This will examine China's future as the world's “talent magnet” in the context of returning Chinese scientists from Europe. Since 1978 more than 1.2 million students have left China to study. Many of these students stayed on in foreign countries after their graduation and until recently very few returned to China. To reverse the trend, the government has implemented various incentives to attract overseas Chinese back to China. China's continuous economic growth and opening-up led a new wave of return migration. This emerging trend of a two-way “brain circulation” has seen a fast growing community of internationalised and mobile skilled Chinese talents operating across geography. These Chinese professionals are actively involving in formulating cross-regional networks and contacts between China and these hosting countries. This research will focus on returnees (nicknamed as ‘see-turtles) from three European countries (France, Germany and UK) in the scientific and academic domains on their reintegration to their jobs and transnational links. Quantitative data have been gathered from official statistics in China from National Statistical Bureau, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Human Resource and municipal governments in China. Qualitative methods are employed through the analysis of interviews with Chinese returnees in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou.