Study Of Intercultural Adaptation Problems Of International Students In China

International students management in Chinese universities has been emphasizing particularly on creating comfortable life surroundings for international students from all over the world, caring for their life habit and religions. The social and cultural adaptation problems of international students in China and their demands to participate Chinese social and cultural life were greatly neglected. With the development of international students education in China, the international students' education and management style have to be reformed in order to keep up with the changing situatioa Focusing upon international students everyday life experience in China, a series of interviews and questionnaires are carried out from different perspectives like natural environment, everyday life, language barrier, social interaction, academic situation, psychological stress, among over 200 international students from different countries in 6 universities all over China in order to explore the main factors contributing to the adjustment process of international students in China socially and individually.These studies explore the impact of nationality, gender, Chinese fluency, staying length in China and formal overseas experience as individual predictors of adaptation process among international students. As an important factor, the students' social interactions with Chinese students are examined respectively. The Bogardus Social Distance Scale is introduced in the research trying to figure out Chinese people's tolerance degree to people from different cultural background. Another questionnaire is carried out to find out internationals students opinions about Chinese social support environment, as well as their involvement in Chinese social life.These studies provide evidence that social and cultural adaptation condition is quite different among different international students, in which the variables of gender, culture background, staying length in China all contribute to the adjustment process. Among social environmental factors, the impact of social support from Chinese society on international students adaptation is greater than that of cultural distance.These studies provide evidence that it is very difficult for international students to involve in Chinese social life, especially to make friends with Chinese people due to language barrier, different interest and life sphere. The lack of regular communication mechanism and different social styles influenced by culture value also prevent the social contact among international students and Chinese counterparts. "Cultural Inertia" resists the mutual contact and understanding as well. Base on these problems, researcher explores the implementation of orientation programs in some of the countries, such as the U.S., Canada and Australia, and analyzes their main characters. Research suggests that Chinese universities should develop orientation programs as soon as possible in order to help international students overcome or shorten cultural adaptation process. Another suggestion is to establish an international students advisor position in order to help international students to deal with different problems in their everyday life and academic activities. Students organization should promote the mutual contact among international students and Chinese counterparts by way of encouraging them to take part in different students activities and introducing "help each other" peerprogram to extend the channel of language learning. Policy proposals are made based on the experimental studies.Firstly, the international students management style should be reformed and replaced with" no difference" management style. Secondly, policy consultation workshop and information exchange network should be developed to encourage international students' participation to local social and cultural activities for the purpose of understanding Chinese national situation and Chinese culture entirely and objectively. Thirdly, an easy and friendly social environment should be made to improve the social support to internat...