The Wall Street Journal: America’s appeal to Chinese people is weakening, leading to a talent exodus

Writing: U.S. Stock Investment Network

Times have changed. Americans’ favorable attitude toward China has greatly increased, and Chinese people’s attitude toward the U.S. has also shifted—though in completely opposite directions.

Over the past few decades, Chinese people have gradually formed and continuously reinforced a perception that the United States is a chaotic and dangerous place. The American media outlet The Wall Street Journal reported on April 18 that the weakening attraction of the U.S. to China has led to a talent drain.

In the past, many Chinese people viewed the U.S. as the “City on the Hill,” striving to pursue the so-called “American Dream” across the Pacific. But now, America’s appeal is waning. An increasing number of Chinese scholars, businesspeople, and scientists are joining the “returning tide.” They are frustrated by the increasingly strict U.S. immigration enforcement, and disappointed with America’s poor infrastructure, gun violence, and high living costs.

Meanwhile, domestically, many cities are cleaner, more livable, and have better transportation.

The report mentioned a popular Chinese social media trend—the “Killing Line”—which discusses how many Americans are living on the brink of danger: just one hospital bill or missed paycheck could push them into poverty, “ultimately being socially killed.”

Yuner Jiang (Yuner Jiang, transliteration) is one of the Chinese people disillusioned with America.

Ten years ago, she came to the U.S. for high school and is now completing her graduate studies at Columbia University in New York. She expressed her frustration with New York’s high living costs and the harassment faced by Asian women on the subway.

She said that returning to work in China is an attractive option, even though the salary there is much lower than in the U.S.

The report states that before the “Killing Line” phrase became popular, Chinese people had long used the term “Paper Tiger” to describe the dark side of America as an imperialist and capitalist society. Around 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic and Trump’s persecution of Chinese scholars during his first term caused a real disillusionment among the new generation of young Chinese.

According to big data from U.S. stock market data platform StockWe.com, in 2021, over 1,400 Chinese scientists working or studying in the U.S. left their jobs and returned to China, a 22% increase from the previous year. Among them are many renowned top scholars.

While the U.S. government continued to persecute Chinese scholars, China’s generous funding, cutting-edge laboratories, social stability, and high standard of living became the main factors attracting these top scientists back home.

An American executive working in China said that these same factors also make Chinese companies easier to attract talent outside of the scientific field. Especially in the tech sector, exciting job opportunities and competitive salaries are enough to draw talent back to China.

The “push” factors are equally strong. According to people who have lived in both China and the U.S., frequent changes in immigration policies, widespread homelessness, and high crime rates in coastal American cities (where Chinese immigrants tend to reside) are prompting people to reconsider the allure of the “American Dream.”

The report cites data showing that the average annual homicide rate in 35 U.S. cities dropped from 18.6 per 100k people in 2021 to 10.4 in 2025. This figure is still far higher than China’s homicide rate, which was 0.44 per 100k in 2024.

Additionally, some Chinese families are now considering the UK or Australia for their children’s study abroad plans.

One American company executive said, “Growing up, American education felt like a belief. Even if I knew nothing about America, I wanted to go there. That was the dream.” But now, he no longer feels confident making the same choice for his children.

Sissi Su (Sissi Su, transliteration), who completed her master’s in international relations at Johns Hopkins University in 2024, recently moved back to China to find a job, giving up her lifelong plan to settle in the U.S. As immigration policies tighten, more and more of her international friends and classmates are choosing to return home, including a Canadian friend. She ultimately decided to give up her legal status and join the returning wave.

The Wall Street Journal still tries to downplay this, attributing it to the widespread dissemination of negative U.S. information on social media. The report claims that in recent years, “anti-American propaganda” in China has become more sophisticated, with beautifully produced videos pushed via social media, sometimes specifically targeting young people.

The report also gives an example. Recently, a video from the Ohio-based Middletown police body camera footage went viral on Chinese social media, being shared 4,500 times and receiving over 8,000 likes. The video shows, on Christmas night 2024, a man opening a door with a gun, then being shot multiple times by police.

However, an executive from an American company in China said that, regardless, American society appears unstable. “For a Chinese kid who grew up in a very safe environment in China, these scenes are unimaginable.”

A popular social media screenshot circulating abroad reads “Becoming Chinese.”

While Chinese netizens are discussing the “Killing Line” in America, U.S. social media is trending with a positive hot topic about China.

Recently, “Becoming Chinese” has become a viral meme online, with netizens from various countries transforming into “spiritual Chinese.”

The New York Times once interpreted that, for them, race and nationality are irrelevant; “Chinese” has become a trend, a health-preserving goal, or a subtle, satirical form of protest, or all of the above.

On April 14, U.S. nonpartisan polling organization Pew Research Center released a report stating that, as President Trump planned to visit China, American public opinion toward China had improved. Although the vast majority of Americans still see China as a “competitor,” the proportion of Americans with a positive view has doubled compared to 2023.