Expert denies China seeing large-scale overseas migration

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) said that the public is misinterpreting data that shows 9.3 million Chinese migrated overseas in 2013, according to a report by the People's Daily on Thursday.

Gao Wenshu, a researcher from the Institute of Population and Labor Economics at CASS, explains that China had witnessed a total migration of 9.3 million people by the end of 2013, with an average increase of 190,000 people leaving every year from 2010 to 2013.

CASS claims that the way the numbers break down can be partially to blame for the misinterpretation - not all of those that were abroad are expatriates with foreign naturalization.

Among the 9.3 million Chinese that left the country are both overseas students and workers. Last year, the amounts of overseas students and workers that left China are 1.14 million and 850,000 people, respectively.

People who live outside the country where he or she was born for at least one year can be defined as a migrant, according to the United Nations' definition of the term.

Gao also denies that most of the Chinese elite with foreign diplomas are choosing not to come back to their birthplace.

Statistics released by the Ministry of Education show that 72 percent of students studying abroad had returned to China from 1978 to the end of 2012.

Gao points out that trans-national migration of residents is of significance to enhancing national influence and improving national exchanges and talent cultivation.

The CASS researcher also thinks that the Chinese government will not tighten policies of migration, and encourages international talent to come to China.