More than 130 thousand Shanghai students have gone abroad to study since the reform and opening-up. So far, about 56,000 of them have returned, more than 40%, close to the international figure.
However, the figure nationwide is only some 24%, as only 170 thousand of the 710 thousand overseas students have returned.
Apparently, Shanghai being the economic center of China, is more attractive to returned students than many other Chinese cities. Shanghai launched its second round of "International Talents Gathering Project" in the late 2005, to attract at least 10,000 talents from both home and abroad within two years, and it took Shanghai only 15 months to reach the goal (averagely 22 talents were attracted every day). The international talents attracted in the project have made great contributions to Shanghai's development, such as the development of fuel battery vehicles, the building of the Chongming Eco Island, the construction of a deepwater port, etc.
Currently, there are 68,000 foreign students and 70,000-plus foreign experts in Shanghai, who also helps to build a more dependable "soft environment" for Shanghai's economic development. It can be estimated that more talents will gather in Shanghai in the future.
(Chinanews.cn May 9, 2007)
