More than 80 percent of Chinese overseas students have returned home since China launched its opening-up policy in the late 1970s, according to the Education Ministry.

"Since the country's opening-up, about 4.85 million Chinese have gone abroad to study and 3.22 million have returned," Chen Baosheng, the education minister, said today at a news conference on the sidelines of the annual two sessions.

The ministry has supported returnees, such as by offering subsidies to students with an overseas education to conduct research and other projects in China, Chen said.