[IvyMike]

It's been 15 years since this article was originally written, which doesn't seem like a long time.

But China's GDP was $1T in 1999, and was $9T in 2013. I confess near-absolute ignorance but the job prospects for advanced degrees in China probably have gotten at least a little better in that time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_GDP_of_the_People's...

[swuecho]

the problem is far more people getting a advanced degree.

In 1999, if you hold a Phd degree from US, it is easy to find a faculty position in China. However, Even you hold a PhD degree from Top Univ in US today, you can hardly find a faculty position in China. You have to do postdoc to publish more papers in top journal.

[geekam]

I agree with you. I see the same pattern with Indian science landscape. Unless you have nice and strong connections, landing an academic position in India is tough too, even with a PhD from some ace university in the US.

[gone35]

And China's GNI per capita (PPP) in 2013 was still just about 20% that of the US: $10,900 in current intl dollars [1]; and India's is half of that, at $5,080 [op cit].

Notwithstanding all that moral panic about China and India, it's hard to fathom how desperately poor these countries were throughout the twentieth century in the first place --and how in many ways they still are.

[1] http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD