Today, China is witnessing an unprecedented influx of graduates and talents who have studied or worked abroad in the nation’s history. In 2016 alone, a total of 432,500 foreign-educated Chinese returned from abroad, an increase of 58.48 percent from 2012.    

The growing figure is an outcome of China’s rise in the world. As China achieves the rapid progress in economy and society, especially in the field of science and technology, the country is like a magnet that strongly appeals Chinese graduates, researchers and scientists abroad. For many overseas returnees who just graduated or started their career abroad for a number of years, their main reason to come back is that they don’t want to miss the golden opportunity of China’s development.  

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, the Central Government has strengthened the efforts to attract intellectual resources, adopting a series of favorable policies for overseas returnees and offering more support for their scientific research or start-up business.   

Among all returnees, there is a remarkable growth of scientists who have made outstanding achievements abroad. They came back because they are able to participate in more and more significant scientific research projects in China, ranging from aerospace, quantum physics, supercomputing to new materials and life science, etc. They are more likely to make scientific breakthroughs here than by working abroad. Most importantly, they want to participate in realizing the dream of Chinese nation’s rejuvenation and building a better future for the nation. 

(This is an edited excerpt of an article published in Oriental Outlook on November 16)