| NEW YORK, April 16, 2003 - When Michael Lee left China in 1986 to pursue an education in the United States, he was swapping a land of poverty for a land of plenty. Today, he is far from sure that's still the case. Along with an increasing number of other well-educated Chinese living in America, Lee can't wait to return home as China, with its turbo-charged economic growth, offers better job prospects than the United States. Even the outbreak of the deadly SARS virus in Hong Kong and the mainland does not appear to be a deterrent. "I've got to go, got to go," said Lee, pounding the desk at a recent job fair at Harvard University organized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's students. "I've waited too long. This might be my last opportunity to go back and do something." Lee said he quit his job to earn an MBA at MIT to help him get on the corporate fast-track back home. He envies his former classmates from a top university in China, as they now hold top corporate positions. "My classmates have become 'big shots' in China. I am nobody here," he said. It's the opposite of what happened when he first came to the United States. "My classmates were so jealous of me at that time, saying 'You are so lucky, you're going to America,'" he said. To be sure, there are still more Chinese coming into the U.S. than are returning, but a recent survey shows that 80 percent of Chinese students now studying abroad said they would like to go back. Overall, China still suffers more of a brain drain than a brain gain: In the last 25 years, only about a quarter of the students have returned home after graduation, according to the Chinese Ministry of Education. But the number of "sea turtles," the nickname for returnees to China, is growing rapidly. In 2002, 180,000 Chinese students went back, up 47 percent from 2001. Lee and others like him have little trouble finding jobs in China given their U.S.-acquired qualifications, fluency in English and hands-on business experience in the seat of capitalism, say recruiters for U.S. companies. They are much in demand, and the need is immediate: China attracted more foreign direct investment than any other country last year, and an increasing number of U.S. companies, after many years of losing money there, are now turning a profit. Indeed, a number of U.S. companies are taking part in job fairs, such as the one held by the MIT students, to recruit future talent. OVERSEAS CHINESE IN HOT DEMAND General Electric Co. , the maker of aircraft engines, appliances and medical imaging equipment, sent about 10 recruiters to the job fair. GE is looking to fill 20 positions at its new world research and development center in Shanghai. The center expects to double its staff of 100 this year."China is our biggest growth area so far, we want our R&D center to be where the biggest growth comes from," said Johannes van Oort, a manager with Imaging Technologies of GE. He said the company's growth rate in China was an impressive 50 percent, compared with the 10 to 11 percent rate in the United States. The camera and film company Eastman Kodak has sent its chairman of the Greater Asia region to Harvard to attract new talent to their homeland, Kodak's second-biggest market after the United States.Henri Petit, demonstrating the latest digital camera model with a bright display, wide-angle screen to a group of Chinese students, said: "We are going to launch this new model in China, and we are an American company." Kodak -- the No. 1 maker of photographic film -- was looking for engineers, sales and marketing people, and business managers to feed further growth in China. "We know that the U.S. has many people from China who are well-educated, know the culture, and have a mix of skills," Petit said. More recruiters might have come to the fair and a related conference on China organized by the Harvard China Review, if it wasn't for the SARS outbreak. Speakers from wireless phone maker Nokia and British insurance company Standard Life both pulled out because of concerns about SARS. 'IN CHINA, THE SKY'S THE LIMIT' For many overseas Chinese, the brand-new factories and gleaming new office towers in major coastal cities within China offer the same promise that California's Silicon Valley did 10 years ago. Xijun Zhang, who recently moved back to China to start a consulting company, Advanced Management Consulting Group, says that many Chinese overseas also feel it is difficult for them to reach the top in the United States. "As Chinese, we probably face a glass ceiling in America. But in China, the sky is the limit," said Zhang. Salary levels in China have soared in recent years, with some top lawyers earning as much as $1 million a year and some engineers in the range of $100,000. In a country where the average income is still less than 1/20th of that in the United States, returnees feel that even a reduced salary would allow them a better life style because the cost of living is lower. Dinner for two in a neighborhood Chinese restaurant in Beijing, for instance, may cost the equivalent of $5 to $10. Those wanting to return home often face opposition from their families, job fair visitors said. Many couples split up as the men go back, while their wives and U.S.-born children stay in the United States. Zhang was one of the luckier ones. He left his family in Boston two years ago, but now he is selling the house and they are all moving back to China. But for Lee, family is a delicate topic. "Don't even ask me about that," he said with a wry smile. Reuters
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