China’s ‘Sea Turtles’ Will Soon Have to Pick Sides
The cultural arbitrage that allowed overseas Chinese who returned home to leverage their knowledge of the motherland is vanishing.
Career path.
Photographer: Qi Yang/Moment RF via Getty Images
For decades, China’s “sea turtles” — a nickname for Chinese who returned to the motherland after years of studying and working abroad — prospered. They served as a cultural bridge, facilitating Western business expansion and investments into China. Along the way, they rose to the top at global banks and corporations, and earned millions of dollars.
Those were the good times. As President Xi Jinping’s relations with the West continue to deteriorate, this cultural arbitrage — leveraging knowledge of both worlds and helping foreigners make money in China — is no longer working. To have viable careers, many “sea turtles” will soon have to choose: Do they want to be Chinese or Western?