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Chinese women face a complex homecoming after studying in Australia

When Li Fang* returned to China after studying at university in both Australia and New Zealand, she didn't think she'd changed all that much.To get more news about traditional chinese women, you can visit shine news official website.

But her family and friends soon noticed."People around me thought I was different," she says."I asked them, 'What's the difference?' They said, 'Sometimes your opinions and your speaking style are very direct.'"

In hindsight, she agrees. "I think my personality changed a lot after going abroad. I like freedom, I like independence," she says.It was not only those close to her who noticed. After Li got home, she undertook an internship with the Chinese government.

"No-one [in my office] had an international background … The Chinese style in government is: Everyone is quiet and no-one should speak [up] about anything. Everyone just follows," she says.

"When you come back to China and you're not used to this, people around you think you're strange."Li is not alone. Many Chinese international students — particularly women — find themselves changed after studying in Australia.

And many of these young women are determined to chart a new course for themselves back in their home country.Fran Martin, associate professor at the University of Melbourne, recently completed a five-year study where she followed a group of 56 Chinese women who studied at university in Australia, including Li.

"Women students make up a majority of the students who come to us from China," Dr Martin tells ABC RN's Counterpoint.

"Many of them find a very meaningful experience, in terms of their personal, subjective sense of themselves and for their plans in their life as women.

"[They may] pivot or reorient as a result of being away from social and familial surveillance at home and living somewhat independently here in Australian cities."Dr Martin says many participants spoke about "getting a kind of tolerance or understanding of non-standard ways of living".

"Whether or not you do these yourselves [or see others do it], from dyeing your hair blue, to cohabiting with partners before marriage, to not having a standard 'wife and family' life plan."

But she says these new ideas and values often collide with a more conservative reality back in China. They experience this when returning to the family home, or through broader state and cultural pressures, or both.The general Chinese public culture and the parent culture has encouraged them strongly towards professional careers and a high level of education … But then there is renewed and intense pressure on women in their mid 20s to reorient suddenly towards marriage, children and family care."

She says these women come back with valuable degrees, "but then they're thrown back into that sort of neo-traditional sense of what a woman's role and identity should be as she moves through that part of her life".

"They may find that they're quite competitive for some professional jobs. At the same time, at least some members of their family and extended family will say, 'When are you getting married?' or 'When are we getting grandchildren?'"