With an increasing number of international students to study in China, however, few studies have investigated how international students experienced assessment in Chinese higher education. Drawing upon the concept of sustainable assessment, we present findings from interviews with thirty international postgraduate students who shared assessment and learning experiences at a Chinese university. Findings revealed the ways these students navigated qualitatively different assessment and learning settings between coursework and research project in the programme while indicating various views towards different tasks. In understanding their experiences, we evoke notions of in-betweenness to illuminate their negotiating experiences between different settings of assessment and learning. We argue that combining principles of sustainable assessment with conversations about a sense of in-betweenness can support universities and academics to better design meaningful assessment and learning practices for international students.