Extensive research into students’ learning strategy use in classroom settings has convincingly established that effective use of learning strategies enables learners to take responsibility for their own learning, promotes learner autonomy, and positively relates to students’ academic performance. However, little research has systematically examined the learning strategy use of PhD students. Consequently, relatively little is known about how students carry out their doctoral learning, in which learner autonomy is of paramount importance. Even less is known about Chinese PhD students in Australian universities and how they cope with independent doctoral study. Few investigations have explicitly focused on the learning processes of this student cohort, and anecdotal evidence has often described Chinese school and university students as passive, dependent and reproductive learners, even though empirical studies assert otherwise. To better understand the learning processes of Chinese PhD students in Australian universities, this study examines their learning strategy use and the factors influencing their application of learning strategies. Using qualitative research methods, which focused on understanding the phenomenon from the students’ perspectives within the context, this study collected interview data from a group of Mainland Chinese PhD students of social sciences. Computer assisted qualitative analysis was performed to provide an in-depth, grounded understanding of the students, their interactions with the learning environment, and their learning processes. This study shows that the investigation of learning strategies is a powerful tool to reveal how PhD students develop autonomy in the doctoral learning process. The results show that the students adopted a range of learning strategies to improve their learning efficiency, to enhance their self-teaching, and to facilitate development of their research competence. Despite the commonalities in their learning strategy use, the students exhibited significant individual differences in applying specific learning strategies, which were determined by their personal qualities, their perceptions of learning contexts, and the demands of the research tasks. This reveals the idiosyncrasies in the learning behaviours of this group of Chinese students and their learner autonomy. This study demonstrates that theoretical and methodological preparation for PhD study was the most significant influence on the students’ learning experience. By applying effective learning strategies, the students who encountered problems of theoretical deficiency, insufficient methodological knowledge, and underdeveloped research skills were able to develop their knowledge and enhance their research competence through the actual process of doing the research. Nevertheless, it appears that methodological training and support were needed to assist them in further enhancing their learning efficiency. The findings of this study reveal that this group of Chinese PhD students were autonomous learners and their application of learning strategies was a result of dynamic interactions between their personal variables and the contextual demands. This study lends support to the argument that, in cross-cultural settings, it is constructive to develop a contextualised understanding of students’ learning behaviours. Furthermore, from the students’ perspective, supervisors who understand them as individuals at the personal level are better able to assist them in learning. Within the stated limitations, this study recommends that future research on Chinese PhD students’ learning strategy use incorporates the perspectives of both students and their supervisors and involves their counterparts from other ethnic backgrounds in order to further understand the effects of cultural differences on their learning strategy use.