Introduction

Patterns of international student mobility have shifted in the past decade, and perhaps, the largest shift to have taken place before the COVID-19 pandemic is China topping itself as the third leading host country in the global market of international education in its own right (Ministry of Education, 2017, 2018; Ministry of Finance and Commerce, 2018). By 2018, 192,185 international students from 196 countries were enroled in 1004 higher education institutions in mainland China (Ministry of Education, 2019), and the number had doubled since 2009 (Ma, 2017; Ma and Zhao, 2018; Wen and Hu, 2019). Amongst all inbound international students, 52.44% registered as full-degree students, with the remaining enroled in non-degree programmes (usually in the Chinese language). Overall, 59.95% were from elsewhere in Asia—with South Korea, Thailand and Pakistan becoming the leading ‘sending’ nations, followed by 16.57% from Africa and 14.96% from Europe (Ministry of Education, 2019).

As opposed to neoliberal marketisation, as in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and other traditional destination countries for international students (Ahmad and Shah, 2018; Olssen and Peters, 2005; Carlos A. Torres and Schugurensky, 2002), economic rationales of inward student mobility are absent in the policy texts; instead, international students are positioned as China’s grand strategy of soft power, discursively constructed as ‘para-diplomats’ and ‘future elites’—a means of public diplomacy that serves the instrumentalist purposes of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Chinese dream (Pan, 2013). Moreover, the expansion of international higher education and Chinese language learning is also underpinned by a vision of creating a community of shared future for mankind, which is well articulated within the policy rhetoric as well as keynote speeches by Chinese senior government officials (Ding and Cheng, 2017; Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2020; Tian and Liu, 2020).

While China’s increasing ambitions in the internationalisation of higher education are considered a power projection employed by the Chinese state (Lo and Pan, 2021), the worldwide promotion of Chinese language learning (mostly the spread of Confucius Institutes) is also stereotyped, or politicised as a threat to the stability of the world order within the raciolinguistic perspective (Jakhar, 2019; Weinmann, Neilsen, and Slavich, 2021; Xu and Knijnik, 2021). Though there has established literature analysing international students’ lived experiences (Chiang, 2015; Ho, 2017; Li, 2015; Xu and Stahl, 2023) and motivating factors for choosing China as a study abroad destination (Ma, 2017; Wen and Hu, 2019), little has been done on Chinese language programmes leverage on their aspirations.

In this article, as such, we offer a fine-grained analysis of aspirations of the second largest grouping of international students—globally mobile African students—through Chinese language learning, from a vocational college in Southeast China. We take up some of the critiques of instrumentalist narratives of higher education internationalisation (Knight, 2014; Lomer, 2017) and foreign language(s) education (Porto, 2019; Porto et al., 2018) while arguing that Chinese language learning in higher education has the transformative potential of fostering global citizenship—promoting harmony and contributing to the common good (Torres and Bosio, 2020). In this way, we weave Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) education into global citizenship education (GCE), which has been quite limited in the existing literature. This challenges us to rethink the educational aims of foreign language teaching as well as the deeply entrenched stereotypes about China and politisation of CFL education dominant in Western discourse (Xu and Knijnik, 2021).

The following section consists of a review of literature on African students in Chinese higher education and Chinese promotion policy, as well as a theoretical framework for unpacking global citizenship education, before outlining the design and findings of this study. While the discussion section problematises the arguments, we conclude that the scepticism and concerns surrounding Chinese language learning are flawed and contestable.

African students in Chinese higher education

By 2018, China hosted almost half a million international students, with a large proportion of them coming from what can be considered as ‘peripheral’ postcolonial countries. African students, for instance, constitute the second largest grouping, with 81,562 studying in China in 2018 (Ministry of Education, 2019). This most recent Africa-China educational migration pattern reflects the structure of the global political economy as a whole. As of 2018, China has been remaining the ‘largest trading partner, foreign job creator, and source of foreign direct investment’ in Africa for nine consecutive years (Brigety, 2018), and this strategic partnership—unlike the exploitation by colonial powers—is based upon ‘political equality, mutual trust, and win–win economic cooperation’ (Trines, 2019).

