Teacher-student relationships (TSRs) have been the focus of many studies from various perspectives. However, existing research mainly investigates the interpersonal relationship between teacher and students. There has been a lack of systematic studies on their intellectual relationship in higher education, particularly in the context of the internationalization of research education. To fill this void, we reconceptualize the Chinese educational concept "jiao xue xiang zhang" by tracing its historical development, and then using this to inform an empirical study of TSRs between international research students and their Western educators. We argue that the two parties are engaged in an intellectual interaction where international students introduce their indigenous resources to Western academic society through the use of these resources in their studies, and that Western educators enrich their intellectual knowledge in the course of this interaction. The contribution of this study is twofold: the development of a novel method of engaging Chinese "chéngyu"--historical reconceptualization and the development of the concept "intellectual interaction," derived from the Chinese educational concept "jiao xue xiang zhang."