Coronavirus: Chinese students battle rising tide of prejudice in US but fear they may not be welcomed home
- Some Chinese students and graduates say they have felt increasingly uncomfortable amid rising reports of racism, with some questioning their future in the US
- But those that are able to return home have faced calls for them to be barred in case they bring back the infection with them
Yue Qu did not expect to be spending the end of his first year of college alone in his room on a deserted campus in California.
“I have two tickets for May, but I’m not confident that those flights will run. There’s no reason for me to be here, and it’s a stressful experience staying here all alone,” he said.
Yue is among the roughly 350,000 Chinese students studying at US colleges and universities, the largest group of foreign students in the country.
It is not clear how many have remained in the US since their campuses shut and other classmates headed home to finish their semesters online.
But students say the pandemic has done more than disrupt travel plans and studies. It has also brought them face-to-face with an increase in anti-China sentiment and a surge in racism against Asians and Asian-Americans. Some are questioning what that means for their futures in the US.