In recent years, we have witnessed a substantial increase in the number of international students worldwide (Lipura and Collins, 2020), and Portugal has also been following this trend (Oliveira & Gomes, 2017). Linked to this scenario, we have recently observed the significant impact that the global Covid-19 pandemic has had on the lives of this group in several nations, including Portugal (Farbenblum & Berg, 2020; Firang, 2020; McGahey, 2021; Stewart & Lowenthal, 2021; Cairns et al., 2021a; Cairns et al., 2021b; Malet Calvo et al., 2021). One of the most affected nationalities in this context was the Chinese. There was a significant increase in the number of aggressions that these students suffered, mistakenly blamed for the origin and spread of Covid-19 (França, Gaspar & Mathias, 2022). The literature highlights that episodes of discrimination against Asians were widely reported by these students during the pandemic (Pan, 2021). Furthermore, increasing Sinophobia enlarged psychological distress, thoughts of suicide, and symptoms of depression and anxiety among Chinese international students (Nam et al., 2021). According to Xu & Tran (2021), the challenges for this group were diverse in the academic environment. There are reports that communication has become more difficult between these students and their advisors. According to these authors, before the pandemic, some issues were resolved in a few minutes in person, but after the start of Covid-19, virtual contact made the entire orientation process more time-consuming. Moreover, for students who returned to China, there was the aggravating factor of the time zone difference, making it hard to follow classes and online meetings. This presentation is part of the project 'Students from third countries in Portugal: challenges of integration in a (post)pandemic era' financed by the Fund for Asylum, Migration, and Integration (FAMI). Based on the circumstances presented above, this paper aims to understand the experiences and challenges of Chinese international students in Portugal during the pandemic, but also in a post-pandemic context. In methodological terms, twelve in-depth interviews were conducted with Chinese international students who had arrived in Portugal before the pandemic started. Four focus groups were also held with students from different countries (including Chinese) who had arrived in the country after the pandemic had already started, still in a context strongly marked by it (2020 and 2021, mainly). The research revealed that despite numerous difficulties, most Chinese international students chose to remain in Portugal until the conclusion of their curricular units, and the intensification of remote teaching was an added value so that some of them could return in advance and write their theses in China, still receiving guidance from their Portuguese professors. The main challenges are related to the discrimination they suffered in Portuguese society, such as negative looks, physical distancing, and even episodes of cursing in the streets, in addition to the loss of physical contact and social interaction, which, especially for Portuguese-speaking students, was the hardest part of the pandemic.

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Chinese international students,Covid-19 and student mobility,experiences in the pandemic,challenges in the pandemic