Transcript The Role of Mainland Students and Trainees in Sino

Chinese Students in Japan: A
Win-Win Situation
David Zweig
Chair Professor, Division of Social Sciences
Director, Center on China’s Transnational
Relations
and
Han Donglin
Ph.D. Student, Division of Social Sciences
Hong Kong University of Science and
Technology
CCTR Workshop on “Sino-Japanese Relations”
5 September 2007
Key Questions
• Do contemporary student exchanges
promote Sino-Japanese relations?
• How extensive are interactions
between Chinese returnees and Japan?
• Which returnees interact with Japan
and why?
• What resources and information are
transferred between the two countries?
Overseas Study and Attitudes Towards
Japan
• Does studying in Japan affect
how Chinese feel about Japan?
• Does one’s attitude about Japan
vary by locality in China?
• Does how one feels about Japan
affect one’s willingness to carry
out exchanges with Japan?
Does Studying in Japan
Affect Returnee’s Lives?
• How important is the Japanese
experience to a returnee’s life?
• Do returnees really confront an
unemployment problem?
• Does overseas study enhance
Chinese youths’ job opportunities
after they return?
Research Design
and the Data Set
• 22 interviews carried out in three
Chinese cities: Dalian,
Guangzhou and Nanjing
• 21 interviews in Japan with
Chinese living in Tokyo, Osaka
and Kyoto
• Funding from JETRO (Hong Kong)
Research Design
and the Data Set, II
• Key information for this study comes
from survey in late 2006 and early
2007 carried out by The Ministry of
Education’s Chinese Service Center
for Scholarly Exchange
(CSCSE--中国留学服务中心)
– drew on list of 6,806 returnees who had
registered with CSCSE
– they found 3,003 of them
– telephoned and asked if they would fill
out the questionnaire
– 2,940 agreed to their request and we
received 1,478 responses
Characteristics of the Data
• Women  41%
• 1/2 of returnees work in
academia or research
• 1/2 in businesses of whom 1/2
work in Japanese firms or
Japanese joint ventures.
• 27% are members of a political
party and 73% reported no party
affiliation.
When people returned from Japan
• 46% returned in 2005-06 (631). No time to
establish themselves in China, unlikely to
have strong transactions with Japan.
350
306
325
300
244
Frequency
250
200
150
125
2002
2003
88
100
50
117
61
32
24
23
31
<=1996
1997
1998
1999
0
2000
2001
2004
2005
Returning Year
Figure 1. The Year Respondents Returned to China
2006
Degrees in Japan
• 38% earned Ph.D.
• 40% earned M.A.
• 19% earned undergraduate degree
Table 1. Highest Degree and Area of Specialization
Highest Degree
Community
College
Undergraduate
MA
PhD.
Medical Science
3
0
8
149
160 (13%)
Industrial & Applied
Science
3
11
76
147
237 (20%)
Law
0
20
37
11
68 (5%)
Natural Science
0
6
33
112
151 (11%)
Business Admin. &
Management
11
123
141
19
294 (24%)
Social Science
1
23
87
39
150 (13%)
Humanity & Art
1
25
71
37
134 (11%)
Other
1
1
0
0
2
No response
0
1
2
0
3
Total
20
210
455
541
1199
Area of Specialization
Pearson Chi square = 578.50, p>0.001
Total
Language skills
• 69% fluent in Japanese
• 21% reported Japanese was
“pretty good”
• Only 3% reported very weak or
no Japanese
• 18% of these returnees reported
fluency in English
• 25% claimed English to be
“pretty good”
• Excellent language skills overall
Social Background
• Social class background
– worker (18%)
– peasant (14%)
– children of intellectuals (37%)
• 70% married
• 25% never married
• 5% had divorced
Figure 2. Age of Returnees
661
700
600
Frequency
500
431
400
300
214
200
73
100
0
20-29
30-39
40-49
Age
50+
Table 2. Chinese Residents in Japan, Dec 2004
Item
Number of Chinese
No. registered as
foreigners
487,570
Students registered
as foreigners
90,746
Japanese citizens
92,335
Illegal residents
39,443
Cultural Chinese*
5,208
Total
624,558
Note: * Japanese offspring brought up by Chinese families in
China after WWII.
