If the Trump administration succeeds in blocking Harvard from enrolling international students, the hardest-hit group would be students from China, who make up the school’s biggest share of current students from overseas.

如果特朗普政府成功阻止哈佛大学招收国际学生，受冲击最严重的群体将是来自中国的学生，他们是目前该校最大的国际学生群体。

The consequences are likely to extend far beyond those select few who could gain entry to the prestigious university. The move could reshape the broader relationship between the two countries by cutting off one of the few remaining reasons that people in China still admire the United States.

其影响范围将远不仅限于有能力进入这所著名学府的少数人群。它可能会断绝中国民众仍然钦佩美国的为数不多的理由之一，进而重塑两国之间的整体关系。

The flow of students from China to the United States has long been one of the most reliable ballasts in the two countries’ relationship, despite growing geopolitical tensions and China’s superpower ambitions. China until recently was by far the biggest source of international students to the United States, sending hundreds of thousands of people each year. Even as other symbols of the United States — Hollywood, for example, or iPhones — lost their cachet for many Chinese, American universities remained a source of aspiration, even veneration.

尽管地缘政治紧张局势加剧、中国的大国雄心日益增长，从中国赴美留学的人流长期以来一直是维系两国关系的最稳定支柱之一。不久前，中国还一直是美国国际学生的最大来源国，每年向美国输送数十万名学生。即使其他象征美国的事物——比如好莱坞或iPhone——在许多中国人心中的吸引力逐渐减弱，美国的大学依然是他们向往甚至崇拜的对象。

Elite universities like Harvard played a particularly important role in that admiration. In recent years, even student exchanges have started to suffer from the two countries’ frosty ties, as many have worried about anti-Chinese discrimination, difficulty securing visas or crime. But schools like Harvard were an exception: They remained as attractive as ever to Chinese students, who were willing to overlook other concerns for the promise of a best-in-the-world education.

哈佛这样的精英大学在这种崇拜中发挥了尤其重要的作用。近年来，由于中美关系日益冷淡，学生交流项目也开始受到影响，许多人担心反华歧视、签证难办或犯罪问题。但哈佛这样的大学属于例外：它们依旧对中国学生具有强大吸引力，令他们愿意为了接受世界一流教育的机会而忽视其他顾虑。

Now, even that beacon is in question.

现在，连这座灯塔也岌岌可危了。

“Everyone comes here with the ideal of changing the world,” said a current Chinese graduate student at Harvard, who requested anonymity for fear of endangering her visa. “But when I’m trying to understand the world, the world shuts me out.” She said she now wants to return to China after graduation.

“每个人都有改变世界的理想来到这里，”一位目前就读于哈佛的中国研究生说道。出于对签证安全的担忧，她要求匿名。“然后去理解这个世界的同时，这个世界把我拒之门外。”她表示，自己现在希望毕业后回国。

In a sign of how tense the relationship between the two superpowers has become, the reaction among many Chinese on social media — where the Harvard news was a top trending hashtag on Friday — was mixed. There was concern and outrage. But in some quarters, there was also grim acceptance or even glee.

周五，哈佛相关新闻成为热门话题，中国网友在社交媒体上的复杂反应凸显出中美这两个超级大国关系已经变得异常紧张。其中既有担忧和愤怒，也有无奈接受，有的甚至兴高采烈。

Some commentators said Mr. Trump was accelerating China’s ascent. They celebrated that American universities would lose both revenue and talent, some of which might flow to China instead. At least one university in Hong Kong has already said that it is willing to offer unconditional admission to any transfer students from Harvard.

一些网民表示，特朗普正在加速中国的崛起。他们对此表示庆祝，认为美国大学将失去收入和人才，而其中一部分人才可能会转而流向中国。至少有一所香港的大学已经表示，愿意无条件录取任何从哈佛转学的学生。

2023年北京一场高校博览会上，宣传美国大学的展位。中国赴美留学生的人流长期以来一直是维系两国关系最稳固的支柱之一。

Ren Yi, a high-profile blogger who goes by the pen name Chairman Rabbit and is himself a Harvard graduate, wrote that the United States government was “castrating” its own top university.

