China's Talents in exile

The article in SCMP dated 17 January headlined “Surgery needed to plug the brain drain” highlights the problems facing both Communist China and would-be academics in China. With a highly unfavourable environment for research and development, an exodus of aspiring elite scientists has been witnessed over the past few years.

Most of the students/ researchers concurred that “China was still not the easiest place for academics to work because of ambiguities and restrictions in policy.” According to Dr Cao(a scientific policy resercher at the Levin Institute of the State University of New York), “The cost of opportunities for the best and the brightest scientists to work in China is just too high… They (Researchers) don’t know what research is permitted and what is not. They might find themselves having to suddenly stop their research because they are ordered to."

Another problem has something to do with plagiarism and academic corruption. The students studying overseas are prone to dismiss the idea of returning China to serve due to a lack of social justice and a heavy reliance on one's personal network for his success.

Such grave concerns have aggravated the problem and forced them into exile. The most popular country for higher education is the United States, followed by Hong Kong.

I wonder if offering "preferential policies or money to lure the talented back" is really as workable as expected. After all, relaxing restrictions on the freedom of press, the freedom of speech and so on would be the panacea for uprooting the problems.