When Ding Hong quit his post as a physics professor at Boston College last summer to return to work in China, it caused quite a stir among his peers. And after 18 years living in the United States, he said even he was surprised by his decision.

"Most of the faculty were shocked," he told China Daily. "People thought staying in the US was good for my career. But I wanted to contribute to basic science research going on in China."

The 40-year-old academic is among the first batch of top-class minds lured to China as part of its 1,000-Talents Scheme, launched to help with the nation's transition from a manufacturing hub to a world leader in innovation.

Ding is now the principal investigator on two major projects at the institute of physics for the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Beijing. He said: "The beam line projects I am working on now will be top quality and are ahead of the US by at least two years. China can now compete for the world's top talents, the government has offered tremendous support."

The package to lure workers includes a 1-million-yuan ($147,000) relocation allowance, while the implementation of unprecedented policies meansforeign experts receive the same treatment as natural citizens. Projects are also given sufficient funding and talents are able to spend as little as six months in China, explained Ding.

"The package must be very attractive if they want to convince an established scientist or researcher to give up their tenure," he added. "But the policies to provide international schools for their children have been very practical."

Miao Hong, with the bureau of personnel and education at the CAS, said the scheme had made a massive impact on Chinese academics working abroad, adding: "People used to say no to us but now that is changing."

Talents have been attracted by China's fast-developing economy and the central government's recognition of the increasing importance of science and innovation, he said. "There is a difference between China and the US in the mindset over scientific development; China is accelerating, the US is slowing down," Ding said.

Miao continued: "The people we have targeted are those in the top five or top 10 in the world in their field. Many have already reached their career peak, all that is left for them is to think how best to fulfill their potential in work and in life. For many Chinese living overseas, it comes down to the contribution they can make to their home country. That is a major reason for them to return."

But switching jobs not only has a knock-on effect to their career, but also an expert's lifestyle.

Zhou Xingjiang decided to return to China four years ago to take up a post at the CAS institute of physics. Previously he had been a faculty member at Stanford University in California with a large house and three cars.

"Life was fine in the US but it wasn't enough," the 43-year-old physicist told China Daily, explaining he was driven by the dream of spreading his wings and running his own laboratory, and had also been dismayed at the reductions in funding for scientific research in the US during the George W. Bush administration.

Following his return to China, he has gone on to invent the world's top angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy equipment - used in the study of energy levels of atomic core electrons - something he feels he would have been unable to accomplish if he had stayed in the US.

Miao Hong added: "It is very hard for academics and their families to make the decision to come to China. But scientists pay less attention to material needs and more to career development and their family's happiness."

For Sun Mu, deputy director at the CAS institute, the government's recruitment scheme has been a success, proving an effective and practical weapon for employers.

"Our institute has very limited resources to attract new talent, but now the national policies have paved the way for employers to hire people in the areas they need most," he said.

The academy, one of the ministry-level agencies involved in the program, has already received applications from more than 80 leading minds plying their trade overseas for the second round of recruitment.

And as more talents head to China to improve their career opportunities amid the global financial slowdown, the bar has been raised, said Mu. "We have a larger pool of intelligence to choose from now. We want only the best."

Timing has also played a major part in facilitating the country's recruitment plan. Since the opening up and reforms policy in 1978, millions of Chinese students have flocked overseas for further education.

Three decades later, the number of Chinese-born talents living in Europe and the US has swelled to such a level the government has a massive pool to draw from and reverse the brain drain effect.

"The people who went abroad back then are now in their 40s or 50s and in the prime of their careers," said Miao. "It is only in recent years we have had such a large number of already experienced scientists and researchers to target and lure back."

In switching to an innovation-based economy, while all the time reducing its reliance on the export industry, China must compete with the world's most advanced nations by attracting more of the world's most advanced minds, said Miao.

Injecting extra world-class talent into its science and technology research would be a shortcut to success, she said, with the added bonus their international experience and shared practices would also help nurture young brilliant minds.

China's leaders have made filling the country's pool of talent a priority in recent years in a bid to reverse its long-term lack of sufficient input in science and innovation and to tap potentially unexplored fields, she said.

And they have not been alone. United Nations statistics show that by the end of 2006, around 30 countries had revamped their immigration policies to attract the world's leading minds, 17 of which were developed countries.

"The competition for human resources has always existed. But China didn't have much chance previously," added Miao.

High salaries and sufficient funding are necessary for attracting the overseas elite, but some still doubt whether professors will make the jump.

"I hope the plan can attract truly world-class talent to China," said Wen Xiaogang, a professor from the department of physics of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US. "In my opinion, China should attract those who can set up a world-class research group or lab in China and generate world-class research in the next 10 years."

To find out who fits that bill, however, Wen added recommendation letters from the leaders of each field were very important.