Between Sang subculture and self-formation: an investigation into ‘ Haifei’ in China

Despite the booming reverse student mobility in international higher education, pertinent literature is limited due to a narrow focus on the employability and employment of returning graduates, without considering their holistic lived experience in the home context that is subjected to shaping forces of grand narratives that emerge alongside shifting sociohistorical discourses. Shedding light on the emerging ‘Haifei,’ or ‘overseas returning waste’ narrative in China, this study conducted a qualitative inquiry into returnees’ self-identification of and action upon this collective identity. It makes new contributions in revealing some deep-seated contextualized dynamics that underpin the emergence of the new narrative, which are captured in the Sang culture currently engulfing Chinese youths and the concomitant self-formation as identity construction.