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Living With Self: Young Chinese Women’s Student Life in Sweden

Wang, Wanling LU (2026) SIMZ51 20261
Master of Science in Social Scientific Data Analysis
Abstract
This paper explores the self-making process of young Chinese women studying in Sweden who live alone, an aspect which remains rarely explored in international student mobility research. This study is based on semi-structured interviews conducted with 11 young Chinese women, all students between 22 to 27 years old at Lund University, Sweden. This thesis investigates how these women balance student life, intimate relationships, and future desires in transnational spaces, combining concepts such as self-making, polite exclusion, desire, and emerging adulthood. The analysis reveals that choosing to study in Sweden is the result of an interplay of family investment, a romanticized imagine of gender equality in Nordic countries, and a pursuit of... (More)
This paper explores the self-making process of young Chinese women studying in Sweden who live alone, an aspect which remains rarely explored in international student mobility research. This study is based on semi-structured interviews conducted with 11 young Chinese women, all students between 22 to 27 years old at Lund University, Sweden. This thesis investigates how these women balance student life, intimate relationships, and future desires in transnational spaces, combining concepts such as self-making, polite exclusion, desire, and emerging adulthood. The analysis reveals that choosing to study in Sweden is the result of an interplay of family investment, a romanticized imagine of gender equality in Nordic countries, and a pursuit of personal development. As economic dependence persists, geographic distance from family becomes a strategic resource for them to resist marital and childbearing pressures, gender stereotypes, and parental authority. Living alone in a foreign country comes with freedom, loneliness, and subtle exclusion, as well as visa and labor market instability. This situation leads them to separate their self-worth from outside social recognition, turn their attention inward, and make choices based on themselves. This thesis argues that living alone abroad provides young women a transformative space, allowing them to shape personal desires, redefine parent-child relationships, and construct their subjectivities amidst ongoing uncertainty. Their self-making is not a linear trajectory toward some fixed identities, but rather a process of ongoing negotiation with their homeland and host country. (Less)
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author
Wang, Wanling LU
supervisor
organization
course
SIMZ51 20261
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Self-making, international student mobility, Chinese young women, emerging adulthood
language
English
id
9250181
date added to LUP
2026-09-07 16:18:35
date last changed
2026-09-07 16:18:35
@misc{9250181,
  abstract     = {{This paper explores the self-making process of young Chinese women studying in Sweden who live alone, an aspect which remains rarely explored in international student mobility research. This study is based on semi-structured interviews conducted with 11 young Chinese women, all students between 22 to 27 years old at Lund University, Sweden. This thesis investigates how these women balance student life, intimate relationships, and future desires in transnational spaces, combining concepts such as self-making, polite exclusion, desire, and emerging adulthood. The analysis reveals that choosing to study in Sweden is the result of an interplay of family investment, a romanticized imagine of gender equality in Nordic countries, and a pursuit of personal development. As economic dependence persists, geographic distance from family becomes a strategic resource for them to resist marital and childbearing pressures, gender stereotypes, and parental authority. Living alone in a foreign country comes with freedom, loneliness, and subtle exclusion, as well as visa and labor market instability. This situation leads them to separate their self-worth from outside social recognition, turn their attention inward, and make choices based on themselves. This thesis argues that living alone abroad provides young women a transformative space, allowing them to shape personal desires, redefine parent-child relationships, and construct their subjectivities amidst ongoing uncertainty. Their self-making is not a linear trajectory toward some fixed identities, but rather a process of ongoing negotiation with their homeland and host country.}},
  author       = {{Wang, Wanling}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Living With Self: Young Chinese Women’s Student Life in Sweden}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}