China sees a growing number of returnees

Danni Zhao

I had grown up in China embracing both Eastern and Western worlds, following an international curriculum in my secondary studies, emphasizing the development of my linguistic ability in English and in French. By learning foreign languages, I built confidence and respect for other nationalities and cultures, and developed a global and open mindset, to explore the world and bloom in an international environment.

After my Bachelor's studies in law and in French literature at Xiamen University, I chose to take up a challenge and leave my comfort zone in China. I went to Europe to explore a new domain in cross-border transactions on an international basis to better prepare myself to be an excellent international lawyer in the future.

In 2009, I succeeded in a highly select international competition for entry to the 3 top business schools in France. I was admitted to ESCP Europe Business School, one of the top business schools in Europe, and enrolled in their Grande Ecole program, the French elite education system. Since then, I started my adventure to discover the Western world, to better understand their legal and economic systems, as well as foreign cultures in different countries.

From my perspective, the most important thing I learned is that we can be brave and chase and follow our dreams with a strong will and belief. I believe that everyone has a talent, only if she or he is always passionate to do what she or he always wanted to do. With this strong belief, I built up a platform with my French partner, Jenna, to interview talent people around the world, to inspire more talented people to share their stories and experiences, to realize their dreams, and to stimulate the realization of more creative ideas. Through these talents, we shared local culture as well. I did this project because I believe in the power of the dream!

It is true that according to my own experience, most Chinese students choose to go back to China after graduation or several years of working experience abroad. I think that there are two main reasons to explain this phenomenon: First, from a general view, China is now a place with a fast pace of development compared to other countries, and there are still many domains to be developed and perfected. Aligned with the "Chinese dream," China needs more talent to bring back fresh ideas and contribute their efforts here to realize new dreams with many opportunities. Second, from a personal perspective, the "family" and the unit of "home" keeps playing a crucial role in today's Chinese values and culture. It means that most parents hope their children come back home after their studies abroad, and for students, they think that they are committed to take care about their parents when they are old, and they are willing to go back, which is one part of Chinese traditional culture. Of course, we cannot forget that another reason may be that in some countries, it is not easy for all students to stay and compete with local candidates in finding a permanent job after their graduation.

With this opportunity, I would like to say thanks to my dearest parents for their support of my dreams!