For more than a decade, Chinese students have flocked to the United States, drawn by the prestige of an overseas education and the glamor of the American Dream. Education consultancies flourished across China, with parents paying big bucks for tutors and classes that promised to send their children abroad. But that's changing now – and recent statistics suggest the allure may be wearing off. During the last academic year, students from India became the largest group of international students in American higher education – knocking China off the top seat for the first time since 2009, according to figures released Monday by the State Department and the non-profit Institute of International Education. China was still a major source, making up one fourth of all international students, compared to India's 29%, the report found. But experts say the decline reflects significant shifts in both policy and public perception, with many Chinese students and families worrying about safety, racism and discrimination, and immigration difficulties – especially as more options open up in other countries, including in China itself. Meanwhile, India overtook China as the world's most populous country last year, and more than 40% of Indians are aged under 25 – prompting hopes of a youthful new engine for the global economy just as China's population begins to dwindle and age. There were more than 331,600 Indian students in the US last academic year, according to the State Department.
十多年来，中国学生纷纷涌向美国，被海外教育的声望和美国梦的魅力所吸引。教育咨询公司在中国遍地开花，家长们不惜重金聘请家教和报名参加承诺能将孩子送出国门的课程。但现在情况正在发生变化，最近的统计数据表明，这种吸引力可能正在减弱。根据周一美国国务院和非营利组织国际教育研究所发布的数据，在上个学年，印度学生已成为美国高等教育中最大的国际学生群体——自2009年以来，中国首次被挤出榜首位置。报告发现，中国仍然是主要生源国，占所有国际学生的四分之一，而印度占29%。但专家表示，这种下降反映了政策和公众认知的重大转变，许多中国学生和家长担心安全问题、种族主义和歧视以及移民困难——尤其是当其他国家（包括中国本身）提供更多选择时。与此同时，印度去年超过中国，成为世界人口最多的国家，印度超过40%的人口年龄在25岁以下——这在中国人口开始减少和老龄化之际，为全球经济带来了新的年轻引擎的希望。据美国国务院称，上个学年，美国有331600多名印度学生。
A changing China
不断发展的中国
It was a different world in the late 2000s and early 2010s, when Chinese students first began surging overseas.
2000年代末和2010年代初的情况截然不同，当时中国学生刚开始大量涌向海外。
At the time, China was rapidly transforming from a poverty-stricken nation to an economic superpower, thanks to an "opening up" initiative that began in the late 1970s and saw sweeping reforms.
当时，中国正在从一个贫困国家迅速转变为经济超级大国，这要归功于20世纪70年代末开始的“改革开放”倡议和随之而来的全面改革。
It also changed China's relationship with the world. After China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001 and hosted a tremendously successful Olympic Games in 2008, "there was this upturn in US-China relations – everyone had a really optimistic view of what China could be," said Prytherch. "So there was a lot of openness in accepting students into America."
这也改变了中国与世界的关系。2001年中国加入世界贸易组织，2008年成功举办奥运会后，“中美关系出现了转机——人们对中国未来持非常乐观的看法。”普赖斯说。“因此，美国在接纳学生方面表现出了很大的开放性。”
Many Chinese families were also newly wealthy in this flourishing economy. There was a feeling of "opening and moving out, and a chance to really go somewhere different," Prytherch said.
在这个蓬勃发展的经济中，许多中国家庭也刚刚富裕起来。普赖斯说，当时有一种“开放和走出去，真正去一个不同的地方”的感觉。
The State Department's figures reflect this trend – with the number of Chinese university students in the US rising from about 98,200 in 2009 to a record high of 369,500 in 2019. That also meant China became an increasingly lucrative market for American universities, who stepped up efforts to attract students from the nation.
美国国务院的数据反映了这一趋势——2009年，中国留美大学生人数约为98200人，到2019年，这一数字创下369500人的历史新高。这也意味着中国成为美国大学越来越有利可图的市场，他们加大了吸引中国学生的力度。
But attitudes began changing by 2016 as Trump was in his first run for office, Prytherch said. US-China relations tanked in the following years, as the two countries engaged in a trade war and finger-pointing during the pandemic.
