Chinese student mobility has diversified with the rise of educational hubs in Asia. However, the literature primarily focuses on student mobility to Anglophone universities. This study conceptualises Chinese students studying in South Korea as participating in a positional competition, wherein the concepts of middling mobility and emerging cultural capital are introduced. Through the lens of positional competition, this study investigates the engagement of middling mobile students seeking positional advantage by studying in Korea. It further explores the competitive edge gained by the emerging cultural capital acquired from Korea within the Chinese labour market. The promise and precarity inherent in middling mobility and emerging cultural capital are illuminated through the juxtaposed narratives of Chinese students, parents, educational consultants, and human resources managers. This study supplements the landscape of Chinese students in global higher education and enriches our understanding of student mobility and cultural capital from a positional competition perspective.