An extract.
Friday, August 25, 2000, updated at 14:46(GMT+8)
A Promising Undertaking
Implementation of the strategy of rejuvenating the country through science and
education is an important State policy of the Chinese government. Talent is
the decisive factor in the application of this strategy. Among our ranks of
science and technology, in addition to the 18 million domestic scientific and
technological personnel of various types, there is a contingent of scientific
and technological experts composed of overseas Chinese and foreigners of
Chinese origin with new knowledge and of profound attainment. According to
relevant materials, there are 600,000 scientific and technological personnel
of Chinese descent around the world, who are distributed mainly in developed
countries. There are 450,000 such people in the United States alone. The
research work engaged in by scientific and technical experts composed of
overseas Chinese and foreigners of Chinese origin covers almost all important
high-tech fields in today's world.
The surging tide of China's reform and opening program has injected fresh
vigor into the scientific and technological ranks of overseas Chinese and
foreigners of Chinese origin. Related materials reveal that between 1978 and
late 1999, the number of students sent by various areas of China's mainland to
study abroad was close to 220,000 distributed in 103 countries and regions.
With the exception of around 100,000 students who returned home after
completing their studies abroad, most students remain overseas, some of them
are still at school, some others live in the countries concerned after
finishing their studies, becoming a new generation of overseas Chinese and
foreigners with Chinese origin. Among them are many outstanding talents, the
overwhelming majority of them have a strong enterprising spirit and a good
wish of serving their motherland by various ways and means.
Viewed from the practice of China's revolution and construction, professionals
made up of overseas Chinese and foreigners with Chinese origin have played a
significant role in China's socialist modernization drive. Since the founding
of New China in 1949, the Chinese government has paid great attention to
outstanding overseas Chinese talents and has established a special body which
has carried out fruitful work. As early as the 1950s and 1960s, more than
2,500 overseas specialists had returned in succession to work on the mainland
of the motherland, their outstanding representatives are a group of well-known
scientists including Li Siguang, Qian Xuesen, Hua Luogeng and Tang Aoqing,
they have made important contributions to the development of various Chinese
undertakings. Statistics show that in 1990, among the academicians of the
Chinese Academy of Engineering, 132 were returned overseas Chinese scientists
and technicians, accounting for over one-third of the then total number of
academicians. After the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Party Central
Committee in December 1978, another group of overseas experts returned to
China to take part in the motherland's construction. Young in age and with new
knowledge, they constitute an additional backbone force in China's scientific
research and teaching fields. By 1997, among the academicians of the Chinese
Academy of Engineering alone, 157 were persons of outstanding ability returned
in different periods to work in the country, accounting for 51.6 percent of
the total number of academicians.
Since the middle and late years of the 1990s, a large group of professionals
of overseas Chinese and foreigners with Chinese origin who stayed in the
country concerned after completing the studies have become increasingly active
in serving the motherland by various methods, the fact that they stay in the
country concerned but return home to do pioneering work has become a trend,
and demonstrated the absolute sincerity of these overseas Chinese. According
to incomplete statistics, the Start-up Parks created by 44 returned overseas
Chinese students in various parts of the country have attracted more than
3,000 enterprises, the majority of these parks were set up by the new
generation of professionals of overseas Chinese and foreigners with Chinese
origin who stay abroad after completing their studies, most of the enterprises
are performing well and have good prospects for development. Practice proves
that the undertakings started by professionals of returned overseas Chinese
and foreigners with Chinese origin who come to China not only play an
important role in China's implementation of the strategy for rejuvenating the
country through science and education, but also provide an important way for
the new generation of overseas Chinese and foreigners with Chinese origin to
develop their own career.
In order to support the development of the career of the new generation of
overseas Chinese and foreigners with Chinese origin and encourage them to
return home (come to China) to set up
