Abstract
While the booming market and policy incentives of China are reversing the pattern of talent flow across the Pacific, a large proportion of the mainland Chinese immigrant scientists currently in Canadian academia have decided not to return home; meanwhile, their interactions with China in terms of brain circulation are not extensive overall. This study attempts to explore the key factors for the paradox of China’s scientific brain drain through the lens of culture, drawing on data mainly from in-depth interviews with 14 mainland Chinese immigrant scientists in Canadian academia. The theoretical framework derives from the models of cultural negotiation (Sakamoto 2001) and bidimensional acculturation (Berry, Appl Psychol 46: 5–34, 1997). Data analysis reveals that cultural factors override everything else in shaping the leave–stay decision and brain exchange behavior of these Chinese scientists, who have gone through a cultural negotiation and construction process. With a transformed perspective, these academic migrants hold firmly the new culture’s beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors; therefore, the work styles, notions, and ethics of their counterparts in China have cultural limitations and are incongruent with their practice in Canada. Meanwhile, they have been significantly influenced by Chinese cultural values, notably group orientation, hierarchy loving, self-abasement, harmony seeking, face saving, etc. The findings should shed some light on public policies aiming to realize the full value of top talents for the benefits of China, Canada, and beyond.
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Notes
The seven activities are (1) utilizing the advantages of their professional bodies, (2) holding concurrent positions in China and overseas, (3) engaging in cooperative research in China and abroad, (4) returning to China to teach and conduct academic and technical exchanges, (5) setting up enterprises in China, (6) conducting inspections and consultations, and (7) engaging in intermediary services, such as running conferences, importing technology or foreign funds, or helping Chinese firms find export markets.
WXY (pseudonym), Zuo’s college fellow, is a prominent returnee in China.
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This study is funded by the Special Awards for Canadian Studies (SACS) of 2011 which has facilitated the author’s field research in Canada.
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Fu, M. A Cultural Analysis of China’s Scientific Brain Drain: the Case of Chinese Immigrant Scientists in Canadian Academia. Int. Migration & Integration 15, 197–215 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-013-0275-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-013-0275-7