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Western China, Where Returned Students Become Successful Businessmen
Many students returning from overseas universities have become successful business people in western China and their high-tech businesses are prosperous.
Du Jiang, 33, a native of Chongqing, is a computer engineer. After he got a master's degree in the Republic of Korea (ROK) in 1997, he spent three years job hopping from one high-tech enterprise to the other in major Chinese cities including, Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, trying to find an ideal place for his own business.
In October, 2000, Du attended the second China International High-Tech Fair in Shenzhen, and brought his own high-tech item -- software that monitors websites and restores important data within 100 milliseconds when the website is hijacked.
Du soon received an invitation from Chongqing, along with some preferential policies including 60 square meters of free office space and a tax exemption.
Later last year, Du registered his software company in the Chongqing High-Tech Industrial Park.
Today, his company's software is being used by government offices, defense departments and enterprises.
In an interview with Xinhua, Du said it was "gratifying" to build a career in his hometown, and more importantly, push ahead the development of the western areas with his own expertise.
Over 300,000 Chinese have studied abroad over the past two decades of reform and opening. However, only one-third of them have returned to China, and most of those who have returned are working in eastern coastal cities.
To attract talents, nearly all the western cities and provinces have set up industrial parks, offered tax exemptions and allocated special funds. Such favorable conditions have attracted not just the bosses, but also the employees.
Du attributes his success to a stable team of software engineers.
"It's hard for new companies to survive in the coastal areas, because job hopping is common among those who are computer professionals," he said. "Here in Chongqing, engineers will not quit their job when they are paid the same in the east."
Fan Kai, a post doctoral scholar who came back from the United States, registered a bio-tech company in Chongqing last year, and has so far made a profit of 3.5 million yuan (about 420,000 U.S. dollars).
Fan said he built up a career in western China because it is " virgin land with immense potential."
Sources from the Chongqing Hi-Tech Industrial Park said 34 high- tech companies have been set up by some 50 returned students from the United States, Canada, Britain and the ROK, all of which are performing well.
Other major western cities including Xi'an and Chengdu have also recorded the success of students who have returned from studying abroad.
Yao Yi, Fan's fellow researcher in the United States, registered a medical company in Chengdu. Their products have been sold to the United States and Germany.
"High-tech talents abound in western China, with whom we can have very good cooperation," Yao said.
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