China’s scientific rise is being driven by returning expertise – especially chemists
By 
Rebecca Trager2026-09-11T13:30:00
Top performing chemists are increasingly likely to go back to China, analysis find
Amid several high-profile departures of prominent US-based chemists for China, including chemistry Nobel laureate Omar Yaghi, economic analysis indicates that higher-quality scientists are increasingly the ones returning there from the US, especially in chemistry.
The number of returnees to China rose from 31 scientists in 2004 – more than 40% of which came from the US – to over 1400 in 2022 – over half of which came from the US. The data shows that between 2004 and 2022 about 10,000 scientists of Chinese origin had gone back to China, including over 5500 from the US.