Existing scholarship has vividly documented the rural-urban disparity and educational inequality in China, yet little attention has been paid to the internal heterogeneity and individual agency of students from the in-between social class backgrounds. Situated in such research lacuna, this study employs autoethnography to examine the intersections of class, empowerment, and educational mobility of Eve, a female first-generation college student (FGCS) from a small-town family background. Our study finds the disempowering role of the small-town social class background, which contributed to Eve’s economic hardship and lack of cultural repertoire at college. As a female, she also suffered gender stereotypes along her educational pathways. Yet, with her strong will to achieve and the empowering role of some caring teachers at college, she finally became a high-achieving student and experienced global educational mobility which seemed inaccessible and undesirable for many students from lower social backgrounds. By documenting Eve’s educational struggles and subsequent success through self-motivation and individual empowerment rather than institutional empowerment, we call for more inclusive institutional policies and support to facilitate the school adaptation and transition of students from the not advantageous social backgrounds.

Autoethnography is a qualitative research method that draws on personal experience (“auto”) to describe and interpret (“graphy”) cultural texts, experiences, beliefs, and practices (“ethno”) (Chang, 2008). It explores the intricate dynamics of personal experiences, delving into the nuances of change and continuity in education (Starr, 2010, p. 4). In this article, we draw on autoethnography of the first author Eve’s educational experience. Born and raised in a small-town family in Hunan province, central China, Eve had never been travelling out of her hometown prior to university. She became a daughter of a single-parent at age 9 when her parents got divorced. Being the first college student at her family, she experienced her very first educational mobility when she was admitted by a prestigious university in east coast of China. Due to her outstanding academic performance, she was recommended to a top university for a master’s degree with full scholarship in Northern China. Eve’s educational experience in China’s prestigious universities for Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees made her distinct from her hometown peers, who were usually uncapable of making their ways to prestigious universities. During her undergraduate and graduate studies, she continued to studying hard, utilising it as the only way to gain scholarships, therefore supporting herself financially when family support could not always be available. The scholarships she earned during undergraduate and graduate studies also had empowered her mobility capacity to navigate Chinese elite universities and overseas universities. Empirical data for this study mostly is drawn from Eve’s two formal reflections on her personal and educational experiences with 99,614 Chinese words. In addition to that, we also rely on Eve’s diaries from high school to postgraduate study as an important source of information. To provide more triangulated data, we also conducted a focus group interview with Eve’s classmates, family members, and relatives. By listening to data from different sources, we hope to unveil the academic struggles and empowerment of a female FGCS, thus illuminating the ways that education can empower individuals, especially those who are from the in-between family backgrounds. For ethical reasons, all names in the article are pseudonyms.

Eve’s educational journey offers nuanced insights into the institutional disempowerment faced by FGCSs from in-between family backgrounds. Through autoethnography, this study highlights key struggles: a lack of knowledge about hidden rules at elite universities, gender stereotypes, institutional silence on economic hardships, and insufficient support for students from less advantaged backgrounds. To compensate, Eve relied on a hardworking culture that ultimately led to her academic success. While institutional empowerment was lacking, individual teachers like Professor Li provided crucial support. However, such individual efforts cannot fully counterbalance systemic disadvantages. Small-town students must conform to the state-sanctioned ideology of relentless studying to succeed in competitive exams, reinforcing cultural hegemony (Gramsci). The phrase “knowledge is power” thus serves a dual function: benefiting the elite by shaping knowledge production while pacifying the lower class through narratives of meritocratic mobility. Eve’s experience underscores the need to critically assess class-based barriers in educational mobility. Financial aid policies, while helpful, also introduced bureaucratic hurdles and public stigma, pushing Eve toward part-time work. Institutional biases toward non-urban, non-middle-class students further complicated higher education experiences. Applying an empowerment lens, this study examines how class, teachers, and educational mobility function as (dis)empowering factors in Eve’s academic trajectory. While national scholarships expanded access, systemic disregard for cultural capital perpetuated struggles. Parental support was largely absent at elite urban universities, yet Eve’s academic resilience and English proficiency facilitated success in international exchanges. Her journey exemplifies how structural constraints and individual agency interact in shaping educational outcomes. This study contributes to literature by emphasizing the (dis)empowering roles of class, educators, and mobility for students from in-between backgrounds. It advocates for higher education institutions to implement more inclusive admissions and tailored support policies to enhance institutional empowerment for FGCSs from disadvantaged backgrounds.

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