In the era of globalization, acculturative stress and stress management of international students have become critical issues for their significance to both sojourning students and the stakeholders. This study aims to explore Chinese international students' acculturative stress and stress management in South Korean universities, examining what factors contribute to their acculturative stress and how the acculturative stress is managed from the individual and organizational perspectives. Berry's Model of Acculturative Stress and the Theory of Preventive Stress Management (TPSM) were utilized as the theoretical frameworks. The sample consists of 24 Chinese international students from the universities of 6 cities in South Korea through snowball sampling. A qualitative research approach and the interpretive paradigm were employed. A Semi-structured interview was conducted by Zoom and WeChat during the Covid-19 outbreak. The results indicate that Korean and English language proficiency is the most significant factor contributing to Chinese international students' acculturative stress; communicating with parents or friends online is the most frequently used stress coping strategy from the individual perspective, and social support is the most frequently used stress management strategy from the organizational perspective. The Covid-19 pandemic was identified as an acculturative stress factor that had a significant impact on Chinese international students. The results have important theoretical and practical implications, especially for relevant university staff and Chinese international students in helping cross-cultural adaption and stress management in higher education settings.