Reversing the brain drain

One of the biggest challenges facing China today is the brain drain - when a nation's bright young minds depart for jobs on foreign shores - and it has been a constant worry for its universities and State-owned enterprises.

Students were first encouraged to go abroad under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, who believed that even if only a small percentage returned it would benefit the country.

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences revealed that 1.06 million had gone to study overseas since 1978, but only 275,000 had returned as of June 2007. The rest had taken up postgraduate courses, found work, got married or changed citizenship.