The Chinese central government issued a guideline on Wednesday, restricting China's developed regions from drawing talent from the northeast, central and western regions through one-sided measures such as promising high salaries and special benefits.
The document, jointly issued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, is aimed at supporting stable talent pools in less-developed regions, guiding scientific workers to pursue theoretical breakthroughs and creating a sound research environment.
In recent years, many universities in eastern and southern China have lured professors and researchers from central and western regions with such incentives as annual salaries that exceed 1 million yuan ($144,500), home-purchase subsidies and research budgets ranging into tens of millions of yuan.
In one extreme case, industry insiders said that enough top experts have left Lanzhou University, a prestigious school in Northwest China's Gansu Province, to provide the staff for setting up another university that is equal in terms of scientific research, caijing.com reported.
The outflow of talent from central and western China has resulted in a lack of experts in those regions, which widened the imbalances in economic development between China's east and west.
"Due to their natural environment and economic strength, western areas do not seem to appeal to top experts as much as eastern regions," said Li Shuohao, a professor at Lanzhou University, indicating that the central government should have come up with such an approach earlier to arrest the trend.
Li also suggested that China should tilt more educational resources to support the central and western regions' development.
Another research fellow from a western university, who asked not to be identified, said the guideline is just a warning. He suggested that China needs a complete mechanism to manage and supervise the research talent market.
