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Lesson 3
Should the Brain Drain Be Stopped by Restrictions?
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Brain Drain
It is said that Shanghai's musicians abroad could form a worldclass symphony orchestra.
But the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra once failed to find a qualified conductor for a whole year!
A similar situation exists in science, medicine and sports circles.
Stopping the outflow of talent depends on creating a sound domestic environment rather than simply setting up barriers for those who wish to go abroad.
A handful of people go abroad to seek a comfortable life. But most Chinese intellectuals emigrate because they cannot bring their talent into full play in their motherland.
Many conductors trairied by the Shanghai Conservatory of Music have gone abroad either because they cannot find jobs in symphony orchestras due to the competition for places, or because they cannot develop themselves in orchestras where promotion comes only by way of seniority.
We face a keen shortage of talent, but one batch of gifted people after another have gone abroad". The situation is grim.
It is impossible to improve the conditions for all intellectuals by a wide margin. But it is possible for governments. at all levels to create a better environment for their development.
The outflow of talent is a loss to our nation as well as a pressuse forcing us to optimize the environment for the taleated.
II. Read
Read the following passages. Underline the important viewpoints while reading.
l. Give Students More I.eeway
Ten years ago, the Shanghai Public Security Bureau issued four passports each day. Now the staff must work long hours to process more than 1, 000 a day.
People's Daily reports that more than 70,000 Chinese students and scholars are now studying abroad with still more ready to go.
While many people are worried about the brain drain problem, the article said that whatever the motives of students who leave, there is no doubt that they cherish a deep feeling towards the motherland.
It has been suggested that people who fail to returnon time should be granted "temporary leave from their posts" to encourage them to return at any time.
Among those who joined the recent rush abroad, more than half went to further their studies and keep up with the latest academic achievements. According to a survey conducted among some 7, 000 scientific researchers in Shanghai, 82 per cent believed that their experiences abroad were "fruitful". Half said they had made headwayin their work.
Meanwhile, they said they continued to follow with great concern the development of their country's economic reforms. Ascholar with a doctorate from 1 Iew York University had written over 100, 000 words of suggestions to the Chinese central government, the article reported.
Loneliness was found to be the worst enemy of thestudents living away from their families and homeland.
The brain drain from developing to developed countries is an international
phenomenon. In China, backward management and unreasonable distribution systems, together with poor living and working conditions, have led to the departure of many intellectuals.
"After my graduation from university, I have spent four years in my office reading a newspaper with a cup of tea every day I want to go abroad to start a new life, " said a 25-year-old technical worker who was waiting for a visa from the Japanese Consulate.
Some students and scholars had stayed in foreign countries beyond their time limit for one reason or another. For this thoy had been labelled unpatriotic.
But People's Daily called for more trust and understanding of those students.
A scholar studying and working at an American university said he would return to China as soon as his daughter finished secondary school in the US.
A young scholar at a Shanghai research institute said he could not manage to conduct research with a meagre State allocation of 2, 000 yuan a year. In America, he can get $ 24, 000 a yeat' for use in research, so he decided to stay on after getting his degree.
In such cases, most work units back in China dismiss those who fail to return on time. This hurts the feelings of many who are willing to return later, the article said.
At the same time, those who do return face a job problem.
China,s irrational employment and personnel system prevents some from fully using the skills and knowledge they have acquired abroad.
Ai Xiaobai, with a PhD in Physics, wrote to il institutions of higher learning in China. Two of them refused him and the others did not even answer him. Just before deciding to go back to America, he was hired by a Chinese research institute which knew of him.
2. Personal Progress and Job-hopping
In many parts of the world, personal influence is almost essential in getting ahead. One needs a "godfather? a "sponsor". Here that is not true. Naturally all people use influence sometimes, but one rarely advances far on that basis alone in the United States. Here traits which lead to success are generally considered to be the willingness to work hard (at any kind of job), scholarship or skill, initiative, an agreeable and outgoing personality. In other words even in the realm of personal progress, this is a "do-it-yourself" society. By and large, success is neither
inherited nor bestowed. This means, therefore, that our employment practices are different from those in many other countries.
In some nations it is considered disloyal to quit a job; deep reciprocal loyalties exist between employee and employer (recipient and "patron?in many cases); lifelong job security and family honor are frequently involved.
This is not.true in the United States. "Job-hopping" is part of our constant mobility. We consider it a " right " to be able to better ourselves, to move upward, to jump from company to company if we can keep qualifying for more responsible (and therefore better) jobs.
