Why are top US scientists choosing to move their research careers to China?

China won, and did so by being a better trade partner, a better political partner, and by actually having industrial economic policy. Oh and they did it all without firing a shot. 

> Following World War-II, the US attracted top global scientists. But today, many are moving to China. From Nobel laureates to young talent in mathematics and data science, the shift highlights China’s scientific rise and America’s challenges.

> Consider Liu Jun, a widely known statistician and Harvard professor for many years. He has recently returned to China and took a chair at Tsinghua University. His reverse migration has been linked to China’s rising research capabilities and funding cuts at Harvard, where projects were halted after the administration froze grants in April 2020. The challenges faced by Liu reflect broader pressures driving scientists away from the United States. **Reduced funding, stricter immigration rules and growing political pressures** have made it harder for researchers to pursue their work.

> A survey by the Nature journal in March this year found that **three-quarters of US-based researchers** were considering leaving the country. The poll also showed an increase in applications for jobs abroad, with China and Europe emerging as major destinations. The European Union has pledged **€500 million** to attract researchers, underscoring global competition for scientific talent.

> Liu Jun is part of a broader trend. In recent years, many leading academics have left US institutions for Chinese universities. **Yang Dan**, a neuroscientist formerly at the University of California, Berkeley, returned to Beijing in 2024 to continue her research. Harvard nanochemist **Charles Lieber**, convicted in the US for failing to disclose Chinese funding, joined Tsinghua University in May this year to lead nanoscience projects. Mathematician **Sun Song**, once a professor at the University of Berkeley and considered a strong contender for the Fields Medal (akin to Nobel Prize for Mathematics), relocated to Zhejiang University in 2024. Before him, Zhejiang also recruited University of Michigan geometer **Ruan Yongbin** and Harvard number theorist **Liu Yifei**.

> Meanwhile, **French physicist and Nobel laureate Gerard Mourou** accepted a chair professorship at Peking University in October last year, where he is tasked with building a new physics institute focused on global collaboration. Furthermore, nanotechnology pioneer **Wang Zhonglin**, widely known as the “father of nanogenerators,” also shifted full-time to China, taking charge of the Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems.

> Stanford researchers estimate nearly **20,000** such scientists have left the US since 2010, based on an analysis of over 200 million academic publications. The migration of scientists underscores how global competition for talent is reshaping research landscapes. China’s heavy spending on science and technology, combined with initiatives to recruit overseas scholars, has drawn attention from top names across disciplines.

Because we are living in a timeline where USA is becoming an antiscience authoritarian state, making an ascending proscience authoritarian state more appealing. 

Way back in 2009, one of my main clients packed up and moved the entire company from Massachusetts to Nanjing. They were a battery technology startup, with several patents-pending, and they couldn’t get reasonable amounts of funding for expansion and next stages from sources in the US. So they got it all, and then some, to move to China. Bye-bye cutting edge battery technology startup.

In a SHOCKING move, Chinese are going back to China.

Almost all of the people mentioned in the article (one exception) are either Chinese or convicts. Also the trend has been there since 2010.

Because the US government is cutting a bunch of research funding. China isn’t.

Dont worry 

influencers and podcasters and retired correspondents can do our science!