Transnational or Not: COVID Pandemic and Chinese Academic Migrants

Abstract Based on 25 in-depth interviews collected during the COVID pandemic from Chinese academic immigrants in the U.S., we find that COVID immediately halted their transnational travels. Furthermore, catalyzed by changes in the Sino-U.S. geopolitical relationship, the soaring Anti-Asian hate in the U.S., and the raging storm of patriotism and nationalism in China, COVID impacts academic migrants’ perceptions of opportunities, pursuits of transnational movements, and ethnic and diasporic identities. The disrupted transnational migration of people and knowledge due to the intersection of the pandemic, social contexts, and geopolitics may have long-term detrimental effects at the individual, institutional, national, and global levels.