168 pages
234 x 156mm
April 2011

'A small gem of a book.' - Professor Heidi Ross, Indiana University, USA

' This fascinating collection is an important reminder that the academy must provide a context or a 'habitat' that can nurture a wide range of learning journeys and a new diversity of educational dreams.' - Professor Jerry Wellington, University of Sheffield, UK

'We follow richly diverse narratives of schooldays in China, the huge challenges of studying in English in British universities, the making of new friends, and the taking of community jobs, all of which transform the learner and engage the reader.' - Associate Professor Anne Hickling-Hudson, Queensland University of Technology, Australia.


Eight students from mainland China chart their learning journeys across national and continental boundaries and socio-cultural contexts. The five women and three men structure their experiences of studying in Chinaand the West around the turning points and life changing choices they made in chasing their dreams. They embody its emergent intellectual and professional cadre: it is this generation - informaed by international travel and overseas study - that will play a leading role in the creation of the new China. Their dreams of the future will affect not only their own fates but also the future of Chinese civil society.

Chinese Learning Journeys offers a scholarly resource for the academic research community working in the field of international student experience. It provides higher education practitioners with important insights into the cultural backgrounds and aspirations of overseas students. Those responsible for overseas student recruitment and welfare will find it invaluable, as will those working in the areas of language support and academic writing... and other students who are chasing the dream.