Formed in China, negotiated in the UK: national identity among Chinese international postgraduate students

This study examines how Chinese international postgraduate students in the United Kingdom negotiate and (re)construct their national identity. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 19 Chinese postgraduate students, the findings reveal that students navigate this process through four context-sensitive strategies: rediscovering China through comparison, reaffirming national attachment, acting as cultural ambassadors, and negotiating conflicting perspectives. These strategies are not fixed roles; rather, students move between them depending on the situation, the type of encounter, and the social or political stakes involved. The study demonstrates that national identity is a lived, dynamic, and reflexive practice, shaped through everyday interactions, responses to misrecognition, and engagement with unequal power dynamics. The article contributes to the emerging higher education paradigm of student self-formation, illustrating how Chinese students enact intentional, context-sensitive practices to negotiate their national identity.