News on China's scientific and technological development.

Equation said:

How much longer can the US holds that title when it depends on the majority (almost ALL) of it R&D scientist from over seas? With Trump at the WH and all this anti foreign rhetoric going on I doubt many would be even be loyal enough to stay. You can definitely count out the natural born kids to pick up the slack due to the current education system continuing to become more of a baby sitter than education that's been going on for decades.

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Call me when US no longer attract more foreign talents to its shores than any other country. I know it'll be a loooooonnnggg wait, maybe in my great great great grandchildren's time. Maybe.

The US is great enough to survive the mismanagement of Donald Trump and his cronies like Steve Bannon, Peter Nevarro, and Stephen Miller. Full stop.

Blackstone said:

Lots of potential, but before anyone forgets, China still spends less as a percentage of its GDP on R&D than the US. I don't believe US will lose its primacy in research, innovation, and higher education for at least the rest of the 21st. Century, probably long after.

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I am not as enthusiastic as you are. A country can gain science and tech lead in a hurry. Japan is a good example. Mere 40 years ago, Japan was like the current China. Many Japanese scholars came to get educated in the US. Now? Especially in the medical field, Americans now go to Japan to get experience in medical research. Just look at how many Japanese Nobel Laureates they have. At a digestive diseases conference in Chicago a few years back, the organizer specifically mentioned "a few decades ago, Japanese came to learn from us. And now we learn from them!"

Japan is a small country that can focus only on certain aspects. When you have a huge country like China chasing after you, you gotta be careful.

The main supply of foreign scholars in the US come from two countries: China and India. I would say 80% of all foreign scholars in the US came from these two nations. But most of the new Chinese scholars who came within the past 5-6 years are no longer staying. Almost all the Chinese Students and postdocs who came to the Uas within the past few years all want to go back ( at least the ones I have talked with).

I am currently in the process of attempting to convince two Chinese visiting scholars to stay with me. And I'm losing incentives to convince them.

I say to them "stay in my lab and publish in high impact journals and get a chance to get your own lab in another 5-6 years if you are lucky (well, I said "if you are lucky" part in my head...).

Then one of them pulled out an offer letter from a major Chinese university. And it includes a position of associate professor with US$ 3 million initial startup funding, a full list of advanced equipment waiting to be used, a moving compensation including close a US$ 200,000 to help him buy a new house. I said "wow". That was it. What else could I say? The situation for scientists in the US is getting pathetic, simply put...

vesicles said:

I am currently in the process of attempting to convince two Chinese visiting scholars to stay with me. And I'm losing incentives to convince them.

I say to them "stay in my lab and publish in high impact journals and get a chance to get your own lab in another 5-6 years if you are lucky (well, I said "if you are lucky" part in my head...).

Then one of them pulled out an offer letter from a major Chinese university. And it includes a position of associate professor with US$ 3 million initial startup funding, a full list of advanced equipment waiting to be used, a moving compensation including close a US$ 200,000 to help him buy a new house. I said "wow". That was it. What else could I say? The situation for scientists in the US is getting pathetic, simply put...

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Such night and day difference in level of thought and evidence between your post and Stoney's, "I just know the US will be still on top for well over another century, when my great great great great great great great (great x 10^99) grand kids are around!" LOL

I wish the US government could provide more incentives to the Chinese researchers to stay because then they could stand to accumulate more knowledge and would contribute more to China when they return in their middle age.

manqiangrexue said:

Such night and day difference in level of thought and evidence between your post and Stoney's, "I just know the US will be still on top for well over another century, when my great great great great great great great (great x 10^99) grand kids are around!" LOL

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Hahaha. Please also keep in mind that I am now gearing up for another grant submission, which is due in about a month. This means I am now very stressed out and am in a bad mood. Who knows, another big NIH grant will cheer me up in no time...

Additionally, I jut got two high impact publications (I mean the highest you can ever get ). And because of that, I am getting a lot attentions from my colleagues. This is definitely good. The bad part is the inevitable offer for collaboration, which means a whole lot of extra work. There are collaborations that I want and desperately seek. But there are other collaborations that I don't want. And in many cases, these include offers from very established people like deans and chairs from various highly established institutions. These are the offers that I cannot afford to refuse. I don't want to waste time on the stuff that I am not interested but also don't want to wave them off. As a young investigator who is still building my reputation, offending a medical school dean who is currently sitting on grant reviewing committees is bad bad bad idea. So I am very stressed out at the moment... that definitely affects how I look at things, I guess...

vesicles said:

I am currently in the process of attempting to convince two Chinese visiting scholars to stay with me. And I'm losing incentives to convince them.

I say to them "stay in my lab and publish in high impact journals and get a chance to get your own lab in another 5-6 years if you are lucky (well, I said "if you are lucky" part in my head...).

Then one of them pulled out an offer letter from a major Chinese university. And it includes a position of associate professor with US$ 3 million initial startup funding, a full list of advanced equipment waiting to be used, a moving compensation including close a US$ 200,000 to help him buy a new house. I said "wow". That was it. What else could I say? The situation for scientists in the US is getting pathetic, simply put...

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Did you mention to your visiting Chinese colleagues they could trust the items they buy in grocery stores? They could attend whatever church they please, or not. They read and say what suit their fancy. They could publicly criticize Xi Jinging's family for hiding $billions of wealth from the Chinese public. They could use Facebook and Google, or not. They could read about the Tiananmen massacre. In the event they discover or patent something, their IPs are protected. Just a partial list of benefits that are hard to come by in the People's Republic.

Blackstone said:

Did you mention to your visiting Chinese colleagues they could trust the items they buy in grocery stores? They could attend whatever church they please, or not. They read and say what suit their fancy. They could publicly criticize Xi Jinging's family for hiding $billions of wealth from the Chinese public. They could use Facebook and Google, or not. They could read about the Tiananmen massacre. In the event they discover or patent something, their IPs are protected. Just a partial list of benefits that are hard to come by in the People's Republic.

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If he did, they'd say that's not worth one red cent put together because they don't engage in those meaningless activities. It's pretty much like if someone told you that you are now free to flash children and walk nude in the snow. Then, they'd say that the benefits of cleaner air and cheaper good food are probably outweighed by being discriminated against as a minority and to have the structure try to prevent you from rising above white males. Most of all, they'd say that they'd rather be proud Chinese people who work for their own country rather than its main rival and if that comes with even more wealth, well then, interview over.

But none of that happened because he's not an idiot who turns his job interviews into lunatic political rants.

Blackstone said:

Did you mention to your visiting Chinese colleagues they could trust the items they buy in grocery stores? They could attend whatever church they please, or not. They read and say what suit their fancy. They could publicly criticize Xi Jinging's family for hiding $billions of wealth from the Chinese public. They could use Facebook and Google, or not. They could read about the Tiananmen massacre. In the event they discover or patent something, their IPs are protected. Just a partial list of benefits that are hard to come by in the People's Republic.

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No, I did not.

My profession is science and that's what I focus on. With other issues, I trust my colleagues have the education, the mental maturity and intelligence to judge for themselves, especially when they have lived in China for much longer and are surely familiar with the pros and cons.

vesicles said:

No, I did not.

My profession is science and that's what I focus on. With other issues, I trust my colleagues have the education, the mental maturity and intelligence to judge for themselves, especially when they have lived in China for much longer and are surely familiar with the pros and cons.

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Did they at least comment on the clean air and blue sky?