Looks like Europe is trying its hardest to rope them in and they’ll probably be successful. Too many Americans have brainworms about China to give them a chance.

[–] xiaohongshu@hexbear.net 19 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (4 children)

Chinese academia is way too competitive and exhausting for your American scientists. How many American grad students and postdocs are willing to work 6-7 days a week and have their lab meeting held on Sunday, which is becoming a common occurrence now?

These are some of the most hardworking people out there (and you can see them carrying their work ethic overseas as grad students and postdocs in Western universities) and churning out top tier scientific publications every year. These are the people you are going to compete against. If you think the “publish or perish” pressure is bad in Western academia, then in China this is ramped up to the next level.

Finally, connections are very important in China, even more so than in America and Europe. Much of the institute’s funding is going to be received by the heads of the departments, who then distribute the funds to the individual labs underneath them. Unless you are already a well-renowned scientist, you are going to be competing against your peers who have actual connections to the senior figures in the department.

Chinese science is very well funded, but the competition is also extreme, just like most industries in China. You don’t publish well, you won’t survive. Europe may be lacking in their funding, but their work culture is also more relaxed and suited to Westerners.

I have several friends with PhD who emigrated to the US and loved it there because, according to them, at least it is nowhere near as exhausting as they had it in China. They actually have the time to enjoy their weekends, a luxury you won’t get in Chinese academia.

[–] Frogmanfromlake@hexbear.net 6 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

But I’m Guatemalan 😳

[–] WaterBowlSlime@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

Lo siento chapín, pero eres un científico estadounidense ahora. Regrésate a tu laboratorio si no quieres recibir fajazos.

[–] BodyBySisyphus@hexbear.net 5 points 8 hours ago

How many American grad students and postdocs are willing to work 6-7 days a week and have their lab meeting held on Sunday, which is becoming a common occurrence now?

Pretty much everyone I met in plant biology and biotech has had a schedule like this.

[–] Riffraffintheroom@hexbear.net 17 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

This all sounds terrible?

[–] xiaohongshu@hexbear.net 5 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

Depends on your perspective. It’s great for productivity and overtaking the West, but the entire neijuan (involution, or extreme competition) is already happening at a pace that cannot be easily stopped, even with the government initiative promising to do so.

Think about this: the major tax base of both central and local governments are value-added tax, followed by corporate income tax. Besides, nearly 1/3 of local government revenue comes from land premium. As the property market is imploding, the reliance on the industrial/manufacturing sector becomes even more critical for the local governments, and that means the industries have to work harder to churn out more value-added goods and services to add to the local government tax revenues, without which it could not finance its operating expenditures (the city has to run the subways, rails, various infrastructure and public utilities, and paying the civil servants etc.)

While there may be an intention to stop the extreme competition from happening, there is no incentive for the government to actually do so. You don’t want to be the first one to lose out among your peers, and so it becomes a race to the bottom. The entire system needs to be revamped.

[–] blame@hexbear.net 2 points 8 hours ago

So is there very little (or no?) income tax?

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