Table 3. Overseas Degrees
Authenticated in China
Top 4 Countries Issuing Degrees
Degree
% of total
1
2
3
4
Ph.D.
9%
Japan
US
Germany
n.a.
Masters
72%
UK
Japan Australia
US
Undergrad
19%
Russia Japan
UK
n.a.
Note: This breakdown is based on the total number of degrees that have been authenticated
by the CSCSE between 1991 and 2005. The total number of authenticated degrees is 44,565.
Source: China Service Center for Studies in Education, Ministry of Education, Beijing.
Table 4. Destination of Returnees from Japan, 2000-2006
(Part 1)
名称
Name
辽宁省
Liaoning
Total
Percentage
548
21.63
- 沈阳
- including Shenyang
189
7.46
- 大连
- including Dalian
265
10.46
349
13.78
108
4.26
337
13.3
185
7.30
277
10.94
151
5.96
江苏省
- 南京
山东省
- 青岛
广东省
- 广州
Jiangsu
- including Nanjing
Shandong
- including Qingdao
Guangdong
- including Guangzhou
浙江省
Zhejiang
217
8.57
黑龙江省
Heilongjiang
120
4.74
福建省
Fujian
110
4.34
吉林省
Jilin
107
4.22
河北省
Hebei
96
3.79
四川省
Sichuan
84
3.32
58
2.29
- 成都
- including Chengdu
河南省
Henan
76
3.0
山西省
Shanxi
41
1.62
Table 4. Destination of Returnees from Japan, 2000-2006 (Part 2)
名称
Name
湖南省
Hunan
40
1.58
湖北省
Hubei
39
1.54
江西省
Jiangxi
25
1.0
云南省
Yunnan
23
0.9
安徽省
Anhui
21
0.83
青海省
Qinghai
11
0.43
海南省
Hainan
7
0.3
贵州省
Guizhou
5
0.2
北京
Beijing
1920
31.7
内蒙古
Neimenggu
123
2.0
上海
Shanghai
1094
18.0
新疆
Xinjiang
64
1.0
广西
Guangxi
25
1.0
天津
Tianjin
157
4.93
宁夏
Ningxia
11
0.2
重庆
Chongqing
14
0.44
西安
Xi'an
101
1.6
兰州
Lanzhou
19
0.3
总计
Total
Total
Percentage
6061
Returnees from Japan:
Getting the Numbers Right, II
• Our population does not represent all the people
who have returned from Japan.
• Dalian Bureau of Personnel reported that the city
has approximately 1,100 returnees of whom 620
had returned from Japan, more than double the
265 returnees in Dalian registered with CSCSE.
• Assume that the CSCSE numbers seriously
understate the number of returnees from Japan.
Who paid for returnees to go to Japan?
• Chinese government sponsored 2%
• Japanese gave full fellowships to 31%
• 39% relied on their own finances and
worked while studying in Japan
(quanbu kao ziji, ban gong ban du)
• 25% relied on own funds and parental
support
Public or Private Sponsorship?
“publicly sponsored” – 14%
private citizens (yin si chu guo) – 86%
To Go to Japan or Not to Go?
• Universal viewpoint among Chinese in Japan was
that Japan was not for everybody:
– Most Chinese see Japan as relatively difficult
place to get an education.
• Chinese need to be able to work as part of a team
– “If you are too much of an individual, you will
not succeed in Japan”—long-term resident of
Japan.
• “Engineering here is very advanced, but the
chance for personal development is not so great. It
is better in American or in the West.”—long-term
resident
To Go Or Not to Go, II
“No time to do your studies because you
are under pressure all the time to work
and can’t fulfill the expectations of your
professor.”
“If you have a grant, come to Japan. If
you rely on your self, like me, then I
wouldn’t recommend coming here.”
“It is very good for young Chinese people
to come here to study, but it is not so
good to come here to work after
graduating from high school.”