使用笔名“兔主席”的知名博主、哈佛毕业生任意写道，美国政府正在“阉割”自己的顶尖大学。

“This is a great change unseen in a century,” he wrote, quoting China’s leader, Xi Jinping, who has used the phrase to describe his confidence in China’s rise. (Mr. Xi’s own daughter also graduated from Harvard.)

“百年不遇之大变局，”他写道，这是在引用中国领导人习近平的话，后者曾以此表达他对中国崛起的信心。（习近平的女儿也毕业于哈佛。）

Asked about the decision on Friday, a spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry said it would “only damage the image and international reputation of the United States.”

在周五被问及这一决定时，一位中国外交部发言人表示，这只会“损害美国的形象和国际声誉”。

Even before the move against Harvard, Chinese students in the United States had plenty of reasons to worry. American state and federal lawmakers have proposed restricting Chinese citizens’ ability to study in the United States, citing national security concerns. Students have reported being turned away at the border despite having valid visas, or having their visas abruptly revoked.

早在针对哈佛采取这一举措之前，在美的中国学生就已经有很多理由感到担忧。出于国家安全考虑，美国联邦和州议员提议限制中国公民赴美留学。有学生反映，尽管持有效签证，他们仍被拒绝入境，或者签证被突然撤销。

China’s education ministry last month issued a formal warning to Chinese students to consider the risks of studying in the United States — its first alert to students going abroad since 2021.

中国教育部上个月向中国学生发出正式警告，提醒他们考虑在美国留学的风险，这是自2021年以来政府首次向出国学生发出警示。

The Trump administration’s cuts to research funding have also weighed heavily on many Chinese scholars, some of whom say they worry about being financially able to do their work. The Harvard student who said she now plans to return to China said that she had an offer for a research position rescinded because of the federal funding freeze.

特朗普政府削减科研经费的举措也让许多中国学者深感压力，其中一些人担心自己无法继续获得足够的资金开展研究。那位表示计划毕业后回国的哈佛学生说，她曾获得的一份研究职位因联邦资金冻结而被撤销。

In China’s flourishing industry of overseas study consultants, many encouraged their clients to apply to other universities, including outside of the United States, as backup. On a live broadcast with hundreds of viewers on Friday, one consultant warned that other schools might soon see similar restrictions.

在中国蓬勃发展的留学咨询行业中，许多顾问鼓励客户申请包括美国以外的其他大学作为备选。周五，在一场有数以百计观众观看的直播中，一位顾问警告说，其他大学很快也可能面临类似的限制。

But for some, Harvard’s exceptional status — its wealth, its prestige — also gave them hope that the university, and American society more broadly, would weather the turmoil.

但对于一些人来说，哈佛的特殊地位——其雄厚的资金和声望——也让他们抱有希望，认为这所大学——乃至更广泛的美国社会——能够渡过这场动荡。

Yu, a Harvard master’s student who asked to be identified by only her given name for fear of retaliation, said that she had been heartened by how people at Harvard had pushed back against the government’s attacks. In addition to the university administration, her fellow students, Chinese and otherwise, had banded together to share international travel plans with each other in case anyone ran into trouble, and to dissect the language of executive orders.

因担心报复而只愿意透露名字的哈佛硕士生瑜（音）表示，她因哈佛师生们抵制政府攻击的态度而备受鼓舞。除了学校管理层，她的同学们——无论是中国学生还是其他国家的学生——也团结起来，互相分享国际出行计划，以防有人遇到麻烦，并一起解读行政命令的措辞。

She had expected that life as an international student would get harder under Mr. Trump, she said, and she had not drastically changed her view of the United States.

她说，她原本就预料到在特朗普执政期间，作为国际学生的生活会变得更加艰难，但她对美国的看法并未发生根本性改变。

“I more look at the values the country holds and how people are trying to defend those values,” she said. “It will be difficult, but there will be a fight, and we do have some hope.”

“我更多地关注这个国家秉持的价值观，以及人们如何努力捍卫这些价值观，”她说。“这将很艰难，但一定会有反抗，我们还是抱有希望的。”