It appears the volume of Chinese foreign direct investment in Africa has increased, supplementing it with the cultural diplomacy of welcoming African students to study in China and paying for Chinese language programmes abroad (Forum on China–Africa Cooperation, 2018), which led to a corresponding increase in the flow of Africans to China for credentials and the demand for Chinese language skills (Xu et al., 2022). China seeks to strengthen ties with future African elites by systematically training current and future leaders as international students in higher education (Hodzi, 2020), similar to the way Western and particularly Anglophone nations do to advance its soft power (Stein and de Andreotti, 2016). Its lower entry standards (both academic and financial) thus provide an alternative for those from the global periphery (Song, 2018).

Critics, though, view China’s economic and educational engagement as a new form of colonialism that will result in the continual political and economic manoeuvring and domination of African countries (Junbo and Frasheri, 2014; Zhao, 2014). Modern education in Africa has always been subject to external forces, if not directly imposed by them (Brock-Utne, 2003; Ghura, 1995). Even after decolonisation, African youths continued to follow the Euro-American education traditions (Trines, 2019). Compared with the former colonial powers, neither the Chinese language nor the educational system is familiar to Africans (Ho, 2017). This leads us to query how beneficial the influence of China is for the African Continent and the rest of the world.

Teaching Chinese to international students in China

China’s exercise of soft power through the internationalisation of higher education signals its efforts to foster a favourable image and gain influence globally, and it is here that language becomes most significantly intertwined with the rise of China (Gil, 2017; Han and Tong, 2021). In addition to external language spread, The Study in China Programme (SiCP) has also been established to attract international students to study in China (Ministry of Education, 2010). Coupled with China’s public diplomacy and The International Promotion of Chinese Policy, this programme allows international students to transfer to academic courses taught in Chinese after a period (usually one to two years) of intensive Chinese language learning (Ministry of Education, 2016; Wang and Curdt-Christiansen, 2016).

It can be inferred that the Ministry of Education encourages the pursuit of Chinese proficiency by offering incentives and support, and the promotion of Chinese through the SiCP has been an important language policy in Chinese higher education oriented towards international students (Wang, 2017). The political rhetoric frames the Chinese language as a contribution to global commons and common goods in terms of the aspects of ‘cultural diversity, global talents, improved policies, and practices’ (Tian and Liu, 2020, p. 197), which ultimately leads to a community of shared future for mankind. Despite intensified ‘South-South cooperation’ and the explosion of African students in Chinese higher education, how Chinese language learning at the tertiary level can fulfil China’s ambitious vision is less nuanced. This partly explains that African students are an emerging phenomenon and there is a dearth of research addressing multiple dimensions of this burgeoning educational migration. In this article, as such, we ask: How Chinese language learning can educate African students as global citizens and strengthen their capacities to secure sustainable development and augment common goods in the global system?

Global citizenship education in the foreign language(s) classroom

Foreign language(s) education has instrumental, utilitarian purposes but also educational aims (Byram and Wagner, 2018), that is, constituting ‘the development of the individual and societies by fostering democratic competencies and values and linking the language learning that takes place in classrooms with the community, whether local, regional, or global’ (Porto, 2019, p. 1). This community engagement, where the link between foreign language(s) learning and civic or social action is foregrounded beyond the classroom, is also known as global citizenship (Porto, 2018; Porto et al., 2018; Porto and Zembylas, 2020). In this conceptualisation, linguistic and communicative competence alone is inadequate for learners to navigate otherness, and the development of criticality, as well as democratic values, competencies, and practices are vital for forming new allegiances beyond the national (Kennedy, 2020; Wu, 2020). This is a disposition described by Osler (2015, p. 245)—‘a sense of bonding with their transnational peers, and identification with broad humanistic goals such as developing committed, sustainable, long-lasting, and world-friendly perspectives, behaviours and solutions’.