Table 5. Components of the Interaction Score
Modes of Interaction
a. Participated in Research Conferences in Japan
b. Number of trips to Japan to lecture
c. Number of Japanese students taught in China
d. Publications with Japanese Scholars
e. Joint projects with Japanese scholars
f. No. of times helped Japanese scholars come to China for research
g. No. of articles published in Japan
h. Consulted with Japanese joint
ventures
i. Membership in Japanese academic
associations
Note: For all questions excluding "Number of Japanese taught" we scored
1 interaction as 1 point, 2 interactions as 2 points, with 4 interactions
or more as 4 points. No interactions is scored as 0.
However, for "No. of Japanese Students Taught," scored 1 = 1, 2-5 = 2,
6-10 = 3, 10 or more = 4 and 0 = 0.
Figure 3. Distribution of Interaction
Score for Academics
14
12
Percent
10
8
6
4
2
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20+
Interaction Score
Who interacts and Why?
• 75% of returnees had 3 or
more interactions
• 50% had 6 or more
interactions
• 25% had 10 or more
interactions
Explaining Levels of
Interaction,
Bivariate Analysis
•
•
•
•
•
Age
Years in Japan
Current position in China
Position in Japan before returning
“Feelings about Japan” had very
low impact on level of interactions
but was statistically significant.
Table 6. Number of interactions with
Japan, by position in China, 2006
No. of
Lecturer
Interactions
Associate Prof.
Full Prof.
0-3
84 (42.4)
58 (24.5)
16 (11.7)
4-6
58 (29.3)
56 (23.6)
22 (16.1)
7-10
33 ( 16.7)
72 (30.3)
37 (27)
>11
23 (11.6)
51 (21.5)
62 (45.3)
Total
198
237
137
Note: We excluded all non-academics from the data, leaving 590 cases. p<0.01.
Number in parentheses is column percentage.
Table 7. Explaining Returned Academics’ Level of Interaction with Japan
Variables
Coefficient
t
Probability
1. Age
.121
2.18
0. 030**
2. Female
.430
0.81
0. 419
3. Year
-.172
-1.66
0. 097*
.265
2.90
0. 004***
a. Bachelor
-6.503
-1.16
0.248
b. Master
-5.986
-1.09
0.276
c. Doctoral
-3.344
-0.61
0.543
Engineering and Applied Science
-.484
-0.70
0.482
Law
1.833
1.19
0.235
Natural Science
.503
0.69
0.490
2.54
2.36
0.019**
1.119
1.20
0.232
.161
1.04
0.297
1.142
1.59
0.113
3.347
3.89
0.000***
-1.603
-0.99
0.324
346.358
1.67
0.095
Returned to China
4. Length of time in Japan
5. Academic Degree
Fields of Study
Business and management
Social science
Feelings towards Japan
Academic Position
Associate Professor
Full Professor
Others
Constant
* 0.10
** 0.05
*** 0.01
Note: overall adjusted R-square=.2076
The Off-shore Software Industry
• A major force linking returnees and
Japanese economy in Dalian
• One Dalian company owned by
Japanese, set up by Chinese
entrepreneur.
• He travels each month with new work
for the company, but lives in Japan.
• For off-shore company to succeed,
prices in China need only be 15% less
than in Japan and Japanese will bring
work to China.
Collaborative Investment Companies
• A company in Nanjing refines semi-finished
products shipped in from Japan;
• Start-up capital from 17 Chinese students in
Nagoya, Japan
• Company run by one member of group who
returned to China
• He goes twice a year to Japan to see what
products Japanese firms are developing; he
imports that material to develop his
products;
• He then sells his products to Japanese firms
in China, helps Japanese firms in China
develop higher quality products which are
competitive and exportable.
Collaborative Investment
Companies
• Chinese working for Nokia in Japan,
with four friends set up company in
Weihai, Shandong, employ 100
workers.
• He and 4 friends invested 1 mil. RMB.
• 2 of 4 owners returned to China to run
the company, receive a salary;
• 3 others, including him, still in Japan.
