China exploded million-dollar scientist

The number of millionaire scientists in China is growing rapidly, becoming a global power to bring the nation to the forefront of scientific research.

According to SCMP, more and more Chinese scientists have research published in leading international scientific journals such as Science or Nature. China currently ranks second in the world in terms of the number of high-quality scientific works, second only to the United States, according to the 2016 report of Nature published last week.

"Among the top 10 countries on Nature's list, only China has double-digit growth from 2012 to 2015 thanks to contributions from a number of national universities with a growth rate of 25% annually", excerpts from Nature's announcement.

Higher wages, coupled with other economic benefits, are the main cause of this. According to a global survey of scientists' salaries conducted by Nature in 2010, Chinese scientists earn an average of less than $ 40,000 a year, half as much as their American counterparts with 80,000. USD.

But things are gradually changing.

"This gap is disappearing," a scientist is enjoying luxury life at Tsinghua University, Beijing, one of China's top scientific research centers. "In big cities, more and more Chinese scientists are making a lot of money like American colleagues at the same level."

The average starting salary for a professor from abroad to work for a large university in China is more than $ 120,000, according to research by the Center for Talent Science under the Ministry of Science and Technology of China.

The researcher worked in a medical inspection center at an airport in Qingdao, Shandong Province in August 2011.(Photo: Reuters / China Daily).

At a number of national universities, scientists earn about $ 108,000 more for each scientific work published in the world's leading academic journals, according to data published in the journal Science Center. Study Talents in March.

The Chinese government does not regret the salary increase for scientists, especially in the field of research and development. Last year, China spent more than $ 216 billion on this sector alone, more than New Zealand's GDP.

Earlier, money in research and development funds paid for staff salaries was less respected but now, national leaders are aware of this and change.

Efforts to attract outstanding minds and promote the quality of scientific research in China are being rewarded.

The quality of research works by Chinese scientists has improved significantly in recent years, based on the number of times their work has been cited by experts of the same industry.

Studies in China's field of materials science, technology, chemistry, agriculture and computer science are cited only behind the United States.

Some Chinese scientists become rich by exploiting the commercial potential of their research works.

Professor Xu Man, a materials scientist at Wuhan University of Technology, Hubei, earned more than $ 2 million last year by selling ceramic coating technology to a company in Shenzhen. Many scientists become rich, thanks to government salaries and bonuses.

The Chinese government proposal for "Thousand Talents" in 2011 is an example. This scheme provides at least 3 million yuan in funding for a study, plus a million bonuses, if applied successfully.

"The number of Chinese scientists working in the world's leading research institutes is lacking, but the need to hire them to work in the country is limitless," Zhang Liyi, a state official working in the department. Human resources, Ningbo Technological Research Institute said.

A good Chinese scientist who worked abroad said that before returning to his country he was invited by many leading science institutes in mainland China.

"Competition is fierce , " he said.

Technological Research Institute of Ningbo often offers a research fund of 10 million yuan to attract candidates, along with cash aid from the provincial and central governments.

"It is difficult to attract high quality talent without offering a globally competitive offer , " Zhang said.

Researchers working in the field of applied sciences such as electronic computers, medical, materials science are the ones with the highest income. However, in addition to high salaries and accompanying perks to successfully attract leading water researchers, there are still many problems.

Environmental pollution and food safety are among the top concerns of Chinese scientists working abroad. They also worried about the bureaucratic government apparatus and government intervention in research work.

For domestic scientists, they face other difficulties such as having to live on modest wages in the context of rising food and rent prices.

Researcher in a genetic research center in Tianjin, China in April 2014.(Photo: Reuters).

A domestic scientist with no experience working abroad earns only about 7,000 yuan (1,000 USD) per month while working in a state research institute in Beijing, according to last year's figures of the People's Daily. . More than half of that money is used to rent houses.Low income is the main cause of brain drain from China to the West.

The huge disparity between domestic scientists and scientists returning from abroad also created resentment.

Becoming a millionaire in school is like "walking on thin ice , " said a biologist at Tsinghua University. The number of "super rich" colleagues is growing, but they are very tight-lipped because they do not want to cause friction with lower-wage colleagues.

A researcher at the Institute of Policy and Management, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences warned the rich-poor decentralization among scientists.

High wages play an important role for China to compete with other countries to retain scientific talents, but it is also a factor that increases the gap and conflict in the scientific community, he said.

"The best scientists consider research freedom more important than money," he said. "Nobel laureates are not the highest paid people."