In this sense, language(s) education, or Chinese language learning, can function as a point of departure for Global Citizenship Education (GCE)—that encourages students to ‘participate in, and contribute to, contemporary global issues at local, national and global levels as informed, engaged, responsible and responsive global citizens’ (UNESCO, 2017, p. 16). Oxfam (2015) identifies global citizens as some who is

aware of the wider world and has a sense of their role as a world citizen; respects and values diversity; has an understanding of how the world works; is passionately committed to social justice; participates in the community at a range of levels, from the local to the global; works with others to make the world a more equitable and sustainable place; takes responsibility for their actions. (p. 108)

Rather than speak ‘to and for global elites’ (Torres and Bosio, 2020, p. 110), a curriculum approach to GCE aims to foster the heart of the learner and develop global competence which (Bosio and Torres, 2019), in turn, enables students to understand, participate in, and contribute to global issues, while advancing social justice and sustainability for all communities (Hayden et al., 2020).

These theorisations compel us to rethink Chinese language learning and GCE with/for African student migrants in Chinese higher education. First, their knowledge, skills, attitudes/values and experiences formed in transnational social fields are typically emphasised in GCE (Dyrness, 2021); second, their underprivileged backgrounds (e.g. subject to poverty and external political manoeuvring) in relation to the (post)colonial world system may frame ‘their view of time in the present’ (Hayden et al., 2020, p. 590), rejecting or showing no interest in issues of global citizenship. This article, therefore, intends to contribute toward the possibility of conceiving Chinese language learning as a site for GCE, which goes beyond neoliberal and market-driven educational practices and coincides with the absence of economic rationales in policy texts in relation to international student education. My exclusive portrait of Chinese language learning as a curriculum approach to social justice and citizenship issues presents an alternative interpretation to the current contentious landscape of the worldwide promotion of the Chinese language (Xu and Stahl, 2022).

Methods

Central to this research study was to probe into African migrant students’ global citizenship and aspirations through Chinese language learning in higher education, instead of looking for quantifiable outcomes or making generalisations. With this in mind, qualitative methods were considered appropriate, given that an in-depth understanding of their lived experiences and narratives can be captured in order to serve the objective outlined. Based upon time availability and consent for interviews, nine African students were purposively chosen from a vocational college in Southeast China, as we have been familiar with both the institution and teachers for years. In other words, the sampling method or the participants’ recruitment took the form of ‘convenience sampling’, which is characterised by prioritising the researcher’s convenience, being ‘least costly’ (Grey, 2014, p. 309) and providing ‘easy access’ to participants (Cohen et al., 2011, p. 290). The college has been engaged in China’s foreign aid since 2007, providing high-quality vocational training to students, business leaders and government officials from African and other countries along the Belt and Road Initiative.

A gorgeous building—Alliance mansion—has been constructed recently, in order to cater to international students, raise international reputation and reinforce ‘South–South cooperation’. In addition to the vocationally oriented formal curriculum, the college also invested in the more hidden aspects of schooling that took place in everyday practices and processes, where students gained knowledge of the Chinese-language-related career landscape, but also felt comfortable making particular choices of post-study pathways. The practice of the hidden curriculum included visual cues (i.e. buildings, resources and cultural artefacts), interactions between teachers and students, events and activities, which sent out messages to international students about what they should do and instilled them with aspirations upon graduation (details are discussed in Xu, 2023).

All participants are self-funded students enroled in a language programme, and two of the nine had very short Chinese learning experiences (one month) in their home country (the Confucius Institute in Benin). Their demographics were collected for theorising within wider sociocultural contexts (Table 1).

