How do Chinese people view returnees?

How do Chinese people view returnees? In recent years, Chinese governments at all levels have introduced a series of preferential policies to attract high-level overseas talents to return to China (come to China) to innovate and start businesses...

In recent years, Chinese governments at all levels have introduced a series of preferential policies to attract high-level overseas talents to return to China (to come to China) to innovate and start businesses. For example, only those who introduce talents can receive high government bonuses ranging from hundreds of thousands to several million; they can be given priority in applying for scientific research funds and entrepreneurial loans, and enjoy the benefits of medical care personnel; their spouses can work and their children can be properly accommodated in school, etc.

On the one hand, these preferential measures increase the enthusiasm of returnees to return to the country, but at the same time, they may also cause some negative effects. First of all, from a government perspective, when local governments spend huge sums of money to bring in returnees and establish entrepreneurial parks, are they bringing in the talents they really need, or are they just showing off another exaggerated performance project? Secondly, from the perspective of the domestic people, returnees will inevitably compete with domestic experts in the same industry. If the government favors returnees too much, it will not only dampen the enthusiasm of domestic experts and people, but may also trigger their hostility towards returnees and dissatisfaction with policies.

In November 2012, Rory Truex, another PhD student in the Department of Political Science at Yale University, and I conducted a questionnaire survey among more than 2,000 Chinese netizens of different ages and occupations in 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China. We tried to assess the possible negative effects of the national talent strategy by analyzing domestic people’s attitudes towards returnees and the policies they enjoy. Our survey results show that although the Chinese people generally support the government in bringing in more returnees, the interviewees also call for a level playing field for “locals” and “returnees”; the government’s preferential policies for returnees should be limited.

Talent Strategy to Recruit Returnees

Since the beginning of this century, the phenomenon of overseas students returning to China has gradually attracted social attention. According to statistics from the "China Returned Entrepreneurship Development Report (2012)", in 2011, 186,200 overseas students returned to China for development, setting a record for the highest number of Chinese students returning home in the past. China is transforming from the world's largest talent emigration country to the world's leading talent return country.

The emergence of the wave of returning to China is on the one hand the result of China's rapid economic development, and on the other hand it is inseparable from the country's series of measures to recruit talents. The government's determination to recruit talented people is evident from the policies it has introduced in recent years. In 2008, the first national-level Thousand Talents Plan, led by the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, will attract 2,000 foreign strategic scientists and innovative and entrepreneurial leaders to return to work in China within 5-10 years. In 2011, the national “Thousands of Foreign Experts Plan”, which aims to introduce experts from all over the world, was officially launched. In 2012, the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China launched the "Thousand Youth Talents Plan", which plans to introduce 2,000 overseas Chinese young talents to return to work in China within five years.

>The Thousand Talents Plan introduces both foreign experts and Chinese innovative and entrepreneurial talents who have worked abroad for many years. These talents usually hold leadership positions or professional and technical positions in colleges and universities, scientific research institutes, central enterprises, and state-owned commercial and financial institutions. They participate in consultation and demonstration of major national projects, major scientific research plans, formulation of national standards, and construction of key projects. At the same time, they can give priority to apply for science and technology funds, industrial development support funds, etc. from government departments, which can be used to carry out scientific research or production and operation activities.

Under the policy guidance of the central government, various regions have successively introduced policies to introduce overseas talents. In 2009, Tianjin issued the "Opinions on Implementing the Overseas High-level Talent Introduction Plan", which will take 5 to 10 years to introduce 1,000 overseas high-level talents. In 2010, Zhejiang launched an overseas high-level talent introduction plan, introducing 10,000 outstanding overseas entrepreneurial and innovative talents and 100,000 foreign experts in five years. Not only coastal provinces and cities have actively taken measures to attract returnees, but western provinces have also followed suit. Yunnan Province plans to introduce about 100 high-level overseas talents who can break through key technologies, develop high-tech industries, and promote emerging disciplines. Sichuan Province launched the "Hundred Talents Plan" to introduce high-level overseas talents, introducing and focusing on supporting about 200 high-level overseas talents to come to Sichuan to innovate and start businesses.

In order to attract returnees, the government has introduced various preferential policies. The national finance provides 1 million yuan in scientific research funding for each returnee selected into the central government's "Thousand Talents Plan"; Wuhan provides financial support of 3 million to 5 million yuan per project for leading talents selected into the "511 Yellow Crane Talent Plan"; Changchun has established a 300-yuan research fund for each person. "Angel Fund" worth 10,000 yuan; Hangzhou "Hai Chuang Park" provides supporting funds of 3 million yuan for returnees selected into the national "Thousand Talents Plan". In addition, there are a series of supporting policies and measures such as financing guarantees, lifting of household registration restrictions for high-level overseas talents, and providing talent apartments for returnees.

As direct beneficiaries of these preferential policies, most returnees naturally welcome these government initiatives. However, do the domestic public support the government’s talent strategy? What do they think about the treatment of returnees? What do they think of the returnees?

What kind of returnees do people welcome back to China?

We first investigated the respondents’ views on the government’s increase in the introduction of overseas high-tech talents. Overall, the Chinese people have a relatively high support rate for the government to increase the introduction of overseas talents. 76% of respondents support or strongly support this policy. We further divided the returnees into three groups: "professors", "entrepreneurs", and "international students". The results show that 80% of the people support or strongly support the government in attracting returnee entrepreneurs to return to China to start businesses. Relatively speaking, the support rate for increasing policies to attract international students is the lowest, at 68%.

"I hope foreign entrepreneurs will come back to start their own businesses," Xiao Huang, who just graduated from university last year, said in an interview with the author, "because the products they make are technologically advanced, very competitive in the market, and they also provide many employment opportunities." Xiao Huang currently works in sales for a biopharmaceutical company in Wuxi founded by returnees.

