Politically Sensitive Chinese Students’ Engagement with Democracy in Canada (对政治敏感的中国留学生在加拿大的民主参与：一个案例研究)

Abstract

Since the late 1990s citizens from the People’s Republic of China have become the largest single group of international students in all major English-speaking countries. However, relatively little has been done to understand the political dimension of Chinese students’ experience in their host societies. Taking Canada as a case country with democracy as a point of reference, this paper explores Chinese international students’ political interactions with Canadian society. Delving into six social-science graduate students’ lived experience with democracy in Metro Vancouver, this paper highlights the fact that some Chinese students tend to become highly sensitive to the political significance and implications of their overseas experience in and through their engagement with democratic discourses and practices in Canada. Furthermore, those students who have obtained Canadian permanent residency or citizenship are even inclined to become fairly active in political life in Canada.

自从二十世纪九十年代末，中华人民共和国的公民已经成为所有主要英语国家最大的国际学生群体。然而，很少有研究关注中国学生留学经历的政治层面。本文选取加拿大为案例国，以民主为参照点，探究中国留学生与加拿大社会之间的互动。此研究的受访对象是六位在大温哥华地区就读不同社会科学专业的研究生。通过深入分析受访对象在加拿大对民主的亲身经历，本文突出强调以下一点，即有些中国留学生会通过他们对民主话语以及民主实践的参与而对其留学经历的政治意义和政治含义变得高度敏感。此外，那些在留学过程中获得加拿大永久居民身份和加拿大公民身份的中国留学生甚至更倾向于在加拿大的政治生活中变得相当活跃。

This article is in Chinese Language