This article, based on a qualitative study of 54 rural female students attending urban Chinese higher education institutions from 2011 to 2012, contests the portrayal of such students as victims suffering from a low level of ability. My research reveals instead that these women exerted agency to recognize, negotiate, and resist both the urban-rural divide and patriarchy, both of which shaped their lives and identities. My research findings also reveal that their lives were multidimensional and diverse, and thus their situations could not be explained by analyzing the effects of either the urban-rural divide or gender alone, but rather by engaging in an analysis of interlocking power structures. The participants’ identities were fluid and in a constant process of formation as they negotiated the various forms of patriarchy they encountered when they moved from their rural homes to attend the urban academies.
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