Middle-aged Mutant Sea Turtles! - A case study of identity formation among Chinese returnees in Zhongguancun, Beijing

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When China opened it borders in 1979, the country suffered from a severe brain drain as its most talented students left the country to take advantage of educational opportunities abroad. However these emigrant engineers, known locally as "sea turtles" or Chinese returnees, have become a valuable asset for Zhongguancun Science Park. The authorities for the high-tech park are now adopting a reverse brain drain policy to aggressively attract these Chinese returnees back to China in order to jump-start their high-tech industry. The theoretical framework of this study is guided by a number of identity theories, which use ideas from Anthony Giddens and George Mead?s micro-sociological approach and the concept of hybrid identity in order to analyse and explore three Chinese returnees? identity formation overseas and what kind of role they are playing in ZSP. This case study presents evidence that an identity formation process that involves cultural hybridization has occurred overseas among these three Chinese returnees. They return to China bringing back with them new cultural aspects of their identities to the ZSP which results in a positiv...