Washington and Beijing have become rival superpowers, but in the past, this didn’t deter China from being the largest source of international students in the U.S.

Now, Chinese and American citizens have more negative perceptions of one another, and the intellectual exchange is drying up.

However, leaders on both sides, including Chinese Premier Xi Jinping, have insisted that student exchanges are still valuable. Vivian Wang reports for The New York Times. (November 2023)