Table 1 Demographic information of student participants for interviews.
Full size table

Each participant was invited to take part in a one-to-one semi-structured interview in May and June of 2021, of approximately one hour each. The interviewees chose their preferred times and places that accommodated their schedules. Verbal consent for audio recording was sought prior to each interview. We always supplied with coffee, cakes and refreshments as we wanted the participants to feel as comfortable and enjoyable as possible. This is our way of showing an appreciation for the commitment they were making. Interview questions were structured surrounding students’ pre-mobility decision-making processes, lived experiences in Chinese higher education and post-study aspirations, including general questions, life and academic experiences in China, Chinese language teaching and learning, future plans and aspirations. Data were transcribed and deductively analysed in relation to the research question (Braun and Clarke, 2006), according to the dispositions of global citizens outlined by Oxfam (2015, p. 3):

  • is aware of the wider world and has a sense of their own role as a world citizen

  • respects and values diversity

  • has an understanding of how the world works

  • is outraged by social injustice

  • participates in the community at a range of levels, from the local to the global

  • is willing to act to make the world a more equitable and sustainable place

  • takes responsibility for their actions

Double-blind coding was conducted with research assistants familiar with the theoretical frameworks through e-mail correspondence and regular meetings to minimise biases (Flick, 2014) and reach a consensus on the reliability of codes (Miles and Huberman, 1994). The research was also sustained by a range of theoretical frameworks of ‘great rigour and explanatory power’ (Morais and Neves, 2010, p. 8), and the systematic dialectic between the theoretical and the empirical also contributed to validity.

Findings

‘I can speak Chinese’ and ‘I can go everywhere’

My contact with the nine African student participants both pre-dated and post-dated the research project. We observed their Chinese language lessons, hung out with them to explore the city and answered their inquires such as employment and cultural confusion on WeChatFootnote 1. What we heard most was their strong discomfort with the ‘difficult’ Chinese language, local people’s ignorance, over curiosity and hospitality. Rugema was one of them who recounted his first several days in China, which was resonant with the voices of all African international students in the cohort:

I met a lot of Chinese here, and it’s their first time to see foreigners. So when they saw you… would feel… aha, who is he? Emmm… he is a foreigner, sometimes here and sometimes in the CBD. This was my first time coming to China and this made me afraid, uncomfortable. Cuz I can’t speak Chinese, and they would ask me a lot, but I didn’t know how to answer. I was nervous. (Rugema, 33-year-old, male, Tanzania)

Chinese is, if not always, portrayed by media and public debates as a language that is ‘too difficult and too foreign to learn’ (Weinmann et al., 2020), and McDonald (2013) describes the impenetrable barrier between foreign learners and success in Chinese learning as a ‘Great Wall’, which is too high to climb for most foreign students. Rugema’s anxiety and discomfort escalated when curious locals were too eager to communicate with him in Chinese and called them ‘外国人’(‘foreigners’)—which signalled that this person was not one of us. In other words, his appearance and the inability to speak Chinese were materialised through the racialisation and ethnicization processes in social encounters, and he was excluded and positioned as the cultural and linguistic ‘other’ (Weinmann et al., 2021; Zembylas, 2011).

Before coming to China, Rugema obtained his master’s degree and was a teacher in Tanzania. He came here just to learn the Chinese language as he felt there would be more opportunities—in the most general sense—for material success if he could speak Chinese. The time we interviewed him was the last few days of his stay in China, as he was completing his course soon and packing up to return home. As such, he recounted that:

Now I am used to it. I like people coming to talk to me, ask me… cuz I want to communicate with them and practise my Chinese. (Rugema, 33-year-old, male, Tanzania)

Obviously, the Chinese were no longer unsettling at all but appeared to serve as a catalyst for his individual transformation. With insecurity being overcome and fear being abated, courage took place (Xu and Knijnik, 2021). He was looking forward to participating in the local community (Oxfam, 2015), to being an integral part of Chinese society by talking and acting ‘in the Chinese way’ (Gee, 2011), that is, expecting to interact with Chinese in Chinese. This experience was not exclusive to Rugema alone, but recurrent in the students’ narratives:

Now in China, I can go everywhere. If they start talking, I can know what they’re saying. (N’gie, 23-year-old, female, Benin)

It seems that China becomes N’gie’s oyster, as she can understand ‘what they’re saying’, and the quote illustrates how the Chinese language as a linguistic capital influenced the way she perceived her social mobility in the country and imagined her future horizons. Notwithstanding the positive perception that language communicative competence is instrumental in many cases, we argue that it also empowers my transnational young participants to feel global connectedness (Dyrness, 2021) and become participatory citizens at a range of levels (Connell, 2012), from the local (China and the African Continent) to the global where Chinese are present.

