Our research project aims to investigate the living conditions of Chinese international students in London from five key aspects, namely clothing, food, housing, transportation, and school life.
Our research initially focused on exploring how international students in the UK gather information to comprehend the culture and lifestyle of their new environment. Our findings indicate that Xiaohongshu, a popular social media platform in China, serves as a key source of information for Chinese users seeking to share insights about food, entertainment, lifestyle, and other useful experiences from around the world.
We created a magazine, each of us was assigned a section to cover, with topics including clothing, food, housing, transportation, and school life. Our project is focused on providing a direct depiction of the various phenomena that occur in the lives of Chinese international students. We aim to create content that resonates with Chinese students and helps students from other countries to better understand the psychological states and life situations faced by Chinese students. We understand that the problem itself is very complex and challenging to solve, but we firmly believe that it is essential to analyze the underlying causes of the problem. Recognizing and acknowledging the existence of the problem is the first step in solving it. Due to our different fields of study, we each presented our views and experiences on student life in unique ways. My contribution was focused on "housing," and as an oil painting major, I expressed my thoughts through a series of drawings (2 pages).
In summary, my illustration works depict the fragmented and unstable life status faced by international students. It is a collision of emotions - a mix of nostalgia and homesickness that is often accompanied by curiosity and the desire for exploration of the new world. It's a constant switch between feelings of loneliness and being surrounded by the bustling surroundings of a foreign land. It's a contradictory mix of longing for the stable past while feeling infinite anxiety toward the challenging future that lies ahead.
Throughout this project, I had the opportunity to explore and investigate the numerous challenges that Chinese international students commonly encounter. I delved into the underlying psychological reasons behind their behavior and how these factors impact their daily lives. As a student specializing in oil painting, I usually spend most of my creative time in solitude, interacting only with my thoughts. However, this project enabled me to experience rare collaborative relationships with my classmates.
