Zhang Kai: why I left Yale for China at the peak of my career in life science

AdvertisementScienceChinaScienceZhang Kai: why I left Yale for China at the peak of my career in life science‘I started to rethink where I should do my research … so that I can fulfil my dreams and give more young people the chance to grow’ 3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenShi HuangPublished: 10:00am, 15 Apr 2026Not all scientists are willing to share why they returned to China. Most remain tight-lipped about their reasons for returning home and their specific experiences because of political or other non-scientific reasons.Professor Zhang Kai is an exception.Zhang, who worked for many years in Cambridge, England, and Yale University in the United States, is one of the world’s top and most influential cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) scientists while harbouring further ambitious goals. Advertisement“The first time I really started thinking ‘should I go back to China’ was when a very good PhD student in my lab couldn’t return to the US because of the 10043 ban and had to drop out,” Zhang said in an email on April 2 in response to a query from the South China Morning Post. 08:30 Why are more Chinese scientists leaving the US to return to China? Why are more Chinese scientists leaving the US to return to China?The 10043 ban is an order signed by the Donald Trump administration in May 2020. It stipulates that during the visa review process, US visa officers may refuse to issue student/scholar visas based on the student’s field of study, whether the research involves STEM areas, the sensitivity of their Chinese university and whether the Chinese government funds it.AdvertisementAdvertisementSelect VoiceSelect Speed0.8x0.9x1.0x1.1x1.2x1.5x1.75x00:0000:001.00x