From Harvard to realizing the 'Chinese dream'

While many Chinese head overseas in search of a dream, Wang Huiyao is working in the opposite direction.

The 55-year-old director of the Center for China and Globalization, and vice-chairman of the China Talent Research Society, aims to bring talent into China, whether they are returning Chinese expatriates or foreign professionals.

He has been responsible for a considerable amount of research into international talent flows and has contributed to China's attempts to attract talent for the past decade.

His latest work is a book, The Path of Public Management Elite at Harvard, which talks about his experience studying management skills at the Harvard Kennedy School three years ago.

"In the past, we kind of focused on economic growth, but now more attention has been gradually transferred to public policy making and administration. However, talent with scientific and advanced concept management skills is lacking in China," he says.

Education in the fields of public policy and management also lags behind Western countries, he adds.

"China could innovate on the basis of adopting good experience from the West, in fields such as insurance and employment systems," he says.

Xue Lan, head of the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University, believes the book could inspire solutions to public policy issues and promote learning.

Wang was among the first Chinese students to study overseas. He studied for an MBA in Canada in 1984 and after graduating worked as a senior consultant for a number of international companies including GE, Simons and Alston.

In 1992, after hearing about late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping's South Tour Speeches on reform and opening-up, Wang sensed the potential of China's economy and returned to launch his own international business consultancy. Many international investments, including the funding of the Three Gorges Dam, were completed under his management.

Wang’s latest book talks about his studies at the Harvard Kennedy School. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

As Wang's business began to take off, he started to consider how he could use his skills to help society and realized that his experience in international business could prove valuable to China's future development.

Wang is a member of the Western Returned Students' Association, a non-governmental group formed by Chinese who have studied overseas. He believed the group's knowledge of international business could be helpful to China's government in developing its position in the world economy, and in 2002 founded the WRSA Chamber of Commerce as a platform for its voice.

The group, which now has around 1,000 members, holds forums and activities aimed at promoting economic cooperation and trade between China and the West.

In 2008, he set up the Center for China and Globalization, with the idea of building a think tank. The center has already put forward dozens of research reports to the government on Chinese emigration, returnees from studying abroad and how to attract and keep talented individuals.

It is also a platform to connect government officials, scholars, businesspeople and students from China and overseas.

Among the projects his work may have inspired is China's One Thousand Foreign Experts Project, launched by the Chinese government last year. The project has so far been responsible for between 500 and 1,000 non-Chinese professionals coming to China.

"Compared with other countries China's policies are not attractive enough, as there are still many barriers," he comments.

Furthermore, to attract talented individuals the government should create an environment where people can realize their "China dream".

"The China dream shouldn't only be about material wealth, it should be about spiritual wealth as well," he adds.

chenyingqun@chinadaily.com.cn