Open Letter For International Public from the international students of China.

12.1.2021
#TakeUsBackToChina
#TakeUsBackToSchool

We are a community of tens of thousands of international overseas students who used to study in China. We are presenting you our problem which turned our life into a real nightmare. And by the name of humanity we are asking you to help: On March 28, 2020, China suspended all resident permits and visas for international students, thus keeping us from returning to China to complete our studies. Since then, we have been suffering from deep depression and stress because of the feeling that we are losing our future without being able to do anything. Several students lost their lives because of the unbearable stress and many others gave up on their education. The rest of us are suffering immensely from the inhumane situation and the absolute uncertainty of our future.
The current situation is deeply harming thousands mentally, and we are shocked how we are loosing all our dreams without any support.

Description of our problem:
* The majority of students are postgraduate students who were supposed to graduate soon. That means that only their final thesis stands in between them and the graduation. However, many students majoring in science subjects need a laboratory to conduct the required experiments for their thesis. Hence, denying them access to their labs is directly denying them their right to graduate.

* Other students have been taking online classes with all the difficulties that this entails and working against the time difference between China and their country of residence. The lack of direct communication between students and teacher is staggering. Additionally, many students live in unstable countries which means they are directly affected from slow internet and bad electricity supply.

* Regardless of whether students work online and participating in online courses, their study should still be considered full-time work. However, the Chinese scholarship authority (CSC) suspended our stipend without giving any clear reason and without us breaking any law or regulation. The suspension of the scholarships forces many to take on jobs while pursuing their online education, leaving them to work at day while studying at night. Together with the difference in time zones and often inadequate internet services, this creates even more problems. Those who took on educational loans instead of scholarships are amassing an immense financial burden as due to the delay in their studies, the interest rates in their loans keeps rising. Their plight gets even harder with the difficult financial situation worldwide caused by the pandemic.

What we have tried so far:
Since China controlled the pandemic, we have been trying to make our voices heard by the Chinese authorities. To do so, we wrote and sent several letters (emails + actual paper letters) to:

1-      all our universities
2-      all the Chinese embassies in our countries of residence
3- The Chinese Ministry Of Foreign Affairs (中华人民共和国外交部)
4- The Chinese Ministry Of Education (中华人民共和国教育部)
5- The State Council (国务院)
6- The President’s Office
7- The National People’s Congress (中华人民共和国全国人民代表大会)
8- The Immigration Bureau (移民局)
9- The National Health Commission (卫生健康委员会)
10- The Disease Prevention and Control Agency (疾病预防控制局)
We sent emails and actual paper letters to all these institutions themselves and to its members or leading officials. All we got were unhelpful answers.
We also told our story to several newspapers, both international and Chinese. Furthermore, we started an online campaign with the hashtags #TakeUsBackToChina and #TakeUsBackToSchool. However, until now in January 2021, we have still not received any official news.

Demands and suggestions of this open letter:

* We demand a clear schedule for international students to let them return to their studies.
* To curb the Chinese fears of infection, we suggest that students should be allowed to return according to the order of their graduation date. Thus allowing those who are about to graduate sooner, to return to the schools earlier. This effectively helps to reduce the number of students by separating them into groups and batches according to the urgency of their graduation date.

* Students are duly aware of how we can prevent and protect ourselves and others. Therefore, we request to return in a completely safe mode, with PCR + IgM tests according to the requirements, and to follow all the Chinese government's quarantine regulations.

* We demand to treat the education emergency like an emergency, as other passengers like businesspeople and others on economic purposes were treated much better.

*We demand the resumption of CSC- and all other scholarships stipends because we are still students and did not break any law that would justify our deprivation of support.  

email: save.foreign.students.of.china@gmail.com
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/saveforeignstudentsofchina
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/saveforeignstudentsofchina1
Twitter : https://twitter.com/TakeUsToChina

This letter has been signed previously by tens of thousands of international overseas students,
all signatures are available upon request!!