Mathematician Zhang Yitang, who joined Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou from California in June, has called the wave of Chinese researchers exiting the US a “positive trend”.
Zhang, known for his prime number research, told Phoenix TV, a partially state-owned broadcaster, in a programme aired on Monday that he had been thinking about returning to the mainland “in light of recent international political issues that have strained China-US relations”.
“Many Chinese scholars and professors in the US have already returned, and many others are still considering it,” Zhang said. “I think this is a positive trend.”

Zhang said that one advantage of studying mathematics, especially theoretical mathematics, was not having to be tied to a particular place.