Overseas Chinese graduates are checking out employment and business prospects back here in their home land. The trend was apparent at the Science and Technology Forum, which opened Thursday in the southern city of Guangzhou.

Qu Wei got his doctorate degree from the University of Illinois and has lived in Chicago for seven years. He brought his intelligent video technology program to the Science and Technology Forum in Guangzhou, hoping to find venture investors or partners. He's also very interested in finding an employer in China.

Overseas Chinese graduates are checking out employment and business prospects back here in their home land.

Qu Wei says, "most of the overseas graduates now have a passion to come back to China."

The forum has drawn a record high of nearly 18-hundred "sea turtles," as the returned grads are called. More than half of them hold doctorates. Many large financial institutions and industrial parks are interested in using their skills.

Overseas graduates have brought some 800 projects to the forum, in the areas of electronic information, medicine, new materials, and new energy.

Many domestic recruiters are offering attractive conditions for these high level talents. The host city of Guangzhou even announced an award for overseas graduates that choose to start their own businesses in the city, with prizes of up to 5 million yuan.

Zhang Guangning, mayor of Guangzhou, says, "we will invest 200 million yuan overall in the reward, divided into several categories, to attract these overseas talents to start business here."

The forum will fill about 5,000 senior-level posts at major companies. Some experts say the return of these Wall Street talents is just the beginning of a larger trend, as China attracts professionals from around the globe.

(CCTV December 26, 2008)