A top Chinese-American biologist who left Harvard University to take up a position in China is facing an online backlash amid a growing debate over whether senior returnees are squeezing out the country’s young scientists.
Yuan Junying, a pioneer in the study of how cells die, drew attention in China late last month when she defended her US citizenship after winning a major science prize at the World Laureates Forum in her hometown of Shanghai.
“I’ve always said my blood is Chinese blood,” said Yuan, who founded an interdisciplinary research centre at the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry in 2012 while still in the United States.