(NBD) Sept. 6 -- The news that eight Harvard doctors left Harvard for China's research institute hit the headlines of Chinese major media outlets. Amid the heated discussions, NBD reporter managed an interview with some of those heroes who are now working at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Wang Junfeng who is now the deputy director of High Magnetic Field Laboratory and director of Magnetic Resonance Bioscience Laboratory was the first among those eight to come back and work at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He entered Harvard in 2004 to conduct his post-doctoral study after graduating from Beijing University with a master's degree. When asked about the reason to come back, Wang Junfeng said that after all those years abroad, he wanted to come home and China now provides promising development opportunities.

Zhang Na who had spent over a decade in the U.S. echoed Zhang's thoughts, saying that he can take care of his parents better after coming back and he wants to make contributions to his motherland and he is willing to serve the country. Now China has better environment and conditions for research, Zhang added.

The returning of the eight Harvard doctors are just part of the big picture of Chinese overseas talents returning back. According to the data released by the Inter-ministerial Conference of Returned Students in 2017, as of the end of 2016, the total number of returned overseas students has reached 26.511 million, and the number of talents returning back after completing study abroad took up 82.23% of the number of students studying abroad. That figure was 72.38% in 2012.  

As China has increasingly become the center for global economic development and scientific research, offered higher scientific research funds and provided with continuously improved research environment. Arnout Jacobs, the head of Springer Nature for Greater China, told NBD that Chinese government launched a series of incentive measures to draw overseas Chinese experts. For instance, the "Recruitment Program of Global Experts" successfully some heavyweight experts including Shi Yigong who became the youngest professor in the history of the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University.

"To introduce more top international talents, businesses can appropriately take into account the IPR issues of talents being brought in," Sitlivyi Dmitri Nigiforovich, an expert with chemical enterprise Juhua Group, told NBD in a written reply.

Nigiforovich, 86, was the chief engineer of the Russian Scientific Center of Applied Chemistry and has been working in China for 23 years. He was the first foreign model worker in southeast China's Zhejiang province, and made great contributions to the fluorine chemical development of the province and even China.

According to Zhang Jianguo, director of the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, more than 900,000 foreigners were employed on the Chinese mainland in 2016. By contrast, there was less than 10,000 foreign experts working in China in the 1980s.

"Economic development and employment are the biggest attraction to foreigners and students aboard," said Zhang. "In addition, the Chinese government, enterprises, colleges and universities, and other institutions are pouring more resources into R&D than before."

Juhua Group provides reference to other Chinese companies in terms of the introduction of foreign talents.

In addition to chances to participate in international conferences and exchange with top-ranking international technicians, businesses can offer solutions to help talents' family members settle down, said the company's Chairman Hu Zhongming.

Talent introduction, however, is not an easy task. A lot of issues remain to be addressed, for example, where to find high-end talents and how to select the right talent.

Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn