Forced to endure over an hour of discussion about how China is sending wolf warrior diplomats to set up Confucius brainwashing facilities to enslave American minds, and how they’re flooding universities with “human spy drones” (students) to intimidate American students because the Chinese constitution obliges them to serve Xi and they have no choice.
Liberals love to turn things every country does into exotic celestial barbarian cult rituals when China does it.
Embassies promoting their country abroad? Only China does that (Asiatic wolf warrior diplomacy). International cultural exchange programs? Only China does that (seeseepee mind control) International students? Only China does that (hivemind robot army fifth column - no Nazi undertones here!) The ~~Jewish~~ Chinese world conspiracy sure is neat!
Best prepare yourselves, every little Goebbels in the entire country is champing at the bit to get as many Chinese people murdered as possible. They are preparing the narrative for the camps, which at this rate are coming by the end of the decade. Liberals will be there to hysterically sieg-heil, crying tears of joy as everyone who looks vaguely Chinese is rounded up for thought crimes (including the dissident grifters).
I once asked my Chinese friend why she even comes back to America after she returned from a trip home. She said "so I can make more money to take back to China" and I was like
Seriously though I think that's pretty much it for a lot of them. They make more money / make money more easily here, and they can go home any time so there's no pressure.
This is true for every European too, including me
Many people stayed in Western countries to get away from the stressful life and very competitive environment in China. If you make a decent salary in the US, you can live quite a comfortable, stress free life.
I can tell you that it is quite normal to have work meeting on Sunday mornings in China. This is the country you Westerners are trying to compete with. A nation full of hardworking people, and you think you can beat China in the long run? Those who don’t want to work as hard will prefer the Western lifestyle and that’s why they choose to stay there.
Those guys are getting paid hundreds of thousands a year doing a pretty cushy job doing exactly what they want, they're not exactly living the life of an average American schmuck
Nah postdocs make far below 100k in the US (OP was talking about researchers/scientists in academia), but certainly far less stressful and competitive compared to doing the same job back in China.