The incident has caused outrage in China, threatening Australia's lucrative international student market.
The Australian Chinese community is rallying around the victims, and a racial debate is raging on Facebook and the Chinese version of Twitter, Weibo.
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Alex Huang and his friend, Xuanhao Min, said they were attacked by a teenage gang.
They were allegedly punched, had glass thrown them and burnt with cigarettes.
Police arrested six teenagers - the youngest aged 14 - who faced court..
The attack victims say that no one came to their help - and one passenger allegedly told the attackers, "Rob them instead, they're Chinese, they have money."
The slur angered many Weibo users.
One of the victims has told his followers on Weibo that he may have to have an operation on his nose, hasn't worked in a week and is scared to go out alone at night.
Former foreign minister Kevin Rudd, who is fluent in Mandarin and a new user of Weibo, also weighed in on the debate.
Mr Rudd was unavailable for an interview but released a statement saying that he had expressed his concern about the safety of Chinese students studying in Australia, following the attacks.
He confirmed that he had notified the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Immigration and the police of concerns raised with him.
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