但普赖斯说，到了2016年特朗普首次竞选总统时，态度开始发生变化。在接下来的几年里，随着两国在疫情期间爆发贸易战并互相指责，中美关系急转直下。
The downward spiral was reflected in policy, too: Trump imposed an executive order canceling the US' Fulbright exchange program with China, then introduced a ban that effectively prevents graduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) students from several Chinese universities from gaining visas to the US, the world's biggest research hub. In 2020, the US revoked visas for more than 1,000 Chinese students and researchers deemed security risks. When President Joe Biden took office, many of those Trump-era policies were kept in place – making it difficult for Chinese grad students and researchers to secure a visa. In January this year, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in a briefing that "dozens of Chinese nationals, including international students, have been forcibly deported by the US each month." He decried it as "discriminatory," urging the US to protect the rights of Chinese students abroad. Li Jing, a research assistant at Tsinghua University in Beijing with a master's degree in cybersecurity, told CNN in June he tried to attend an academic conference in the US but was denied a visa three times, costing him nearly $690 in the process.
政策上也反映了这种螺旋式下降：特朗普签署行政命令，取消了美国与中国的富布赖特交流计划，然后出台禁令，实际上阻止了来自几所中国大学的科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）专业研究生获得美国签证，而美国是全球最大的研究中心。2020年，美国吊销了1000多名被视为安全风险的中国学生和研究人员的签证。当拜登总统上任时，许多特朗普时代的政策仍被保留下来，这使得中国研究生和研究人员难以获得签证。今年1月，中国外交部发言人汪文斌在一次吹风会上表示，“美国每月都强行遣返数十名中国公民，包括留学生。”他谴责这是“歧视性的”，敦促美国保护中国留学生的权益。6月，清华大学网络安全专业硕士、研究助理李静（音译）告诉CNN，他试图参加美国的一个学术会议，但三次申请签证均被拒绝，在此过程中花费了近690美元。
"I don't know whether it's my academic background that renders the visa denials," he said.
他说：“我不知道是不是因为我的学术背景导致签证被拒。”
The Covid years
新冠疫情期间
The number of Chinese students in the US plunged during the pandemic and hasn’t rebounded since.
疫情期间，中国留美学生人数锐减，至今仍未反弹。
“The total number of students from China has decreased in the last three years, primarily at the undergraduate level,” said Mirka Martel, research head at the Institute of International Education, at a briefing Monday announcing the latest figures.
国际教育研究所研究主管米尔卡·马特尔周一在公布最新数据的简报会上表示：“过去三年，中国留学生总数有所下降，主要是本科阶段的学生。”
One education consultancy, Education First, has seen a 10% decline in the number of Hong Kong and Macau students wanting to attend college in the US, according to general manager Steven Hon.
据教育第一咨询公司总经理史蒂文·洪介绍，该公司发现有意赴美留学的中国香港和中国澳门学生人数下降了10%。
The State Department’s figures didn’t come as a surprise to many on Chinese social media platforms. “Since the economic sanctions and tech restrictions started in 2018, many (Chinese) students have been sent back home,” one user wrote on Weibo. Another user wrote: “The only reason I don’t want my child to study in the US is safety — issues like violence, robbery, gun violence, and drugs.”
美国国务院的数据并未让中国社交媒体平台的许多用户感到意外。“自2018年经济制裁和技术限制开始以来，许多（中国）学生都被遣返回国了，”一位微博用户写道。另一位用户写道：“我不想让孩子去美国留学的唯一原因就是安全问题——比如暴力、抢劫、枪击和毒品。”
Concerns about safety have only risen since the pandemic brought a wave of anti-Asian racism and hate crimes. And while gun violence has always posed a worry for overseas families, the increased use of social media during the pandemic also meant attacks circulated more widely online, reaching more eyes in China, said Prytherch.
自疫情引发一波反亚裔种族主义和仇恨犯罪以来，人们对安全的担忧日益加剧。普赖斯表示，虽然枪击暴力一直是海外家庭担忧的问题，但疫情期间社交媒体使用的增加也意味着袭击事件在网上流传得更广，让更多中国人看到。
The US government’s handling of the pandemic also shook students in China, she added. Although many were also unhappy with Beijing’s strict zero-Covid policy and the chaotic end of its lockdown years, they still largely preferred that to the sense of Covid running rampant in the US – viewed not only as a failure of the government, but of democracy.
