The ministry's spokesman Wang Xuming told a press conference that though China saw a slight annual increase, or 2.1 percent, of the number of Chinese studying abroad at their own expense last year, the number of those who wanted to return mushroomed.

Altogether 118,500 Chinese studied abroad in 2005, including nearly 4,000 funded by the government, some 8,000 dispatched by their employers, and 106,500 at their own expense, according to statistics from the ministry.

"The booming economy, increasing opportunity to start their own business, and preferential policies for the returned students have drawn more Chinese students home," said Zhang Xiuqin, secretary-general of the China Scholarship Council (CSC) under the ministry.

About 933,400 Chinese had gone abroad to study between 1978 and 2005, and 232,900 have returned, the ministry said.