Drawing upon interview data collected from six American professors who have taught in a Sino-US collaborative programme, this study explores these Western educators' perceptions of their Chinese students. Adopting the theoretical lens of cultural non-essentialism, this study finds that these educators formed an appreciative and contextualized perception of Chinese students. They perceived Chinese students as individually different, respectful, open, agentive and able to adapt across contexts. While situating Chinese students in a specific social cultural milieu, they also noticed commonalities between Chinese students and students from other cultures. This study further argues that Western professors' non-essentialist mindset and the positive affection developed through the teacher-student interactions allowed them to perceive their students in an appreciative and contextualized manner. These findings add to knowledge about contemporary Chinese students' academic behaviours, and have relevance to all international students in a larger context.