Respecting and valuing diversity

For Kennedy (2020), language(s) education involves intercultural comparison and reflection, which contributes to the development of attitudes of openness rather than cultural stereotypes. This aligns with learners’ criticality, consciousness and emancipation emphasised in GCE (Torres and Bosio, 2020). Through Chinese language learning in a different sociocultural context, students exercised agency and compared their own thinking and perspectives to otherness, before developing dynamic experiential knowledge and learning to respect differences and diversity:

I say, before coming here, I was thinking that everything is gone by only one way, but when I came, I see it’s not only one way, for example, I’m here, I try to see things from many many ways, and I start to learn to be more patient, more understand people, try to understand more… It makes me more adult, change many many behaviours. (N’gie, 23-year-old, female, Benin)

N’gie describes that Chinese language learning and her encounters in Chinese higher education created openings for critical learning because she extensively engaged with ‘noticing’ and ‘comparing’ (Liddicoat and Scarino, 2013), discovering that culture and the world are complex and dynamic constructs. Her educational experiences provided the wisdom, skills and values necessary for her to fundamentally understand what is happening around, be radically open to the Other, and manage to live peacefully in an every-growing diverse world, as she said, ‘I start to be more patient’ and ‘change many many behaviours’. As outlined by UNESCO (2017), listening to other people’s points of view and ways of living form the basis for empathy, solidarity and respect for diversity so as to buffer against radicalisation.

In addition, discourses of ‘respecting and valuing diversity’ and promoting social justice were also identified in Alex’s aspirations, as he believes ‘everyone has a place’ ‘in this world and in every society’:

I learn to understand the world from different perspectives, and I understand that in this world and in every society, everyone has a place. And that does not mean that you, who see things in this way, someone else have seen not the same way as you, but both you are still people and you still have to understand and respect each other. All those things, and I think it opens so many doors. that’s why right now I’m not afraid to live anywhere, wherever I’ll go, wherever, I would live there. (Alex, 25-year-old, male, Burundi)

It appears that Alex has developed political, ethical and social justice responsibilities for changing socially unjust societies (Porto and Zembylas, 2020), and these can be read as a sense of bonding with his national and transnational peers, and critical consciousness of broad humanistic goals such as fostering sustainable and world-friendly perspectives and actions (Osler, 2015). This new allegiance beyond the national—as a community of shared future for mankind, seemed to embody him with sufficient courage to become a global citizen to navigate the world.

There have been a number of conflict-ridden contexts and intercultural challenges—racial and ethnic discrimination reported by the participants, and these emerged as a potential barrier to positive social interaction and global citizenship (Xu and Stahl, 2022). Unanimously, the participants were outraged by this social injustice and concerned about their immigrant rights:

One day I met a kid. He said, mum, mum, look, black people. I don’t have mental issues, but I want to say, Chinese, who do you think you’re! But now I understand, they didn’t interact with foreigners a lot, so it’s not a problem. (Roland, 23-year-old, male, Benin)

Though Roland expressed how encounters of social alienation and racial othering shaped his experiences in China, which was based upon his Chinese literacy competence, he also acknowledged that his attitudes towards such scenarios changed over time. Such reflections featured strongly in accounts given by most students, as they gradually recognised that the Chinese just lack exposure to Africans and other foreigners. In Freirean words, they ‘read the world’ through critically analysing the situations and ‘rewrite the world’ through ‘denunciations’ and ‘annunciations’ (Freire, 2000). They developed a sense of intercultural ‘understanding’ of Chinese people and society, allowing for social and political tensions in the ongoing construction of a just and peaceful world.

