Scientists in the United States were not overly surprised in 2008 when the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Maryland awarded a $10 million research grant to Princeton University molecular biologist Shi Yigong. At Princeton, his laboratory occupied an entire floor and had a $2 million annual budget.

       The surprise -- shock, actually -- came a few months later when Mr. Shi, a naturalized American citizen and 18-year resident of the United States, announced that he was leaving to pursue science in China. He declined the grant, resigned from Princeton’s faculty and become the dean of life sciences at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

       “To this day, many people don’t understand why I came back to China,” he said recently between a crush of visitors to his Tsinghua office. “Especially in my position, giving up all I had.”

       Princeton physics professor Robert H. Austin said that Mr. Shi “was one of our stars” and that he “thought it was completely crazy.” 

       China’s leaders do not. Determined to reverse the drain of top talent that accompanied its opening to the outside world over the past three decades, they are using their ample financial resources -- and a dollop of national pride -- to entice scientists and scholars home.

       The West, and the United States in particular, remain attractive places for Chinese scholars to study and do research. Even so, the return of Mr. Shi and other high-profile scientists is a sign that China is succeeding more quickly than many experts expected at narrowing the gap that separates it from technologically-advanced nations. China’s spending on research and development has steadily increased for a decade and amounts to 1.5 percent of its gross domestic product. The United States devotes 2.7 percent of its GDP to research and development but China’s share is far higher than that of most other developing countries.

       Despite its huge investment, China still struggles in multiple areas of science and technology. No Chinese-born scientist has ever been awarded a Nobel Prize for research conducted in China, although several have received one for work done in the West. 

        Chinese students continue to leave in droves. Nearly 180,000 left in 2008, almost 25 percent more than in 2007, as more families were able to pay overseas tuition. One student returned for every four students who left in the past decade. Those who obtained science or engineering doctorates from American universities were among the least likely to return.

        Recently, though, China has begun to exert a reverse pull. In the past three years, renowned scientists have begun to trickle back. Some cite a  mission to shake up China’s scientific culture of cronyism and mediocrity, often cited as its biggest impediment to scientific achievement.

       They are lured by patriotism, a desire to serve as catalysts for change and a belief that the Chinese government will back them. “I felt I owed China something,” said Mr. Shi. “In the United States, everything is more or less set up. Whatever I do here, the impact is probably tenfold, or a hundredfold.”

       Source: New York Times

    中国欲强势扭转人才外流趋势

    2008年，当声望很高的霍华德休斯医学中心给予普林斯顿大学分子生物学家施一公1000万美元的研究经费时，美国的科学家不会感到过度惊讶。在普林斯顿大学，他的实验室占整整一层楼，每年预算有200万美元。

    但几个月后，惊讶——事实上是震惊——就到来了，在美国居住18年、加入美籍的施博士宣布离开美国，回中国从事科学研究。他放弃高额经费，从普大辞职，回北京担任清华大学生命科学院院长。

    “直到今天，很多人还不理解我为什么回国，”最近，他在清华办公室接待川流不息的来访者时说，“尤其是处在我这样的位置，等于放弃拥有的一切。”

    “他是我们的明星之一，”普林斯顿大学物理学教授奥斯汀说，“真是太不可思议了。”

    中国领导人可不这么想。他们决心扭转伴随着对外开放三十年来的人才流失趋势，利用现在充裕的财政资源以及民族自豪感吸引科学家和学者回国。

    西方，尤其是美国，对于从事学习和研究的很多中国学者来说仍有很大吸引力。但施博士和其他一些知名科学家回国却表明，中国成功缩小了与技术先进国家之间的差距，这比很多专家期望的要快得多。10年来，中国用于研发的经费稳步增长，现在总量相当于GDP的1.5%，虽然不及美国的2.7%, 但比其他大多数发展中国家高得多。

    尽管有巨大投资，但中国仍在很多科学和技术领域里苦苦挣扎。有好几位中国科学家因在西方从事的工作而获诺贝尔奖，但却没有一名在中国出生的科学家在中国大陆从事研究而获诺贝尔奖。

    中国的学生继续成群结队地离开中国。2008年近18万学生离开，几乎比2007年增加25%，因为有更多家庭支付得起海外学费。过去10年来，每4名离开中国的学生中只有1名回国。那些从美国大学获得科学或工程学博士学位的人最不可能回国。

    然而，中国最近开始致力于扭转这一趋势。过去3年，著名的科学家开始如涓涓细流般地回国。他们带着一个使命回国：重塑中国任人唯亲和平庸无奇的科学风气，这通常被认为是取得科学成就的最大障碍。

    他们回国还受到爱国主义、渴望成为变革催化剂以及相信中国政府支持他们的驱动。“我觉得要感激祖国，”施说，“在美国，事业多多少少已经建立起来。不论我在这里（中国）做什么，影响或许就会达到10倍甚至100倍。”