Eager to expand its high-tech sector, Shandong has been working hard to create a favorable environment for professionals who want to start up their own businesses.

Most of the 200 people who attended a recent job fair in Qingdao, a coastal tourist city and economic power house in the province, have earned a master's or doctoral degree from institutes in the US, Japan, Canada, Germany and other countries. Many of them have working experience in foreign companies.

Xie Siliang, a returned student from Japan and now general manager of a textile company, said that the most valuable asset these returned students have is that they have not only received advanced education abroad, but also understand the Chinese domestic market. Their overseas experience will contribute to their desire to work in China.

Some 320,000 Chinese students have traveled abroad for advanced study since the country started reforms and open-up in 1978. Some 140,000 of the students have returned after finishing their studies abroad.

But in recent years, the number of Chinese students who have studied abroad and then returned to start up businesses or work in China has been growing at an annual rate of 13 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2002)