A Global South Perspective on Mediated Intercultural Experiences in China’s Small-City International Schools: A Qualitative Case Study

International schools in China are showing a trend of rapid expansion from major cities (Tier-1) to small cities (Tier-2 and lower tiers). Examining the intercultural experiences of students at international schools in small cities is of great significance for understanding the unequal distribution of resources for intercultural learning across international schools in different regions; however, there is a scarcity of relevant research. This qualitative case study draws on six months of fieldwork at an international school in a small city in China, using semi-structured interviews and classroom observations. Following a thematic analysis of the full dataset, the study examines mediated intercultural experiences across the student cohort and then selects a representative student–teacher pair as a focal case for more detailed analysis. From a Global South perspective, it examines how inequalities in intercultural resources shape the development of students’ intercultural competencies. This study finds that the teacher and student view limited face-to-face intercultural experience as a barrier to understanding other cultures. However, the student attributes the limited opportunities to families’ preferences, without noticing the influence of geographical location. In the absence of authentic lived experience, students rely on mediated sources. Due to differences in the types of mediated experiences involved, a gap may exist between teachers’ expectations of mediated intercultural learning and students’ actual mediated experiences. This may make it difficult to identify certain problematic cultural perceptions in a timely manner. This study further suggests that differences in intercultural learning among students at international schools in small cities are linked to the uneven spatial distribution of intercultural resources as cultural capital.