Chinese media calls returnees ‘sea turtles’ — these are Chinese-born graduates of top global universities and who have gone to work with major companies outside China, and the government wants them back as it moves to higher-skills manufacturing.
Hoping to reverse a brain drain, the government and companies are scouring the globe for talent. Job fairs are one of their tools, with dozens being organized around the world.
Thousands of Chinese go abroad every year to study science, engineering and other fields and many never return home. Of the 1.4 million Chinese students who received student visas to go abroad since 1979, only 390,000 have returned.
The Japan Times reports Beijing is keen to build up industries like telecommunications, computers, clean energy, automobile manufacturing, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. For that, it needs researchers and managers with experience and foreign-learned knowhow.
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