying. 2017. “Shi Tiesheng.” Chinese Literature Today 6(1): 38-9. DOI: 10.1080/21514399.2017.1319211
  2. Chen, Xiaoru 陈小茹, and Ju Hui 鞠辉. 2020. “Quanqiu yiqing xia de Zhongguo liuxuesheng: wu wen qu-liu, zuguo dou zai shenghou 全球疫情下的中国留学生: 无问去留,祖国都在身后.” [Chinese liuxuesheng in the pandemic: no matter where you go, the homeland is always behind you]. China Youth Daily 4.
  3. Caughlin, John P., and Erin D. Basinger. 2016. “Measuring interpersonal communication.” International Encyclopedia of Interpersonal Communication, edited by Charles R. Berger and Michael E. Roloff, 103-26. Hoboken, NH: Wiley-Blackwell. DOI: 10.1002/9781118540190.wbeic229
  4. Depoux, Anneliese, Sam Martin, Emilie Karafillakis, Raman Preet, Annelies Wilder-Smith, and Heidi Larson. 2020. “The pandemic of social media panic travels faster than the COVID-19 outbreak.” Journal of travel medicine 27 (3). DOI: 10.1093/jtm/taaa031
  5. Elias, Amanuel, Jehonathan Ben, Fethi Mansouriand, and Yin Paradies. 2021. “Racism and nationalism during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 44 (5): 783–93. DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2020.1851382
  6. Guo, Linyun, Mingli Zhang, Kai Kang, and Mu Hu. 2017. “Transforming followers into fans: a study of Chinese users of the WeChat Official Account.” Online Information Review. DOI: 10.1108/OIR-01-2016-0013
  7. Ho, Jennifer. 2021. “Anti-Asian racism, Black lives matter, and COVID-19.” Japan Forum 33 (1): 148-59. DOI: 10.1080/09555803.2020.1821749.
  8. Lin, Yuqi, and Chenyang Zhang. 2022. “International Student-Related Policies During COVID-19: The Responses from China and Australia.” Comparative Research on Educational Policy Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Eastern vs. Western Perspectives: 92–115. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-3600-4.ch005
  9. Liu, Yan 刘艳. 2016. “Xin Zhongguo chuguo liuxuesheng zhengce bianqian yanjiu (1949-2014) 新中国出国留学政策变迁研究(1949-2014).” [Researching on Oversea Study Policy Change of the People’s Republic of China]. PhD diss., Northeast Normal University.
  10. Liu, Wenhui. 2020. “Yiqing xia de liuxuesheng jingli le shenma 疫情下的留学生经历了什么.” [What Chinese liuxuesheng are going through in the pandemic] Fangyuan 7: 62-5.
  11. Naldi, Carlo, Annalisa Di Calisto, Marco Calvi, Romina Stocchero, Xing Jianjung, Hai Ningxin, ed. 2022. “VII Convegno sui Programmi Governativi Marco Polo e Turandot 8 febbraio 2022.” Roma: Uni-Italia c/o Direzione Generale per la Diplomazia Pubblica e Culturale Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale.<http://uni-italia.it/archivio/file/Convegni/VII_Conv_Marco_Polo_e_Turandot_8_febbraio_2022.pdf>.
  12. Pedone, Valentina. 2020. “(Non) Fai rumore. Il silenzio intorno all’espressione culturale sinoitaliana durante la stagione Covid-19.” Sinosfere – Sinografie (Virus): 85-99.
  13. Research and Markets. [N.d.] “China We-Media Marketing Market Report 2021-2025: Use of We-Media in Fashion Industry / Short-Form Video Marketing / Rapid Growth of Performance Based We-Media Marketing”. Accessed March 10, 2021. <https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/china-we-media-marketing-market-report-2021-2025-use-of-we-media-in-fashion-industry--short-form-video-marketing--rapid-growth-of-performance-based-we-media-marketing-301237492.html.
  14. Rogers, Everett M. 1999. “Georg Simmel’s concept of the stranger and intercultural communication research.” Communication Theory 9: 58-74. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2885.1999.tb00162.x
  15. [Sishi ritan]四十日谈 4xDecameron. “Homepage.” [Facebook page]. <https://www.facebook.com/4xDecameron>.
  16. [Sishi ritan]四十日谈 4xDecameron. 2020. "Studenti cinesi ai tempi del Corona: Incastrati con il corpo, protesi con l'anima.” [Facebook page]. April 13, 2020. <https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=247820976358972>.
  17. Shisixin 十四心. 2020. “Xiao Shuoshuo. Bei geli jianchi yao je kuangquanshui. Zheyna de haiwai 'juying' guiguo qianqing sansi 小锐说 | 被隔离坚持要喝矿泉水 这样的海外“巨婴”归国前请三思.” Cankao xiaoxiwang, March 16, 2020. <http://ihl.cankaoxiaoxi.com/2020/0316/2404806.shtml>.
  18. Song, Gilsun. 2013. “Academic and social integration of Chinese international students in Italy.” Asia Pacific Journal of Educational Development 2 (1): 13-25. DOI: 10.6228/APJED.2013.0201.02
  19. Università degli Studi di Padova. [N.d.] “SAOS Desk.” https://www.unipd.it/saos. Accessed November 28, 2022.
  20. UN News. 2022.“United States: Concrete actions needed to ‘lay the scourge of racism to rest’ – UN expert.” UN News, August 12, 2022. <https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/08/1124622>.
  21. Vargo, Deedra, Zhu, Lin, Benwell, Briana, and Yan, Zheng. 2021. “Digital technology use during COVID‐19 pandemic: A rapid review.” Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies 3 (1): 13-24. DOI: 10.1002/hbe2.242
  22. WUXU. [N.d]. “Homepage.” [website]. www.wuxu.info.
  23. Wu, Hantian. 2021. “Previous Studies on China’s ‘Outward-Oriented’ Higher Education Internationalization Approach.” In China’s Outward-Oriented Higher Education Internationalization. East-West Crosscurrents in Higher Education, 7-21. Singapore: Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-981-16-2558-9_2
  24. Zhai, Yusen and Xue Du. 2020. “Mental health care for international Chinese students affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.” The Lancet Psychiatry 7 (4): 22. DOI: 10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30089-4.
PDF
  • Publication Year: 2023
  • Pages: 45-60
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2023 Author(s)

XML
  • Publication Year: 2023
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2023 Author(s)

Chapter Information

Chapter Title

Fears and hopes: Chinese university students in Italy during the first wave of Covid-19

Authors

Hao Xu

Language

English

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0068-4.06

Peer Reviewed

Publication Year

2023

Copyright Information

© 2023 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Bibliographic Information

Book Title

Words and visions around/about Chinese transnational mobilities 流动

Editors

Valentina Pedone, Miriam Castorina

Peer Reviewed

Number of Pages

204

Publication Year

2023

Copyright Information

© 2023 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Publisher Name

Firenze University Press

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0068-4

ISBN Print

979-12-215-0067-7

eISBN (pdf)

979-12-215-0068-4

eISBN (epub)

979-12-215-0069-1

Series Title

Studi e saggi

Series ISSN

2704-6478

Series E-ISSN

2704-5919

233

Fulltext
downloads

179

Views

Export Citation

1,361

Open Access Books

in the Catalogue

2,368

Book Chapters

3,870,371

Fulltext
downloads

4,536

Authors

from 942 Research Institutions

of 66 Nations

67

scientific boards

from 357 Research Institutions

of 43 Nations

1,249

Referees

from 381 Research Institutions

of 38 Nations