Eideard

Photo by M. Scott Brauer

One constant challenge China faces as its economy continues to explode is finding talent — people with the managerial, technical and creative savvy who can adapt to the country’s distinct culture and working environment.

They find them at home, but they are not sufficient to meet the growing demand. They also find them among Chinese returning from overseas.

China currently sends more students abroad than any country in the world. Between 1972 and 2009, about 1.39 million Chinese went for further studies, according to official data.

In recent years, more than 400,000 of them returned home, lured by prospects of lucrative jobs and a familiar culture, says David Zweig, a professor of political science at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology who is writing a book on this phenomenon. They are known colloquially as “haigui,” or “sea turtles,” because it sounds the same as the phrase “returned from overseas…”

When Deng Xiaoping initiated his reform and open-door strategy three decades ago, he pushed an overseas-study program. The late leader, who studied briefly in France, believed that scholars and students sent abroad would bring back advanced ideas and expertise needed to modernize China…

For years, critics of the program feared it was creating a “brain drain,” but now the trend has reversed…

RTFA. Anecdotal tales to support Jaime FlorCruz’ analysis.

All of it interesting. All of it worth learning from.