To get a leg up in the solar industry China provided research grants to the very best in the field as a way to lure them over. Chinese investments in science and tech has skyrocketed in the last two decades.
* I was one of those people who moved to China for a few years to work in software over a decade ago.
Never really thought about it except those times I forgot to pay my VPN
> Is it so polluted as it looks?
Cleaner than my home town in Scandinavia. Was living in South part of China.
Felt very polluted in Shanghai when I first moved there. Lived in Dalian which is one of the cleaner cities and had no issues. Moved to Beijing (before the olympics) and experienced no real issues either. I've lived in much more polluted cities since then.
Environment is improving in general. Now local governments would give up economic benefit in exchange for environment protection which is quite different mindset than a decade ago.