Our survey found that the Chinese people’s support for returnees mainly depends on the contribution of the returnees to society. This may be because China is still a third world country, and the need for economic development still affects many people's standards for measuring the rationality of policies. The vast majority of Chinese returnees have received higher education abroad and are therefore considered to be capable of moving society forward. Among them, returnee entrepreneurs have made the most direct contribution to economic growth. They not only transform technology into productivity and promote regional economic growth, but also create many jobs. Relatively speaking, on the one hand, the quality of the international students group is uneven; on the other hand, they need to compete with local graduates for existing jobs after returning to their countries. Therefore, they are inevitably considered to be "stealing for jobs" and are relatively unpopular.

How do you view the treatment of returnees?

At present, in order to attract talents, governments at all levels have introduced preferential policies for returnees, especially returnee experts. In order to understand the Chinese people's views on these unequal policies, we formulated several different preferential policies that returned experts may enjoy, and then randomly divided the respondents into different groups and asked them about their attitudes towards the policies. The results show that respondents can accept a certain degree of preferential treatment for returnees. But when there is a big difference between the treatment of returnees and similar local talents, opposition to the policy will also increase.

Ms. Xu teaches in the economics department of a university in Zhejiang Province. When it comes to the treatment of returnee experts in the school, she is quite critical: "I am opposed to the one-size-fits-all policy implemented in the department now. As long as the professors who have returned from abroad enjoy special allowances and a large amount of scientific research funds. Experts who have returned from abroad and Our locally trained professors should be said to have their own strengths. They are better trained in methodology, but many of them don’t really understand China’s actual problems.”

Returned experts and scholars enjoy higher salaries, while entrepreneurs who return to start their own businesses enjoy government tax relief policies. After graduating from college four years ago, Mr. Chen founded an electronics company in Jinan, Shandong. Talking about his views on the treatment of overseas returnees, he said: "Although there are many overseas returnees coming back to start businesses, in the study abroad parks of our entrepreneurship parks, many overseas returnee enterprises can barely survive by relying on the tax exemption policy. Many enterprises will not be able to operate once the tax exemption period ends."

The government's introduction of preferential policies to attract returnees can certainly increase the enthusiasm of returnees to return home, but excessive preferential policies will have some negative effects. First of all, because some cities want to attract overseas study talents, they do not ask for qualifications and only use returnees. The blind competition for returnees may lead to a reduction in the quality of talents. Secondly, although the public supports the government’s introduction of talents, they have many opinions on the treatment enjoyed by returnees. Many interviewees are dissatisfied with the returnee policy not because they are afraid of direct competition with overseas talents, but because of the inequality of opportunities caused by the policy bias, which makes them lose at the starting line. It should be commendable that the government takes the opportunity of attracting overseas returnees to strengthen the system and improve it. However, most of these current systems only target overseas returnees and do not benefit local talents. This will dampen the enthusiasm of local talents for innovation and entrepreneurship. Therefore, how to look at the overall situation and develop a good environment so that both returnees and local talents can enjoy the advantages of the system is an issue that the government should consider now.

In addition, if the government blindly relies on economic means to attract returnees to return to work or start a business, it will lead to a change in the motivation of returnees to return to the country. Because of financial guarantees and tax incentives, many returnees who were not originally suitable for starting a business have joined the entrepreneurial army with the mentality of giving it a try. There are also some returnees who rent out the land in the entrepreneurial park obtained at a low price at a high price to earn the difference. Such behavior obviously violates the government's original intention of formulating preferential policies for returnees.

The image of returnees in the eyes of the public

We also asked the interviewees about their impressions of the returnees themselves. The survey found that although the public welcomes the government's introduction of returnees, they do not have a good impression of overseas talents who have returned to China. 59% of the respondents believe that returnees are not necessarily better than their domestic counterparts; 53% believe that returnees have an international perspective and are knowledgeable; 52% believe that returnees are idealistic and do not know much about China's current national conditions; 42% of respondents believe that returnees have their own circles and think of themselves as noble. Only 30% of the respondents believe that overseas returnees love their jobs very much, and 17% believe that overseas returnees find it easy to cooperate with others at work.

The above results show that the composition of the returnee group is complex. There are many elites with real talents and international vision, and there are also a large number of international students who have become rich in foreign countries and are forced to return to China because they cannot gain a foothold abroad. If these people are generally referred to as "returnee talents", it will inevitably arouse objections from the domestic public.

In addition, there are various signs that there is a big difference in mutual understanding between domestic people and returnees. When asked about the main reasons why returned experts returned to China, 62% of the respondents believed that they could benefit from government policy care, while only 26% believed that the reason why returned experts returned was because they were willing to help China achieve rejuvenation. Interestingly, a 2009 survey of Thousand Talents Program experts by the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the CPC showed that the main reason why 86.5% of experts chose to return to China was to "serve the motherland." Although Thousand Talents Program experts and returnee experts in the eyes of the interviewees may not be exactly the same group of people, and Thousand Talents Program experts may deliberately appear more patriotic than they actually are when answering the Central Organization Department’s questionnaire, this result reveals to a certain extent that there is a certain gap and misunderstanding between the two groups.

It is worth mentioning that the respondents’ attitudes towards returnees also fluctuate due to the influence of the government’s talent policy. The more favorable the treatment enjoyed by returnees, the more negative comments people have about returnees. Therefore, the government must comprehensively estimate the effects of its talent policies, including its externalities, that is, the effects of policies on other social groups. Policies that blindly favor returnees may cause conflicts between different groups.

Tai Qiuqing is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Science at Yale University in the United States. The manuscript is excerpted from "The New York Times Chinese Website"