她还补充道，美国政府应对疫情的方式也震动了中国学生。尽管许多人也不满北京严格的“清零”政策以及混乱的“解封”收尾，但他们还是普遍认为这比美国疫情肆虐的情况要好——这不仅被视为政府的失败，也是民主的失败。
During her research in Beijing, one student told Prytherch: “In America, they say you’re free, but if you can’t walk safely on the street, how is that freedom?”
普赖斯在北京进行研究期间，一名学生告诉她：“在美国，他们说你是自由的，但如果你不能安全地走在街上，那自由又何在呢？”
However, Hon said, the decline didn’t mean there was necessarily less appetite for an overseas education – just that there were more choices besides the US now.
然而，洪表示，留学生人数下降并不意味着海外留学意愿减弱，只是现在除了美国，学生有了更多选择。
“The reason why we’ve seen a slight drop in the US is because there have been more immigration-friendly policies in other nations, like Canada, the UK and Australia,” he said. “Parents have a lot more options to choose from in terms of where they want to go, and what universities are willing to accept their children.”
“我们看到美国留学人数略有下降的原因是，加拿大、英国和澳大利亚等其他国家出台了更多移民友好政策，”他说，“在留学目的地和大学的选择上，家长们有了更多选择，而且大学也愿意接收他们的孩子。”
One of those options is simply staying in China, where universities are growing in prestige, said Prytherch. Many Chinese professors previously based in the US are now returning to teach in China – partly because of the difficult conditions they faced in the US, but also because of the improvement in Chinese educational quality, she said.
普赖斯表示，其中一个选择就是留在中国，因为中国大学的声誉正在提升。许多以前在美国工作的中国教授现在正在回国任教，部分原因是他们在美国面临困境，但也因为中国教育质量的提高。
In that context, many students no longer think an American education automatically grants them a competitive edge in the Chinese market unless they attended an Ivy League or a similar top university, she added. In fact, with more Chinese students eyeing the stability and benefits of government jobs, some even wonder if an overseas education might damage their chances of such a career.
她补充道，在这种情况下，许多学生不再认为美国教育会自动让他们在中国市场具有竞争力，除非他们就读于常春藤联盟或类似的一流大学。事实上，随着越来越多的中国学生看重政府工作的稳定性和福利，一些人甚至怀疑海外教育是否会影响他们获得此类职业的机会。
All that said, the US is still a highly popular destination for students, said Hon, from Education First – especially graduate students in AI and tech, since the top schools and research grants in those fields are still largely American.
尽管如此，洪表示，美国仍然是留学生的热门目的地，尤其是人工智能和科技领域的研究生，因为这些领域的顶尖学校和研究经费大多在美国。
And despite the tightening of immigration rules under the last two administrations, some US officials are still trying to encourage the flow of students.
尽管过去两届政府收紧了移民政策，但一些美国官员仍在努力鼓励留学生流动。
“I want to confirm that we very much welcome students from China to the US. We have the largest number of Chinese students studying outside of China here. We do know that US universities are continuing to value Chinese students,” said Marianne Craven of the State Department in a briefing this week, according to state-run outlet China Daily.
据官方媒体《中国日报》报道，美国国务院的玛丽安·克雷文在本周的简报会上说：“我想确认的是，我们非常欢迎中国学生来美国。我们这里是中国留学生人数最多的海外国家。我们确实知道，美国大学仍在重视中国学生。”
Whether Chinese students believe that is another question.
至于中国学生是否相信这一点，那就是另一个问题了。
“A lot of (Chinese students) want families in the future, and they’ve begun to think that China is the best place to do that,” said Prytherch. “They think, you know what, China is not too bad anymore. At least it’s safe.”
普赖斯说：“很多（中国学生）未来想要组建家庭，他们已经开始认为中国是组建家庭的最佳地点。他们想，中国其实也没那么差。至少这里是安全的。”
