haigui
{{Short description|Chinese term for returning study abroad students}}
{{For |the major tropical storm|Typhoon Haikui (2023)}}
{{italic title}}
Image:Chelonia mydas got to the surface to breath.jpg" in Chinese ({{zh|t=海龜|s=海龟|labels=no}}) is a homophone of the term for a student returned from study overseas]]
Haigui ({{zh|t={{linktext|海|歸}}|s=海归|p=hǎiguī}}) is a Chinese language slang term for Chinese nationals who have returned to mainland China after having studied abroad.{{cite news
| last= Fan
| first= Cindy
| url= http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/educated-and-fearing-the-future-in-china/?ref=global-home#cindy
| title= Materialism and Social Unrest
| work= New York Times
| date= March 7, 2010
}} The term is a pun on the homophonic hǎiguī ({{zh|t={{linktext|海|龜}}|s=海龟|labels=yes}}) meaning "sea turtle".
Graduates from foreign universities used to be highly sought out by employers in China. A 2017 study found that haigui are now less likely to receive a callback from potential employers compared to Chinese students with a Chinese degree.Fraiberg, S., Wang, X., & You, X. (2017). Inventing the world grant university: Chinese international students’ mobilities, literacies, and identities. Utah State University Press, An imprint of University Press of Colorado. Possible causes of this reversal include the rising quality of Chinese education institutions and the high salary demands of haigui.{{cite web
| url= http://www.china.org.cn/living_in_china/news/2006-12/11/content_1191913.htm
| title= Overseas Chinese Try to Build a Community in Homeland
| publisher= China Daily
}}
Over 800,000 recently graduated haigui returned to China in 2020, an increase of 70% from 2019, largely due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.[https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3102384/chinas-overseas-graduates-return-record-numbers-already China's overseas graduates return in record numbers into already crowded domestic job market] He Huifeng, South China Morning Post , 21 September 2020
Motivations
Some haigui have returned to China due to the late-2000s recession in the U.S. and Europe.{{cite news
| last= Zhou
| first= Wanfeng
| url= https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE4BH02220081218
| title= China goes on the road to lure "sea turtles" home
| publisher= Reuters
| date= December 17, 2008
}} According to Chinese government statistics in 2019, 86.3% of the 6.5 million Chinese people who have gone abroad to study in the past 40 years have returned.{{Cite web |title=Statistics on Chinese learners studying overseas in 2019 - Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China |url=http://en.moe.gov.cn/news/press_releases/202012/t20201224_507474.html |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=en.moe.gov.cn}} According to the Higher Education Policy Institute, in 2023, 84% of Chinese graduates in the United Kingdom returned to China after finishing their studies.{{Cite news |last=Nulimaimaiti |first=Mia |date=5 July 2025 |title=Chinese graduates struggle to compete in harsh UK job market: ‘it’s harder for us’ |url=https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3316972/chinese-graduates-struggle-compete-harsh-uk-job-market-its-harder-us |access-date=7 July 2025 |work=South China Morning Post}}
Etymology and history
The word is a pun, as hai {{lang|zh|{{linktext|海}}}} means "ocean" and gui {{zh|t={{linktext|龜}}|s=龟|labels=no}} is a homophone of gui {{zh|t={{linktext|歸}}|s=归|labels=no}} meaning "to return". The name was first used by Ren Hong, a young man returning to China as a graduate of Yale University seven years after leaving aboard a tea freighter from Guangzhou to the United States.{{cite web
|url = http://www.apmforum.com/columns/china19.htm
|title = Hai Gui: The Sea Turtles Come Marching Home
|publisher = Asia Pacific Management Forum
|url-status = dead
|archiveurl = https://archive.today/20130117050030/http://www.apmforum.com/columns/china19.htm
|archivedate = 2013-01-17
}}
Notable haigui
- Sun Yat-Sen, first president of the Republic of China
- Zhou Enlai, first premier and foreign minister of the People's Republic of China
- Tang Xianhu, badminton player and coach
- Deng Xiaoping, elder of the Chinese Communist Party
- Qian Xuesen, father of the Chinese rocket program
See also
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- [http://schott.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/12/hai-gui/ Schott's Vocabulary: Haigui] New York Times January 12, 2009