Research Article

The Impact of Social Media on the “Upper Chinese” and “Patriotic Chinese” Groups of Overseas Chinese Students

Zice GaoHebei University*

* Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract

In the 21st century, more and more Chinese students choose to go abroad and study overseas; studying abroad is gradually no longer a small option but gradually, like Postgraduate examinations and Civil service examinations, becoming a significant choice for college students to continue their studies. However, in addition to paying attention to the material life of international students, more and more attention has begun to focus on the spiritual life of international students in recent years. As an international student with a unique cross-cultural identity, what kind of change of thinking will occur after accepting the media context of their ethnic media and overseas social media has become the focus of attention. This paper uses the theories of self-classification, social identity, and belief theory to conduct research to explore how social media affects changing the thinking of international students in today’s highly-developed world. This paper adopts the research method of in-depth interviews, with interviews 20 international students from the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, and other countries to obtain first-hand information for research, and analyzes that People born in 95 - 00 years (contemporary international students) are keen to use social media and social media accounts for a high proportion of their lives. At the same time, it is concluded that most contemporary international students are relatively rational and objective and have high patriotic enthusiasm. still there are also very obvious “upper Chinese” and “patriotic Chinese” groups. But the “upper Chinese” group is not welcome among overseas students. In general, contemporary international students have high patriotic feelings and good critical thinking skills. They can think about problems from multiple angles, and international students can be used as a bridge for cultural exchanges. In that case, China can go more to the world and the world can know more about China.

Keywords: social media; overseas students; upper Chinese; patriotic Chinese
Published: October 31, 2023
DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/7/20230926
Volume: CHR Vol.7
pp. 315-322
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