Week 8

About 5,000 Chinese scientists are engaged in the emerging field of nanotechnology alone, according to a recent book, “China’s Emerging Technological Edge,” by Denis Fred Simon and Cong Cao, two United States-based experts on China.

The surprise — shock, actually — came a few months later, when Dr. Shi, a naturalized American citizen and 18-year resident of the United States, announced that he was leaving for good to pursue science in China.

BEIJING — Scientists in the United States were not overly surprised in 2008 when the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Maryland awarded a $10 million research grant to a Princeton University molecular biologist, Shi Yigong.

BEIJING — Scientists in the United States were not overly surprised in 2008 when the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Maryland awarded a $10 million research grant to a Princeton University molecular biologist, Shi Yigong.

BEIJING — Scientists in the United States were not overly surprised in 2008 when the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Maryland awarded a $10 million research grant to a Princeton University molecular biologist, Shi Yigong.

BEIJING — Scientists in the United States were not overly surprised in 2008 when the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Maryland awarded a $10 million research grant to a Princeton University molecular biologist, Shi Yigong.

They are lured by their patriotism, their desire to serve as catalysts for change and their belief that the Chinese government will back them.

China’s spending on research and development has steadily increased for a decade and now amounts to 1.5 percent of gross domestic product.

Those who obtained science or engineering doctorates from American universities were among the least likely to return.

BEIJING — Scientists in the United States were not overly surprised in 2008 when the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Maryland awarded a $10 million research grant to a Princeton University molecular biologist, Shi Yigong.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: January 18, 2010
An article on Jan. 7 about China’s efforts to lure back expatriate scholars and scientists referred incorrectly to the resumé of Wang Xiaodong, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and a director of Beijing’s National Institute of Biological Sciences.

Determined to reverse the drain of top talent that accompanied its opening to the outside world over the past three decades, they are using their now ample financial resources — and a dollop of national pride — to entice scientists and scholars home.

“As China becomes more proficient at innovation processes linking its burgeoning R.&D. to commercial enterprises, watch out,” the study concluded.

“As China becomes more proficient at innovation processes linking its burgeoning R.&D. to commercial enterprises, watch out,” the study concluded.

Determined to reverse the drain of top talent that accompanied its opening to the outside world over the past three decades, they are using their now ample financial resources — and a dollop of national pride — to entice scientists and scholars home.

About 5,000 Chinese scientists are engaged in the emerging field of nanotechnology alone, according to a recent book, “China’s Emerging Technological Edge,” by Denis Fred Simon and Cong Cao, two United States-based experts on China.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: January 18, 2010
An article on Jan. 7 about China’s efforts to lure back expatriate scholars and scientists referred incorrectly to the resumé of Wang Xiaodong, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and a director of Beijing’s National Institute of Biological Sciences.

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Uneasy Engagement
This is the 10th in a series of articles examining stresses and strains of China’s emergence as a global power.Previous

About 5,000 Chinese scientists are engaged in the emerging field of nanotechnology alone, according to a recent book, “China’s Emerging Technological Edge,” by Denis Fred Simon and Cong Cao, two United States-based experts on China.

They are lured by their patriotism, their desire to serve as catalysts for change and their belief that the Chinese government will back them.

About 5,000 Chinese scientists are engaged in the emerging field of nanotechnology alone, according to a recent book, “China’s Emerging Technological Edge,” by Denis Fred Simon and Cong Cao, two United States-based experts on China.

Determined to reverse the drain of top talent that accompanied its opening to the outside world over the past three decades, they are using their now ample financial resources — and a dollop of national pride — to entice scientists and scholars home.

Nearly 180,000 left in 2008, almost 25 percent more than in 2007, as more families were able to pay overseas tuition.

And they are returning with a mission: to shake up China’s scientific culture of cronyism and mediocrity, often cited as its biggest impediment to scientific achievement.

Determined to reverse the drain of top talent that accompanied its opening to the outside world over the past three decades, they are using their now ample financial resources — and a dollop of national pride — to entice scientists and scholars home.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: January 18, 2010
An article on Jan. 7 about China’s efforts to lure back expatriate scholars and scientists referred incorrectly to the resumé of Wang Xiaodong, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and a director of Beijing’s National Institute of Biological Sciences.

