With its rapid development, China's core policy in regards to the expansion of its comprehensive national power, is one that is established through the utilization of its talented scholars within its immensely abundant highly educated and cultivated human power. Chairman Hu Jintao has expressed that he believed in "人才財源是第一財源", which holds the meaning that the utilization of talent is the number one economic resource. In efforts to attract talent, Chairman Hu has made efforts to establish new policies and organizations, has stressed the pivotal role of the returning study abroad students, and has also openly and frankly expressed the need for the institutionalization for such talents, found among both domestic and returning scholars to be fully utilized. As China approached the 21st century, its national development strategy focused on achieving its goal through science education and science technology, and becoming a nation with of many highly talented scholars(人才强國).
Under the condition of a globalization of a world economy, a country's development and economic improvement is, in most cases, dependent on its accumulation of talent. The natural essence of competition in the fields of economy and science technology comes down to the War for Talent. At a point where it has been over 30 years since China's Reform and Open Door Policy, China is finding itself in the process of domestic research, in regards to the attraction and loss of talent caused by having its nationals study overseas. The country is working to establish diverse government policies to help attract talent, while it is also working to analyze and understand the primary obstacles that result in losses.
After taking a look at a general outline of the history of China's overseas education(section 2), this article will examine the general transition of China's overall study abroad population(section 3), followed by a look at the policies of the Central Government in its efforts to attract the talents of those who have been provided with overseas education, as well as the transitions of those who have been sent overseas through state organs, and their activities after returning to China(section 4). The next section will analyze the social influencing power that this elite group has over its society(section 5), and finally, the last section will be an evaluation of China's strategy for its elite, and its policies regarding overseas education(section 6).