Articles

The Status and Characteristics of Foreign-Educated Returnees in the Chinese Leadership

The Chinese authorities claim that they have made an effort to recruit foreign-educated returnees into all walks of life, including the political leadership. Yet do China's top leaders really trust Western-educated returnees? Can the Chinese political system genuinely open its doors to talented people returning from the outside world? This article shows that the percentage of returnees at high-levels of leadership is still very small. They usually serve in the functional areas of education such as science and technology, finance, foreign trade, and foreign affairs. Most spent only one to three years overseas, and lack solid academic credentials or broad professional experience.

Sunday, October 30, 2005 0 min read By:

Cheng Li,