While China is one of the major source countries of students abroad, it is increasingly also becoming an educational destination. China receives the largest share of international students in Asia, through the government's strong initiative to bring international educational migrants into its own territory. This study aims to understand how and why international student migrants choose China as an educational destination. It is drawn from 45 qualitative interviews that the author conducted in both the source and target countries. This article comparatively explores international student migrants who enrolled in Chinese-language non-degree and degree programs, on the one hand, and international students who studied in English-language degree programs, on the other, in China. The theoretical component of this research is based on two interrelated concepts – global linguistic capital and global cultural capital – both of which are regarded as motivational bases for cultivating the experience of living in China as well as future career trajectories and prospects elsewhere. By looking at international student migrants’ understanding and undertaking of studies abroad, this article illuminates how the experience of international students as an educationally channeled migration, in the newly structured two-track educational system of the international education market, engages with these different forms of capital in various ways. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd

China International student migrants Global linguistic capital Two-track educational system Global cultural capital

international migration education comparative study China language cultural capital student