This interchangeability of personnel seems unreasonable to some members of foreign nations. Where are our roots? How can we be so cold and inhuman? "We act,?some say, as if we were dealing with machines, not humans. ?They do not understand that a great many Americans like to move about. New jobs present new challenges, new opportunities, new friends, new experiences-often a new part of the country.
The employer may be quite content too. Perhaps he has had the best of that man's thinking; a new person may bring in fresh ideas, improved skills, or new abilities. Then, too, a newcomer will probably start at a lower salary for he will have no seniority. Hopping is so readily accepted here, in fact, that a good man may bounce back and forth among two or three corporations, being welcomed back to his original company more than once through his career, each time at a different level.
3. Residents Go Overseas to Seek Their Fortunes
Shanghai has become a favourite investment spot with foreigners eager
to get a financial foothold in China.
And with the development of its export-oriented economy, the city looks set to become an international trade and financial centre on the west bank of the Pacific Ocean.
But many Shanghai people are not content simply to sit and wait for the foreigners to come to them-they want to go abroad themselves to try their luck.
The Shanghainese have a reputation for being able to find work the world over. Before the founding of New China in 1949, hundreds of thousands of them were trading throughout the world.
In the 1950s and 1960s when the country was pursuing its closeddoor policy, hundreds of factories, research institutes and universities--involving more than 1 million people-were moved from Shanghai into the inland areas to support the nation's socialist construction. Now,people with Shanghai accents can be found all over the country.
The current policy of developing the export-oriented economy in the coastal areas has stimulated the Shanghai people's desire to head off for foreign parts.
And, according to the Shanghai-based Jiefang Daily, the best way for them to do this is to engage in business or provide labour and technical services to other countries.
Shanghai has too many people chasing too few jobs, so this surplus labour force could solve the labour shortages which exist in some other parts of the world.
Workers' monthly wages abroad can be 100 times what they are in China-although the cost of Iiving is likely to be much higher in some countrtes.
Furthermore, while working overseas, the Chinese workers would get the chance to learn advanced technology and to become entrepreneurs and specialists, thus promoting trade and economic co-operation between China and other countries.
Jiefang Daily suggests locai authorities should take the following measures to promote exports of labour:
Set up labour service groups to undertake contractual projects abroad. Shanghai workers have taken part in many overseas projects in the past, such as construction of railways, factories and other buildings. With their high reputation, they would be a force to be reckoned with on the world labour market.
Estahlish employer-employee introduction offices. Drivers, repairmen, nurses, housemaids, hairdressers, cooks and workers involved in gardening and construction are in great demand in many countries and these offices could provide training and act as a bridge between employers and employees.
Encourage peopie to look for jobs themselves. As many Shanghai residents have relatives overseas, they could easily get help in finding work abroad.
Promote co-operation between the State and individuals. If local people are encouraged to work abroad, workers with special skills would flow out of the country, thus creating a brain drain. To solve the problem, consideration must be given to both State and private interests. When workers go abroad at their own expense, the enterprises they work for should give them favourable treatment when they return. While working overseas, the workers should help their enterprises open up to the world market.
Shanghai residents have strong aspirations to expand their living space and they are good at trading. But first priority should be given to entrepreneurs who are brave enough to journey out into the world and build success.
Before the founding of new China, a number of world-renowned figures such as shipping magnate Pao Yue Kang and the computer king Wang An were raised in Shanghai. It is expected that a group of new magnates will emerge when Shanghai entrepreneurs enter the world economy.
Now that Shanghai is capable of building 100, 000-ton-class vessels and manufacturing sophisticated precision building machines, powerful generators, colour televisions and bicycles, there is no reason why the city could not create a group of world-class shipping kings, building machine kings and bicycle kings.
With a solid industrial foundation and technical force, Shanghai could also set up factories and shops overseas to compete with foreign counterparts. Shanghai-made brands, very popular at home now, will surely capture a slice of the world market if sales promotion is emphasized.
Shanghai produces quality cloth shoes of good workmanship. But its exports are $ 1. 1 billion annually, only half of Taiwan's total, due to the neglect of sales promotion overseas.
Shanghai boasts numerous specialists in the fields of science, technology,culture and education. These experts could earn a good deal of foreign exchange for the State if technical services were offered to countries that badly need skilled workers in high-tech industries.
The city can also directly export technology and software and contract scientific research projects abroad, as it possesses advantages in the fields of laser, optical fibre, microelectronics and biological engineering technology.
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