There are no Asians in China: the racialization of Chinese international students in the United States

Abstract

ABSTRACT Foreigners who arrive in the United States experience a process of racialization by which they adjust to the new racial realities of their host society. This paper presents a unique longitudinal study of racialization, drawing upon 30 interviews with 15 Chinese international students conducted twice per respondent over six months. The first interviews were carried out within two weeks of the students’ arrival in the U.S. to capture their pre-migration racial schemas and racial identity. Upon their arrival in the U.S., Chinese students primarily understand the concept of ‘race’ through the paradigm of nationality and racially identified as Chinese. Just half a year later, however, there was a striking shift towards a conceptualisation of race that emphasises phenotype over nationality, and some respondents began to identify with the pan-national racial label ‘Asian.’ I argue that these changes can be attributed to the process of racialization in the United States.