The flags are flying for top Chinese students and elites studying and working overseas. Come back home and we'll make it worth your while. That's the message they're getting from 16 Chinese Central Government agencies, including the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Education, who collectively have announced offering a number of favorable policies to qualified returnees. Apart from high salaries, their children will also be given preferential treatment when applying for high school and college entrance. When the dust has settled, it's obvious the government is going all out to attract these talented individuals.

By the end of 2006, over 1.06 million Chinese students had studied abroad, with only 275,000 coming back. However, generally speaking, during the period of economic takeoff, the ratio of returned students to those who stay overseas is two to one. Therefore, it's felt that if these new policies can lure the top tier of enlightened minds back and encourage them to work for China's economic and social development, then the preferential treatment will have been well worth it.

At the same time, some people have expressed their doubts about the government's incentive policies toward returned students. They are worried that offering "privileges" will have negative consequences. Most importantly, these privileges may well damage the motivation of local talented people. One grave area of concern is that by offering privileges for high school and college admissions, the entire education system is likely to fall into disrepute and equality in the classroom will be destroyed.

Some others argue that what China demands most is not individual professionals, but an effective mechanism to fully tap the abilities of those who are talented. People who have remarkable skills seldom ask for "privileges," but they are eager for a free and equal work environment, where they can compete and fully display their capabilities. Only an equal environment can encourage people to study hard, work hard and contribute to their country.

Offer the carrot

Zhang Yongjing (www.southcn.com): What kind of returned students are "high-caliber talent?". There is no clear definition in the circular issued by the ministries. Is it anyone who graduates from any foreign university or is it a professor at Harvard and Yale? When issuing the green card, the U.S. Government put forward 10 standards to grade their elites and a candidate has to meet three of the requirements to be regarded as a person of excellence. Why can't the Chinese Government set up a similar set of standards?

It's easy for real high-caliber people to find good jobs in any country around the world. Someone whose salary in a U.S. college is $80,000 (about 640,000 yuan), deserves the same amount of payment when he or she returns to a Chinese college. If the college thinks that he or she is worth the high salary and calls him back by offering all kinds of favorable treatment, it proves the old saying that "knowledge brings wealth." Nobody is entitled to oppose this practice in the name of defending fairness. As long as there are opportunities for skilled people to move around the world, the competition for talent in the international market will be equal.

Liang Jiangtao (www.newssc.org): Although China lags behind developed countries in terms of the research environment and opportunities for development, rapid economic and social development now makes it possible for China to provide its skilled returnees with favorable conditions. The newly issued preferential policies by the Central Government agencies are talent-centered measures, which fully value top talent.

For most of those who study abroad, they choose to live outside because they believe the resident countries will provide them with opportunities to fully display their intelligence and ability and to fulfill their dreams. Meanwhile, they believe it's quite difficult to make these things happen in China. As a result, we have to face up to the reality that after China began to open itself to the outside world in the late 1970s, students and top talent make up a large part of Chinese emigrants. China has put gigantic amount of capital and resources into cultivating and training its young people, only to find that the elites and top talent are now working in other countries. This is undoubtedly an immeasurable loss to China, which is hungry for skilled people for its further development.

These preferential policies will surely encourage more students to come back to serve their motherland, so as to lessen the loss caused by this serious brain drain.