Making Africa a sustainable and developed place

The current distribution of the world’s resources is inequitable and unsustainable. As the gap between core and periphery countries widens, poverty continues to deny millions of people around the world their rights and/or work for a sustainable future (Oxfam, 2015). Education is a powerful tool for weaving together ‘the future of young people with the future of the world’ (Hayden et al., 2020), by encouraging children and young people to develop empathy with, and contribute to contemporary global issues (UNESCO, 2017). Take the example of Patrick. After completing his Chinese language courses in college, he decided to pursue a computer science degree in China. This decision, he explains, ‘is very big’ and driven by his ambition of making Burkin Faso, his home country, a better and more convenient place:

My plan is very good, is very big. I want to create an app, an app where people can… because in my country, you know… I don’t think we have many… this type of app. It is local, and people can go and buy things and sell things on this app, like Alibaba and Taobao, but a local one, for my country. (Patrick, 21-year-old, male, Burkina Faso)

After staying in China for two years, Patrick was convinced that China was the best place for studying programming and software development, which motivated him to learn Chinese very hard over the past few years. He was aware that the e-commerce market in Burkina Faso was not developed and thus planned to build a strong team for developing apps—online shopping platforms, such as Alibaba and Taobao in China when he returned home.

When we teased this young man for becoming Burkina Faso Jack Ma soon, he interrupted and continued with his blueprint:

Not like this. I just want to be able to solve problems for people, because in life, it’s not about what you have, it’s what you can give…. My dream is to solve problems, not just be able to just get higher things. I just want to be able to solve problems for people. (Patrick, 21-year-old, male, Burkina Faso)

Against the Westernised, market-oriented ideology of possessive individualism, Patrick alternatively aspired for a more sustainable business model based on principles of mutuality and reciprocity (Bosio and Torres, 2019), as he said, ‘in life, it’s not about what you have, it’s about what you can give’. He showed an interest in solving real-world problems (i.e. app development) and helping people live easier, and his awareness of responsibilities for African/global public goods is well articulated in his discourse.

Francelin also recognised the inequalities and unsustainability of our global system, as knowledge and skills are not equally distributed in diaspora spaces. He was eager to share what he has learned in China, which is considered as ‘good’ for his country:

If you have learned something, you have to share it with your own country, share it with friends and colleagues. I have learned something, and I want to share it if they want, which is good for my country. I hope my country could be more developed – this is the future I look forward to. (Francelin, 24-year-old, male, Benin)

In this sense, more than ever, Francelin’s lived experiences in transnational social fields compelled him to reflect on global hierarchies of knowledge, and implementations of ideas associated with responsible global citizenship have come to him through comparisons (Dyrness and Hurtig, 2016; Hayden et al., 2020). Rather than evading, his commitments to making Africa/the world a more developed and sustainable place resonate with ethics of citizenship and solidarity, that is, the actual practices of the global commons or the common good (Bosio and Torres, 2019).

Discussion

This article has focussed on one emergent student migration pattern—African international students in Chinese higher education—that has been subject to relatively little empirical research. The main aim is to establish how Chinese language learning raises aspirations and opens up opportunities for them to become informed global citizens. In addition to its instrumental value, the Chinese language appears to have its educational worth and potential, that is, contributing to the educational process and to the development of individuals and to the evolution of societies (Porto et al., 2018). The findings reveal that African international students have fostered competences and values and linked the Chinese language learning that took place in classrooms with the community, whether local, regional or global. The ascribed monolithic national identifications were thus challenged by cosmopolitan identities and as they traversed between in-betweenness and experienced personal transformations (Ros i Solé, 2016; Sarroub, 2002). Therefore, the nexus of Chinese language teaching and GCE constitutes one of the most powerful resources for pursuing alternative visions of social re/production and utopian innovation (Formosinho et al., 2019). Given the controversy and politicisation of the Chinese language in today’s world, we reject static opinions that stigmatise CFL education as a threat to the stability of the world order. Instead, our empirical data suggest that the nexus of CFL and GCE creates one of the most powerful pedagogic spaces of possibility.