Returnees and
their Work in
China
Many respondents recent returnees
•
•
•
•
39%
62%
76%
24%
at current job one year or less;
had been at their job 2 years or less
at current job 3 years or less
at current job 4 or more years
Had they Worked in China
before Going Abroad?
74% had fulltime jobs before going to Japan
– 24% had not held a job before going to
Japan.
21% returned to their original unit, but
74% had to find a new job before or
after returning
Had they Worked in Japan Before
Returning to China?
• Very important job requirement for
good job in China after returning
• 30.5% had fulltime job,
• 28% had part time job
• 41% had no job.
• Over 50% had worked for 2 years or
less,
• 26% had worked for 1 year or less.
• Not much work experience in Japan
in this group.
Is there a “Hai Dai”
Problem?
• Chinese media stresses new problem,
that returnees cannot find jobs.
• Local governments under pressure to
help returnees find jobs, run
workshops, consulting services, etc.
• Are there too many returnees?
• High rates of unemployment among
Chinese college graduates.
Difficulty Finding a Job upon
Returning?
This group did NOT have a major
problem finding work
No problem
Not much of a problem
Some problems
Very great difficulty
No response
Went into business
39%
18%
10%
5%
8%
10%
Time Spent Looking for a Job
50% arranged a job before returning
After Returning
• 27% found job in under 3 months
• 12% looked for 3-6 months
• Only 7.4% looked for more than 6
months
Salaries are a bigger issue
• more than 4,000 RMB/month- 45%
• less than 1800 RMB/month - 20%
Explaining Time Finding a Job, Ordered Logit
Coefficient
t value
P value
Age (logged)
-1.21
.55
.027
Gender-Female
-.09
.14
.541
Fields of Study: Natural Science
.19
.23
.403
Business/Management
-.30
.21
.142
Other
-.02
.21
.922
-1.73
.29
.000
.78
.45
.084
Master
.87
.45
.05
Ph.D.
1.43
.47
.002
-.26
.16
.117
Fair
-1.17
.27
.000
Bad
-.04
.49
.935
Worked in China first: Part-time
-.53
.54
.326
Not worked
-.35
.19
.061
-.76
.19
.000
-.53
.17
.002
-.56
.18
.002
Went to Japan by private methods
Degree: Bachelor
Japanese Proficiency: Good
Worked in Japan: Part-time
Never worked
Party Member
Table 8 Satisfaction with Experiences in Japan, Returned Academics
Variables
Coefficient
t
P
Age
.004
.56
.577
Female
.152
2.5
.013
Year Return
.030
2.48
.014
Skill developed in Japan
.224
7.92
.000
Income
-.039
-1.3
.195
Engineering/ Applied Science
.208
2.60
0.010
Law
-.403
-2.20
0.028
Natural Science
.194
2.36
0.019
Business and management
-.059
-0.47
0.639
Social science
.140
1.29
0.197
Academic degree
-.214
-2.49
0.013
Length of time in Japan
.023
2.08
0.038
- Private means
-.166
-2.29
0.023
- Thru government then personal
-.201
-0.61
0.540
Associate Professor
.124
1.48
0.140
Full Professor
.130
1.29
0.199
Others
-.075
-0.35
0.723
Interact
.010
1.85
0.066
Constant
-61.392
-2.51
0.012
Fields of Study
Arrangements for going to Japan†
Notes to Table 8
• 1. Level of Satisfaction ran from “very
dissatisfied” to “very satisfied” (four
point scale).
• 2. Overall adjusted R-square =.22
• † We ask respondents whether they
went to Japan through the
government [gong pai chuguo,
through personal [yin si chuguo] or
combined.
