SCMP: Why are overseas Chinese scientists drawn back home? This heartfelt 1950 letter holds answers. A stirring open letter to Chinese students abroad has recently gone viral on social media. Drafted in late 1949 by Zhu Guangya—revered as the father of China’s nuclear program—the message continues to resonate across generations. 南華早報：為什麼海外的華人科學家都選擇回國？這封 1950 年發自內心的信件給了答案。一封給中國留學生的公開信近日在社群媒體上瘋傳。這項訊息由被尊為中國核計畫之父的朱光亞於 1949 年底起草，至今仍在幾代人中產生共鳴 By Stephen Chen

When first published on March 18, 1950, China stood ravaged by foreign invasions and civil wars, its soil scorched and people impoverished. Yet this clarion call moved over 1,500 scholars—including Qian Xuesen, later hailed as the father of Chinese rockets —to abandon foreign comforts and return home.

Seventy-five years later, as China thrives with prosperity and technological might, young researchers rediscovering this letter report the same pull. What explains its enduring power?

The answer lies in a parallel historical moment. In 1949, China achieved political independence. Today, around 2025, another “New China” emerges—this time claiming scientific sovereignty. Sixth-generation fighter jets streak across skies. Huawei’s cutting-edge chips defy foreign embargoes. Cancer breakthroughs save millions. From space stations to 5G networks, electric vehicles to quantum superprojects, China’s tech renaissance sparks awe.

No wonder overseas students feel the old summons anew. A second wave of talent homecoming may have already begun. To grasp their fervor, let’s revisit Zhu’s timeless words.

An Open Letter to Students in America by Zhu Guangya (1950)

Fellow Students,

The hour has come for us to return and participate in the reconstruction of our Motherland. The Motherland urgently requires our service! The People’s Government has repeatedly voiced its summons, and Radio Beijing echoes the call for students’ return. Our government welcomes and receives returning scholars with open arms. Comrades, our countrymen cherish boundless hopes for us—how can we linger in hesitation? Why should we delay? For what purpose do we tarry here?

We were all raised on Chinese soil, educated through two decades of learning, yet never cultivated a single grain of rice nor mined a lump of coal. We grew through the sweat and toil of millions of Chinese workers and peasants. Now they await us—ought we not hasten back to devote our skills to our people? Verily, we must return without delay.

Comrades! Having studied here for one year, two years, or half a decade—all under the pretense of “completing our education”—what constitutes “completion”? A Master’s? Doctorate? In former days such titles might purchase official posts, but no longer. The new China measures men thus: 50% by ability, 40% by dedication, and but 10% by credentials. In truth, doctoral laurels hold no terror now. Of what worth are empty honors?

You may protest: “My learning remains incomplete—I must continue research while opportunity permits.” Friend! Scholarship knows no bounds; we could study till death claims us. Should we remain enchained by foreign laboratories, we risk perpetual exile. Back home, practical study aligned with China’s needs awaits—more substantive than ivory-tower speculations. What folly to master techniques estranged from our soil, returning with useless knowledge and discredited credentials!

Perhaps you clutch at E.C.A.* subsidies, blind to their political strings and transient nature, prioritizing personal academic whims over our nation’s dire necessities. Such thinking reeks of selfishness!

To engineering students: Academic repetition or technical minutiae cannot substitute practical experience. Better to learn through our factories’ actual conditions than perfect theories abroad. Fear of failure? True learning comes through labor—let not cowardice stay your return!

Those interning in American factories: Their scale and resources differ vastly from China’s. While observation benefits, prolonged stay squanders time. Our homeland offers apprenticeship where it matters—with Chinese materials under Chinese skies. Why labor for foreigners when China needs our hands?

Researchers in sciences and medicine: Return to establish laboratories through Chinese effort. Shall we feast on banquets others prepared? Even Tsinghua professors teach through Chinese realities—see Professor Wang Zunming explaining steelmaking via our own iron ores and Anshan’s works. Such practical wisdom eludes foreign classrooms.

Students of social sciences: Most urgently must you return! Theories born of industrialized capitalism ill suit our new democracy. China’s social reconstruction follows its own path, demanding knowledge tempered by native soil. Would you parrot imperialist doctrines while your countrymen build anew? Even returning Marxists now study three months at North China University** before service.

Delay no more! Our 450 million countrymen—workers, peasants, intellectuals, and entrepreneurs—unite to forge a New China: free, democratic, and prosperous. Though hardship lies ahead, we march toward glorious dawn. This historic task is ours to share.

Hearken! The Motherland summons us—through her laboring masses, through five millennia of ancestral wisdom, through our People’s Government. Return! Let our sweat nourish Chinese soil till flowers of progress bloom. China shall rise triumphant—a nation no longer humiliated, standing erect among the peoples! Hasten homeward—the hour is at hand!

Footnotes:
*E.C.A. (Economic Cooperation Administration): U.S. postwar aid program with perceived political agenda. ** North China University: key revolutionary institution later merged into Renmin University.