The trend in recent years is that an increasing number of Chinese are trying to get permanent residency or citizenship in the US, and then return to China to look for better jobs or business opportunities.
Last week, Wang Xiaochu, vice-minister of China's Human Resources and Social Security, said more than 100,000 overseas Chinese returned last year, a 56.2 percent increase over 2008's figure.
This summer, many Chinese American communities in Washington DC have organized trips to China to attend job fairs, investment events in their hometowns or ancestry seeking activities for second- or third-generation Chinese Americans.
For instance, the government in Chongqing, in southwest China, will host an investment promotion event to offer business opportunities for overseas Chongqing natives. The Chongqing community in DC will also take their offspring back this summer.
The latest immigration statistics from the Homeland Security Department said that from 2000 to last year, more China-born immigrants have come to the US than in any other decade since 1978 when China implemented reforms and opening policies.
In the past decade, about 350,000 immigrants from the Chinese mainland have gained US citizenship, with about 600,000 becoming permanent residents, or "green card" holders. From 1980-89, about 170,000 Chinese received green cards; and from 1990-99, about 340,000 received them.
Most of the Chinese immigrants are from elite families in China, including scientists, engineers and intellectuals who receive US degrees and stay to work, as well as the new rich who obtain "green cards" through investment immigration programs.
Thanks to China's growing wealth, more families are able to afford to educate their children abroad, and about 100,000 Chinese are studying in the US. Many will try to stay in the country after graduating.
The China is worried about the brain drain as statistics show that only 25 percent students will return to China after obtaining foreign degrees.
Among them, science and engineering PhD students in the US are the most reluctant to return home. It is estimated that nearly 90 percent of them will stay in the US for at least five years after graduation.
But now, many are saying they will eventually return to China after gaining enough working experience in the US as they are encouraged by, and envious of, the numerous success stories of their peers in China.
Since the global financial crisis, China is happy to see growing interest among Chinese-Americans to return due to the US economic recession, the staggering economic growth in China and efforts to attract overseas returnees.
The Thousand Talents Program, launched early last year, is an ambitious plan to recruit 2,000 talented professionals worldwide in five to 10 years to help the country achieve its goal of becoming an innovation-oriented nation.
Under the plan, the central government is offering each approved professional 1 million yuan ($146,000) in subsidies.
Many local governments, including landlocked Sichuan, Henan, Shanxi and Anhui provinces, have similar recruitment programs. Some wealthy coastal cities have even held job fairs in major US cities to lure talent.
But, for some, going home is not easy. Chinese immigrants need to adjust to an environment which is often more complicated than that in the US.
A widely circulated story about two Chinese IT engineers on Kaixin, the Chinese version of Facebook, reflects the dilemma of Chinese immigrants thinking about going back to China.
The two engineers are former colleagues at a well-known IT company in California.
One gets laid off during the financial crisis and returns to Shanghai to start a company. He later becomes very wealthy and is courted by many beautiful girls.
The other, retains his job in the US, but does not get promoted due to a perceived "glass ceiling". He lives in a big house, drives a fancy car, but still cannot find a girlfriend.
Though very envious of the guy in Shanghai, he is unable to give up the comfortable and stable life in the US and also fears a move to China would result in poor living conditions and complicated social responsibilities.
