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Introduction: Project-based learning (PBL) is promoted in Chinese higher education, but Generation Z students often display "strategic soloing" resisting mandatory cooperation despite policy expectations. Existing studies emphasize the pedagogical benefits of PBL but pay limited attention to how historical legacies, surveillance technologies, and digital-era collaboration norms jointly shape learners' motivation in Chinese contexts. Methods: This 4-month educational ethnography examined 150 first-year students from four English classes in one Chinese university, among whom 20 were interviewed. Data included 40 h of classroom observation, 40 video-recorded sessions, 40 SuperStar log traces, and WeChat-based documents. Data were analyzed through reflective thematic analysis and micro-interaction coding. Results: The findings reveal three intertwined mechanisms. First, imperial-examination formalism persists in assessment practices: 30% of group-report grading weight was allocated to formatting, whereas only 10% assessed collaboration, leading students to prioritize procedural compliance. Second, a Foucauldian surveillance triad involving teachers, cameras, and peer assessments generated performative collaboration; video data showed discussion volume rising sharply only during teacher proximity. Third, digital-native collaboration ethics, shaped by gameplay metrics such as DPS (damage per second) statistics, conflicted with high-context classroom norms; 75% of interviewees reported higher trust and efficiency in virtual guilds than in classroom groups. Discussion: The study suggests that PBL assessment should be recalibrated toward transparent contribution metrics and reduced surveillance-based performativity. Theoretically, it proposes the "imperial examination-meta-cosmos" framework to explain how cultural legacies and digital cognition together produce resistance to institutionalized cooperation.
Guosheng Xu (Thu,) studied this question.