> as of 2017 That's when the change began. China began limiting foreign withdrawals to $50,000 a year [0], which made it hard for Chinese international studen

> as of 2017 That's when the change began. China began limiting foreign withdrawals to $50,000 a year [0], which made it hard for Chinese international students at the undergrad level to join. At the same time, the US began cracking down on Chinese nationals at American programs due to economic espionage attempts and monitoring Chinese nationals at American universities [1] On top of that, the material condition did become better for Chinese scholars in high priority fields, so you did see a significant number of Chinese nationals who did research graduate programs return to China to either get tenure track or start a business in that space. Finally, during Zero COVID (2020-2023), China placed extremely harsh exit and entry controls that basically cut Mainland China off from much of the world, and the subsequent economic slowdown made the cost proposition of studying in the US prohibitive if it wasn't a top tier program. At this point, it has become a headache for Chinese students to go abroad, but nowadays, those that do try are doing so with the intention of staying abroad. [0] - https://www.safe.gov.cn/en/2017/1230/1397.html https://www.safe.gov.cn/en/2017/1230/1397.html [1] - https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/04/18/the-chinese-communist-party-is-setting-up-cells-at-universities-across-america-china-students-beijing-surveillance/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/04/18/the-chinese-communist-p...