China has long suffered a "brain drain" where their top scientists and researchers leave for studies at American and European universities, and then stay. It's a drag on economic development for top talent to flee like this, so Chinese authorities have started a concerted effort to keep their best minds at home. The effort extends to attracting those who have already left to come back, and some top scientists at top universities are doing exactly that, as the N.Y. Times reported yesterday.
Money quote from the article:
Rao Yi, a 47-year-old biologist who left Northwestern University in 2007 to become dean of the School of Life Sciences at Peking University in Beijing, contrasts China’s “soul-searching” with America’s self-satisfaction. When the United States Embassy in Beijing asked him to explain why he wanted to renounce his American citizenship, he wrote that the United States had lost its moral leadership after the 9/11 attacks. But “the American people are still reveling in the greatness of the country and themselves,” he said in a draft letter.
Uneasy Engagement - After Brain Drain, China Is Luring Some Scientists Home - Series - NYTimes.com
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