In contrast with other leading host countries of international students, such as Australia, Canada, the UK, and the USA (Knight, 2014; Ma and Zhao, 2018), economic rationales are absent in Chinese higher education policy. Instead, migrant youth in transnational educational and social fields are discursively constructed as ‘para-diplomats’—a source of telling China’s story well and spreading China’s voice (Ministry of Education, 2015). Narratives of the nine participants who were enroled as language students in Chinese higher education, nevertheless, did not signal their awareness of the role of ambassadors who promote and defend the Chinese state. They appeared to have developed powerful forms of ‘global’ or ‘cosmopolitan’ attributes that align with global citizenship (Friedman, 2018), for instance, intercultural awareness, respecting diversity, social and community participation as well as commitments to a more equitable and sustainable world (Bosio, 2020; Oxfam, 2015; UNESCO, 2017). To my knowledge, there have been few, if any, research studies that assess the impact of the Chinese language curriculum that makes such claims.

Within the policy rhetoric, such as The International Promotion of Chinese Policy, Chinese as a foreign language is conceptualised as a global public good, based upon notions of ‘win-win’ (Marginson, 2007), ‘shared prosperity’ (Stein, 2017), and ‘a community of shared future for mankind’ (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2020), and this echoes the discourses of ‘mutuality’ and ‘reciprocity’ appearing in most policy texts. Though the worldwide promotion of the Chinese language is often critiqued as a political tool for securing national (geo)political advantage (Jakhar, 2019; Weinmann et al., 2021), we argue that it constitutes one of the most fundamental instruments for international students to critically and actively engaged with the global challenges and opportunities of life. In other words, the broader plan of achieving ‘win–win’ relations and ‘mutual cooperaton’ is achieved through Chinese language teaching at the tertiary level. We see how China projected its soft power and convinced Patrick that ‘China is the best place for studying programming and software development in the world’, but also raised this African youth’s aspirations for making Burkina Faso a more developed and sustainable place.

As such, Chinese language learning has been suffused with ‘a passion and optimism that speak to possibilities’ (Giroux, 1983, p. 203) and necessitated ‘a concrete utopianism’ (Giroux, 1983, p. 242). Hope, according to Zembylas (2020), is generated, mobilised and sustained for a better future against all odds. With this in mind, we would like to end this article with a call for rethinking the worldwide promotion of the Chinese language. A shift in Western public opinion in relation to politisation of Chinese language education is anticipated, while for academia, the research objectives should extend beyond linguistic competence, but also bolster a curricular approach to developing global citizens for the common good.

Concluding remarks

By offering an exclusive portrait of African international students’ lived experiences and aspirations of learning the Chinese language, this article highlights the educational value of CFL education and its affordances in supporting GCE education, so as to raise the students’ critical consciousness and foster them to become informed responsible global citizens. As CFL education in Chinese policy texts privileges the rhetoric of building a community of shared future for mankind, our article has important implications for Chinese language teaching; that is, in addition to its instrumental purpose, we should also give learners the opportunity to link the language learning and community engagement, while thinking about complex global issues in the classroom and beyond. Given the current politicisaiton of the Chinese language, weaving GCE into CFL education would have lasting, far-reaching impact on its worldwide promotion and China’s soft power projection. One potential limitation of this study is that we only had a limited number of participants involved and half of them were from the same country (i.e. Benin). This approach inevitably led to some simplification given the broad context of the African continent. Follow-up work is needed to recruit more participants and provide an in-depth understanding that would offer further insights to flesh out the affordances and possibilities of Chinese language learning amid a torrent of mounting concerns about the ‘China threat’.