Technology Transfer
and
Returnees from Japan
Among 39 private Chinese firms
• Only 14 or 36% had imported some
Japanese technology or management
processes
• 4 had imported “world class
technology,” 9 had imported a
technology that was “new for
China”
• Japanese Joint Ventures mostly
have imported some Japanese
technology
Table 11. No. of Research Projects
with Japanese Academics
Frequency
Percent
Cumulative
Percent
1
128
17.8
17.8
2
59
8.2
25.9
3
32
4.4
30.4
4 or more
32
4.4
34.8
None
441
61.2
96.1
No response
29
4.0
100.0
Total
721
100.0
Number
of Interactions
Table 12. Reasons to Cooperate:
The Role of Technology
1st
Choice
2nd
Choice
3rd
Choice
“I want the newest research
information from Japan”
158
(25%)
174
(28%)
71
(11%)
“I want Japanese research
technology”
74
(12%)
130
(21%)
58
(9%)
Why cooperate
with Japan?
Attitudes of Chinese
Students Towards
Japan and Other
Countries
Figure 4. Attitudes of Returnees from Japan
towards 5 countries, 2006
60
Percentage
50
40
30
20
10
0
Neutral and
below
1
2
3
4
Most Positive
Level of Feelings
US
Russia
Japan
India
North Korea
Table 14. “Level of feelings" of Chinese
in China and Japan, 7 countries
Target
Countries
U.S.
Russia
Returnees
in China
1.82
1.28*** 2.20*** 1.04*** 1.77
Chinese
in Japan
1.20
0.68
Japan
India
2.05*** 0.11***
North
Korea
France
Canada
2.15*** 2.00
- 0.74*** 2.05*** 1.55
Mean score of returnees in China is 1.75.
Mean score of Chinese in Japan is 0.89. *** p < .01
Chinese who Study in
Japan like Japan!
• Chinese who go to Japan, favour
Japan over all other countries.
• Challenges idea of “留美亲美，留日反日”
• France and Canada also very popular
• Feelings towards U.S. significantly
lower than feelings for Japan
• Feelings to North Korea bifurcated—
Chinese in Japan hate DPRK.
Feelings towards Japan, by City
对日本的感觉
2.6
2.54
2.5
2.4
2.3
2.21
2.2
大连
南京
全国平均
Dalian
Nanjing
National
Average
2.2
2.1
2
Comments on Japan Society
• One professor in Nanjing believed Japanese
look down on Chinese, see them as
backward.
– “We all look the same, but once they saw
that were Chinese, they looked down on
us. . . . they were not friendly, and we
thought that maybe they had fought
against us in the war.”
A very patriotic government employee in
Dalian was very anti-Japanese because
Chinese could not enter Japanese society:
– “If you want to enter Japanese society,
you must become Japanese, but that
would mean betraying my country. One
cannot be both Japanese and Chinese at
the same time.”
Comments on Japan Society, II
Several Chinese saw Japan as
“bullying society”
• if people think you are weak, they bully you,
but if you are strong, they respect you.
• True for how Japanese treat Chinese and
fellow Japanese.
• Chinese who succeed in Japan seen by all to
be extremely talented and strong-willed.
• because struggled so hard to succeed, some
angry at Japan.
Positive Views of Japan, III
• One returnee spoke very positively
about his early days in Japan:
– “Before going to Japan, I thought that
Japanese people were very troublesome.
But once I went there, I saw that it was
very good. When we arrived, our
Japanese hosts were so well organized.”
– “Japanese do things well; we didn’t feel
that they were hostile. . . .”
– “Japanese people are very humanistic,
very detailed. Sometimes they criticize us,
but it is not so wrong. When we were in
Japan, we opposed Japan, but once we
are back here, we feel good about them.”
Conclusion
• For an individual, studying in Japan is an
important experience .
• Vast majority of Chinese saw it positively.
• What they learned was useful for their
careers, and few had much trouble
finding a job after returning.
• Salaries are not very high; could
contribute to stress and pressure from
parents.
• But they can find jobs that place them in
China’s middle class.
Conclusion, II
• Student exchange benefits both countries.
• Chinese gain important knowledge and
enhance their skills.
• Japanese joint ventures employ many
returned Chinese at all administrative
levels.
• Source of jobs for 25% of our returnees.
• Education in Japan enhances SinoJapanese relations, as Chinese who lived
in Japan and returned to China feel rather
positive about Japan.