A 2008 study by the Georgia Institute of Technology concluded that within the next decade or two, China would pass the United States in its ability to transform its research and development into products and services that can be marketed to the world.

BEIJING — Scientists in the United States were not overly surprised in 2008 when the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Maryland awarded a $10 million research grant to a Princeton University molecular biologist, Shi Yigong.

BEIJING — Scientists in the United States were not overly surprised in 2008 when the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Maryland awarded a $10 million research grant to a Princeton University molecular biologist, Shi Yigong.

Skip to next paragraph
Uneasy Engagement
This is the 10th in a series of articles examining stresses and strains of China’s emergence as a global power.Previous

Recently, though, China has begun to exert a reverse pull.

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Uneasy Engagement
This is the 10th in a series of articles examining stresses and strains of China’s emergence as a global power.Previous

While he was courted by a clutch of top American universities and rose swiftly through Princeton’s academic ranks, Dr. Shi said he believed many Asians confronted a glass ceiling in the United States.

And they are returning with a mission: to shake up China’s scientific culture of cronyism and mediocrity, often cited as its biggest impediment to scientific achievement.

BEIJING — Scientists in the United States were not overly surprised in 2008 when the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Maryland awarded a $10 million research grant to a Princeton University molecular biologist, Shi Yigong.

The surprise — shock, actually — came a few months later, when Dr. Shi, a naturalized American citizen and 18-year resident of the United States, announced that he was leaving for good to pursue science in China.

But “the American people are still reveling in the greatness of the country and themselves,” he said in a draft letter.

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Zhang Jing, Sun Huan and Zhao Nan contributed research.

He declined the grant, resigned from Princeton’s faculty and became the dean of life sciences at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

The surprise — shock, actually — came a few months later, when Dr. Shi, a naturalized American citizen and 18-year resident of the United States, announced that he was leaving for good to pursue science in China.

Skip to next paragraph
Uneasy Engagement
This is the 10th in a series of articles examining stresses and strains of China’s emergence as a global power.Previous

He and others like him left the United States with fewer regrets than some Americans might assume.

He declined the grant, resigned from Princeton’s faculty and became the dean of life sciences at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

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Shiho Fukada for The New York Times
Shi Yigong, a Princeton University molecular biologist, rejected a prestigious $10 million grant to return to China in 2008.

At Princeton, his laboratory occupied an entire floor and had a $2 million annual budget.

Chinese scientists are also under more pressure to compete with those abroad, and in the past decade they quadrupled the number of scientific papers they published a year.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: January 18, 2010
An article on Jan. 7 about China’s efforts to lure back expatriate scholars and scientists referred incorrectly to the resumé of Wang Xiaodong, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and a director of Beijing’s National Institute of Biological Sciences.

And they are returning with a mission: to shake up China’s scientific culture of cronyism and mediocrity, often cited as its biggest impediment to scientific achievement.

At Princeton, his laboratory occupied an entire floor and had a $2 million annual budget.

Determined to reverse the drain of top talent that accompanied its opening to the outside world over the past three decades, they are using their now ample financial resources — and a dollop of national pride — to entice scientists and scholars home.

China’s spending on research and development has steadily increased for a decade and now amounts to 1.5 percent of gross domestic product.

“As China becomes more proficient at innovation processes linking its burgeoning R.&D. to commercial enterprises, watch out,” the study concluded.

The West, and the United States in particular, remain more attractive places for many Chinese scholars to study and do research.

The United States devotes 2.7 percent of its G.D.P. to research and development, but China’s share is far higher than that of most other developing countries.

The surprise — shock, actually — came a few months later, when Dr. Shi, a naturalized American citizen and 18-year resident of the United States, announced that he was leaving for good to pursue science in China.

For every four students who left in the past decade, only one returned, Chinese government statistics show.

They are lured by their patriotism, their desire to serve as catalysts for change and their belief that the Chinese government will back them.

But the return of Dr. Shi and some other high-profile scientists is a sign that China is succeeding more quickly than many experts expected at narrowing the gap that separates it from technologically advanced nations.