Analysis
BEIJING – In east China’s Hangzhou City, Han Bicheng now leads a company developing brain-computer interface technology, a field that was still largely confined to laboratories when he was pursuing a PhD at Harvard University in 2018.
That year, in a basement office in Boston, he met a delegation from Hangzhou, the only group that had traveled such a distance to speak with him, a meeting that proved pivotal.
Months later, Han relocated his core technology and research team to Hangzhou Future Sci-Tech City, where local authorities provided tailored support to help him set up operations.
Han is part of a growing wave of overseas-educated professionals returning to China’s fast-growing science and technology sectors, drawn by expanding opportunities and a more welcoming environment for global talent.
In 2025 alone, China recorded 535,600 returnees from overseas study, according to the Ministry of Education. Over the long run, of the 7.43 million Chinese students who completed their studies abroad between 1978 and 2024, 6.44 million have returned.
Notably, 5.63 million of those returnees, about 87 percent, came back after 2012, alongside the rapid expansion of China’s economy and technology sectors.
For many returnees, China offers advantages that are difficult to find elsewhere. China’s domestic market, application scenarios and policy support create strong incentives for overseas-educated professionals to innovate or start businesses, said Guo Yuanjie, an associate researcher with the China National Academy of Educational Sciences.
“Some innovations by overseas-educated talent are difficult to realize abroad, but can be implemented in China,” she noted.
This view is echoed by Zhu Hao, co-founder and CTO of Manycore Tech, a Hangzhou-based developer of spatial design software that grew into a unicorn company before being listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in April.
Zhu, who holds a master’s degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and previously worked at Microsoft and Amazon, said China’s focus on core technologies is stronger than ever.
He noted that spatial intelligence sits at the intersection of national strategy and industrial upgrading, enabling technologies to be applied rapidly, address real industry pain points, and create immediate value – an impact hard to achieve overseas.
China’s mature industrial ecosystem and vast market also enable quick application scenarios, fast feedback, and meaningful contributions to industrial digitalization, said Zhu.
Meanwhile, China is not simply receiving overseas talent but has also built a policy framework to attract them back over the past few decades.
Central and local authorities have introduced measures, including research grants, startup funding, tax incentives, housing support, and streamlined relocation services for high-level sci-tech talent.
In southwest China’s Sichuan Province, for example, returnees can access up to 300,000 yuan in startup funding and 100,000 yuan in support for science and technology projects.
Leading universities are also competing strongly: Sichuan University offers globally competitive salaries for deans and discipline leaders on a “one person, one policy” basis, while Southwest Jiaotong University provides annual salaries starting at 600,000 yuan, settlement subsidies exceeding 1 million yuan, along with research funding and family support.
Innovation hubs like Hangzhou’s Future Sci-Tech City further support returnees with tailored “one-stop” services, allowing them to focus on innovation rather than administrative procedures.
When difficulties arise, local governments often step in quickly. In Chengdu, when Duan Jiang, a PhD from the University of Nottingham and founder of the AI-powered photo editing platform Fotor, faced funding difficulties in 2014, the municipal government awarded his team a top innovation prize, helping the company through a critical period.
Similarly, when Han’s brain-computer interface company hit bottlenecks, the government facilitated the recruitment of top-tier talent, which proved key to resolving the challenges.
All these efforts reflect a deeper sense of the country’s commitment – encouraging innovation, tolerating failure, and supporting talent and companies over the long term, said Zhu.
“This pragmatic vision gives returning talents security and confidence, making us believe we can truly succeed here and contribute to the country through our efforts,” he said.
Looking ahead, this support is expected to continue and potentially strengthen under China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), which places greater emphasis on technological self-reliance and emerging and future industries.
Taken together, these cases point to a broader shift in China’s innovation landscape.
Just as Baidu’s Robin Li and Sohu’s Charles Zhang helped shape China’s internet era, a new generation of overseas-educated talent is now taking on frontier fields such as AI, quantum computing, brain-computer interfaces, and biomanufacturing.
– Xinhua
