ABSTRACT
In Chapter 2, I draw out the empirical contexts of ever-increasing Chinese student mobility to Australia, China as a rising digital civilisation, and the varied roles of social media in international students’ everyday lives. Over the past decades, there have been a large number of Chinese international students around the world. This chapter discusses their plural identities and roles in the host countries and across national borders. I posit that the overseas Chinese student populations register as an appropriate case study to understand young migrants’ diverse online interactions. Following this, the chapter addresses China’s distinct digital environment and development trajectory. Particularly, how its fast-changing digital media technologies have penetrated different aspects of young people’s everyday lives both in and outside China. The boundary between Chinese Internet and the Western digital ecology also provides an important background for understanding contemporary Chinese migrants’ everyday use of digital media. These developments, when examined together, form the unique context in which Chinese international students’ everyday use of social media platforms takes place. Finally, the critical role of social media for international students will be examined.
