Chinese Students Back from Overseas Seek Fortune in Government

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, January 06, 2003

Chinese Students Back from Overseas Seek Fortune in Government

Liu Yuelun holds a British doctoral degree and serves as deputy director on the Development Zone Management Committee of prosperous Guangzhou City in south China's Guangdong Province.

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Liu Yuelun holds a British doctoral degree and serves as deputy director on the Development Zone Management Committee of prosperous Guangzhou City in south China's Guangdong Province.

After returning from Britain in 1993, Liu chose to launch his career in government rather than the commercial world or starting his own business.

Liu is not alone among "haiguipai" - those Chinese who get degrees overseas then return to the homeland - in seeking fortune in political circles. Li Yuguang, deputy mayor of Foshan City, and Zheng Liping, mayor of Yunfu, both also in Guangdong, have the same foreign educational background.

Forty years ago, any overseas link would cost a Chinese dearly and no one liked to even mention that he or she had any foreign relations.

However, a more open China nowadays has seen the benefits of globalization, particularly in terms of skills. Selecting and promoting government officials from the ranks of Chinese with a foreign background has become popular in China.

The north industrial province of Liaoning opened 42 provincial government posts to "haiguipai" last July. Recruited officials will serve a three-year term. Their family members enjoy preferential policies to settle in Liaoning.

The open offer attracted some 120 "haiguipai" and in less than a year, Liaoning started another round of invitations to similarlyskilled people to join its county-level governments, in a bid to attune the province to the country's World Trade Organization commitments.

According to Liu Yuelun, returned students from overseas are familiar with situations outside China and their managerial techniques up to international level. "With the advantage of knowing the world and our connections overseas, we're a bridge between skilled people from China and outside," he said. The personnel reforms in Chinese government circles are still at a fledgling stage. Liu said he hoped these experiments would see more top people from all walks of life serving in government.

Xu Songtao, former vice minister of Personnel, said a set of policies concerning recruiting returned students from overseas into government positions were currently under review and would soon be released.

In fact, the practice was once seen as far back as the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). China's father of railways Zhan Tianyou was one of the nation's first Yale University graduates. He was granted an honorary Chinese degree and appointed the government's chief railway engineer.

In its early stages in the 1920s, the Communist Party of China included a large number of returned students from France and the former Soviet Union. China's late leader Deng Xiaoping once studied in France.

The trend is booming now more than ever as all levels of Chinese governments make welcome gestures to "haiguipai". Many government officials maintain that after China's WTO entry, governments will be more challenged and sorely in need of people who can improve management and efficiency.

Cao Junming, director of the Guangdong Bureau of Foreign Experts Affairs, won his post from tough competition after he returned from France. He said that compared with other fields, Chinese administrative management wanted more professionals with advanced technology skills and more open perspectives.

In the country's economic powerhouse Guangdong, recruiting "haiguipai" is only part of its ambitious personnel reform scenario.Luo Dongkai, deputy head of the provincial Management Department, told Xinhua that as well as "haiguipai", government posts would beopen to other top candidates including talented people from private enterprise.

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