About a third of the students he interviewed for the book said that they planned to return. Students told him their main motivation was the improved social standing they assumed they would find at home, plus deeply felt patriotism. For the most part, Zweig says, this is a male phenomenon. Women are less likely to return, he reports, because they prefer the foreign lifestyle, as well as the educational opportunities for their children. Moreover, women often believe their careers will founder in the mainland.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that the homeward trickle has become a flood of late.
At the age of 30-something you have to make choices. The homing instinct is crucial to China's development - as Deng fully realized nearly 20 years ago. He may well have taken his cue from Taiwan, where returning students in the 1970s helped transform the island into a technology powerhouse. Thanks at least in part to the individualism and lateral thinking encouraged in Western schools, Taiwan has built a nimble economy that is the envy of Asia. To keep its own modernization on track, China requires similar dynamism and expertise.