Top scientists are choosing China

CHINA'S government has long made efforts to tempt top scientists from abroad, but researchers say its institutions themselves are increasingly attracting talent thanks to their generous funding and growing prestige.

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State-backed initiatives like the Thousand Talents Plan have dangled fast-tracked hiring and bountiful grants to lure overseas experts in strategically important fields, as China and the United States vie for technological supremacy.

But academics said the country is becoming a popular destination even among those not targeted by Beijing, especially at the start of their careers.

"You hear about these amazing advanced labs and the government providing money for things like AI and quantum research," said Mejed Jebali, an artificial intelligence PhD candidate from Tunisia at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

"The scale of the research and how fast things get built is really amazing."

China's official enticements have typically targeted eminent researchers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) fields that could help Beijing achieve its goal of becoming the global leader in technology and innovation.

There is no official database of foreign or returnee scientists moving to China, but at least 20 prominent Stem experts have done so in the past year, according to university and personal announcements.

They included cancer expert Feng Gensheng, who left a tenured University of California role for Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, and German medical scientist Roland Eils, now part-time at Shanghai's Fudan University.