China's rising tech scene threatens US brain drain as ‘sea turtles’ return home

It used to be easy... My first work visa to China took just 1 week to get: no criminal check, no work history check, no academic credentials check, you just get it.

Now people are saying it takes from 1 to 3 months.

Dark skinned people have hard time in China. Fat people, even worse.

Shenzhen looks like a totalitarian fairyland — a hard to convey impression. It is one of the best cities by quality of life in Asia, but... you get those 1:00am police visits, ID checks everywhere, and you, being a foreigner, are a magnet for all kinds of "overly ambitious" policemen.

Shenzhen is a pretty international city, but even today it is hard to avoid crowds of onlookers, and unsolicited selfie requests.

Jobs... I'd say better than nothing for a foreigner. It is one of the best places in China where a foreigner can get a meaningful job, but even that doesn't make it a lot. Old links are essential here.

You had to come to the city like 10 years ago, to have a chance to network with local businessmen. Not so much today. Rich businesspeople around are much more insular these days.

A friend of mine once worked for Duan Yongping in nineties, and knew him personally. 20 years later, that link still keep earning him top jobs to this day.

The expat commune here is way smaller than it appears at first glance. I keep bumping into people I met like 10 years ago, when I worked as a translator/interpreter in a Singaporean sourcing company.

Dating scene. Kinda very, very random. Not so many local women will consider a foreigner, and those who will are from two fringes of socioeconomic spectrum. You can date a factory owner today, and a literal village girl tomorrow.

The city is very young by Chinese standards. It was the one and only big city in China with an average age below 30 in recent history. A lot of youngsters still come from all over China, blindly seeking luck. It becomes harder and harder for such types to establish themselves here with each year.

Shenzhen gets more expensive with each year and is about to outrun Shanghai as China's most expensive city. The city turns less and less of a manufacturing hub, and more and more of a "Dubai of the East"

The famed manufacturing industry today is a shadow of its former self. Newcomers to Shenzhen ask me how it could've even been possible for the manufacturing to be bigger than the cyclopic scale it is on now. I say to them that the famous Huaqiang road market sprawl in its best years was spreading for many city blocks, and on some days was reaching the central park. This is how it was during the "Shanzhai" boom of 2008-2012. Since then, the industry has been on the unending downward trend.

Transport, and getting around: much better than any US city, but there are rough corners to the system. Gas scooters are banned, bigger electric scooters are in grey zone. Only electric mopeds are allowed, and even that is not given. Owning a car is more expensive in absolute terms than in US or Canada.

Food — very good, cuisines from all over China. Probably with exception of northeast.

Weather — typical tropical weather. Nothing to add to that.

Now last one, having fun. Very much like Dubai — the place is damn boring. Just like Dubai, a lot of glamour doesn't automatically mean a lot of fun.

All that was accomplished in the three years that this rhetoric has gone mainstream - and not at 'great expense of public opinion'. I don't think a single American has had their mind changed on this subject, since the last election.

What do you expect 2020 will bring, in the event of another Trump victory?

There's a very clear message to immigrants, here. A lot of people think they are the cause of the country's ills, that they want them gone, and they have just gotten started on this project.

If the Chinese can be prevented from exporting their version of the prison state, this could be a good thing in the near-medium term. (The U.S. imprisons the most per capita)

China needs smart people there to transition the economy. India has been massively slowed down by the brain drain to the U.S.

The more people out of poverty, the better.