Coming back to live their dreams

This summer, 25-year-old Liu Yi is experiencing the culture shock of coming home. She needs to learn how to cross the road not based on the traffic light but the number of pedestrians crossing with you, and whether to work out or not depending on the shades of grey in the sky.

Nevertheless, this is home. After studying and living abroad for 12 years, Liu finally made the decision to come home and start her career in China.

"Life abroad is routine and boring, you do the same thing every day and you can predict what it will be like in 10 or 20 years," Liu told the Global Times.

After graduating from a university in Los Angeles with a master's degree in biomedical engineering, Liu got an offer from PKUcare Pharmaceutical R&D Center to be an investment researcher.

"My family doesn't really agree with me coming back to China, my mother thinks China is too complicated for me," she said. "But I see many opportunities here."

Homeward bound

From 1978 to 2012, more than 2.6 million Chinese studied abroad, placing the country atop global rankings in terms of the number of overseas students. In 2012, about 400,000 Chinese students went to study abroad either paid for by the government or at their own expense, according to the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange under the Ministry of Education (CSCSE).

They are known as "sea turtles" as in Chinese this phrase sounds the same as "returned from overseas." Now like Liu, many "sea turtles" are crossing the ocean on their way back home. Last year, some 300,000 Chinese returned, an increase of 46 percent from 2011, according to the figures.

Since China opened up to the world in 1978, about 1.1 million Chinese overseas students have chosen to return to China after finishing their studies.

Wang Huiyao, president of the China Global Talents Society, told the Global Times that many returning Chinese students dream of a better future back home.

"They are global talents, they can survive everywhere, but they decided to return home because they want to participate in the big 'Chinese Dream,'" Wang said. "It is a dream that combines with the country, society and individuals."

The year 2013 might be similar to the 1960s in the US when the American Dream was arguably at its apogee.

The Chinese Dream was first invoked by China's new President, Xi Jinping. He endorsed the phrase during his visit to the exhibition of "the Road Toward Renewal" at the National Museum in Beijing in November 2012.

After he became president in March, he described the term as denoting the reemergence of China as well as embodying the people's dreams.

"The Chinese Dream, after all, is the dream of the people. We must realize it by closely depending on the people. We must incessantly bring benefits to the people," Xi said in a speech delivered to the country's top legislature, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Xi also called on young Chinese people to contribute to the revitalization of the nation and "hone themselves at the grass-roots level."

Each "sea turtle" has their own vision of the Chinese Dream: earning more money, staying near family or getting married. One thing they have in common is they all dream of a better future in China.