I've been talking to overseas Chinese students and following social media comments on their limbo status left by covid-19. Here's what's happened (thread):

Since Feb, many overseas CHN students have been trying to return to China out of fear/b/c they had no place to stay after being evicted from dorms/status expiring/$ running out. One survey found 85.5% surveyed CHN students preferred to return to China, but they can't.

But they can't go home b/c China has significantly reduced int'l flights into the country. 80% surveyed CHN students said plane tkts were scarce & price soared. I know someone who booked 5 tkts thru agents hoping one would take her home in May.

Local CHN consulates give them wipes, sanitizers, TCM as a response. Back in homeland, these people are met with all sorts of harsh criticism: they are giant babies; they deserve it b/c they r rich and chose to go abroad (abandon their country); they bring the virus home.

In April& May, desperate CHN students stranded overseas started sending stress signals on Weibo. The pleading letters were carefully drafted to avoid being trolled. In one recent letter, the student explained they come fr a modest family and are facing financial problems...

...stressed they understand the aviation policy & are grateful for sacrifices of healthcare workers. To prove they love China, they give an example: when profs mentioned HK & TW as countries in class, CHN students either reported the profs or confronted them directly.

In the past, patriotism was making contributions to the country& pitching in when it was in need of help. Now ppl feel compelled to defend unification, whether they believe it or not, to prove patriotism. If they deviates fr the gov't line, they'd be put in the anti-China camp.

The irony is, trolls are not going to be empathetic even if the students tried proving their loyalty and obedience. And of course, this student's view doesn't represent views of all CHN int'l students.

If Lu Xun were still alive today, I'd be eager to hear what he would say about the world we live in.