Tian Fei, a PhD student at the University of Houston, is one of the award winners. He told Xinhua that winning the award has given him greater confidence.
"My past achievements have been recognized and I have thus become more confident. I feel that what I have done in the past are meaningful," he said.
Zhang Youlang, a PhD student in political science at Texas A&M University, is the only award winner majoring in social science. He plans to return to China after graduation. "Now China's research environment and conditions are as good as those of foreign countries. Research conducted in China can also reach the world's top level. Therefore, young scholars are very motivated to go back to China," he noted.
The Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad is a scholarship set up by the China Scholarship Council in 2003 to honor overseas Chinese students with outstanding academic accomplishments.
According to official statistics, 500 Chinese students studying abroad received the scholarship in 2018.
There are around 400,000 Chinese students studying in US colleges and universities, about 60,000 of whom are in the southern region of the United States.
