After 20 years at Western multinationals such as Coca-Cola Co. and Nike Inc., Wayne Chen was offered a senior management role at China Vanke Co., a Shenzhen-based residential-property developer that is the world's largest by revenue.
在可口可乐(Coca-Cola Co.)、耐克(Nike Inc.)等西方跨国公司任职20年后，陈玮(Wayne Chen)接到了万科企业股份有限公司(China Vanke Co., 简称：万科)伸过来的橄榄枝，招他担任万科的一个高管职位。以收入计，总部位于深圳的万科是全球最大的住宅类房地产开发商。

Mr. Chen, a Shanghai native who had moved to the U.S. about 15 years ago, said he didn't plan to leave Hay Group, a U.S. management-consulting firm where he was a Shanghai-based managing director.
陈玮表示，自己当时没打算离开美国管理咨询公司合益集团(Hay Group)，他在该公司担任驻上海的董事总经理。陈玮是上海人，约在15年前去了美国。
But Vanke persisted, winning him over with talk of providing housing for China's aging population and establishing a global footprint in cities such as San Francisco, Singapore and New York. He started working for Vanke in February as chief human resources officer, one of about a dozen China-born, Western-educated executives to join the company during the past five years.
但万科执意邀请，并向陈玮描绘了为中国老龄化人口提供住房以及在旧金山、新加坡和纽约等城市扩张业务的愿景，他最终被说动。陈玮今年2月份加入万科，担任首席人力资源官。在过去五年中，有十几名出生在中国、受过西方教育的高管加入万科。
Mr. Chen is an example of what is called a 'sea turtle' or 'haigui' in Mandarin: a Chinese native who has returned home after stints in the West. Sea turtles, also a homophone for students returning from overseas studies, are highly prized by Chinese companies because they understand the nuances of Chinese culture and can draw upon Western practices to help their new bosses expand, especially overseas.
陈玮是典型的“海龟”（海归），也就是在西方供职多年后回到国内的中国人。“海龟”也常指海外留学回国寻找工作机会的中国毕业生。由于他们深谙中国文化的微妙之处，同时还可以借鉴西方的做法来帮助新雇主扩张业务，特别是海外扩张，这类人才很受中国企业赏识。
'Chinese companies are looking to skill up so they can go international in the next 10 years, and want to get these executives into their business,' said Max Price, a Beijing-based partner at recruiters Antal International.
猎头公司安拓国际(Antal International)驻北京合伙人普赖斯(Max Price)称，中国企业正在努力提升技能，以便在未来10年能够走向世界，他们希望把这些高管招进自己的公司。
The number of sea turtles has been increasing over the past several years, though that growth has slowed recently. Last year, 350,000 sea turtles returned to China, a 30% rise over the prior year, compared with a 56% rise in 2009, according to China's Ministry of Education, which tracks the phenomenon.
过去几年，海归人数一直在增加，不过增速最近有所放缓。据追踪海归现象的中国教育部称，去年有35万海归回国，较上年增加了30%，而2009年海归人数较上年增加了56%。
The number of Chinese 'sea gulls' -- who fly back and forth between China and the West -- is also growing, according to Wang Huiyao, president of the Center for China & Globalization, who has studied the overseas Chinese population as well as the returnees.
据中国与全球化智库(Center for China & Globalization)主任王辉耀称，中国“海鸥”人数也在增加。王辉耀一直致力于海外华人群体及海归群体的研究。“海鸥”指的是在中国出生、在西方受教育并在中国和西方之间飞来飞去的人。
Some executive returnees are attracted by salaries and benefits that can be as much as 50% higher than those offered at Western multinationals, compensation experts say. They are also finding an increasing number of Chinese companies have global ambitions and sophistication on par with Western peers, and often offer Chinese natives better positions with greater scope for decision-making.
薪酬专家称，一些海归高管是被薪水和福利吸引回国的，他们的薪酬可比在西方跨国公司高出50%。海归高管还发现越来越多的中国企业拥有可与西方企业比肩的全球抱负和头脑，常常给中国人提供决策权限范围更大的更好职位。
Generally, sea turtles 'are leaving for power'' after they have reached career ceilings at Western multinationals, said Benjamin Zhai, a managing director at Russell Reynolds Associates Inc., a big U.S. search firm. One Chinese state-owned enterprise recruits sea turtles by saying, 'Come join us because we don't have a glass ceiling,' according to Alan Pang, head of talent in greater China for consulting firm Aon Hewitt.
大型美国研究公司罗盛咨询(Russell Reynolds Associates Inc.)总经理翟斌(Benjamin Zhai)说，总的来说，海归在西方跨国企业碰到职业天花板后会离职以寻求拥有更大权力的工作。咨询公司怡安翰威特(Aon Hewitt)大中华区人才主管Alan Pang说，一家中国国有企业招募海归的口号是：加入我们吧，因为我们没有玻璃天花板。
Working for a Chinese company in China means that 'you're making global decisions rather than having these decisions made for you' by Western headquarters, said Guo Xin, a sea turtle who joined Beijing-based recruiting firm Career International as chief executive in July 2011 after leaving U.S. consulting firm Mercer. 'I don't prize a bigger title or more money, but job satisfaction.'
科锐国际(Career International)首席执行长郭鑫在离开美国咨询公司美世(Mercer)后于2011年7月份加入这家总部位于北京的猎头公司。他说，在中国为一家中国企业工作，意味着你能够进行全球性的决策，而不是让别人替你做决策。郭鑫说，他看重的不是更大的头衔或更高的薪资，而是职业满足感。
Chinese companies are also gaining an edge as foreign multinationals such as technology power Microsoft Corp. and car maker Audi AG face investigations in China over their business practices, recruiters say.
当前，科技巨头微软(Microsoft Corp.)、汽车制造商奥迪(Audi AG)等外资跨国企业的业务正在受到中国监管部门的调查，这也给中国企业带来了优势。
To be sure, many sea turtles who have worked at Western companies for years experience culture shock when they join a Chinese company. 'The success rate is less than 50%,' said Kitty Zheng, a Beijing-based recruiter for Spencer Stuart, another major U.S. search firm.
诚然，许多多年来供职于西方企业的海归在加入中国公司时会感受到企业文化上的巨大差异。美国研究公司史宾沙(Spencer Stuart)驻北京的猎头Kitty Zheng说，能够成功适应这一变化的比例不到50%。
These days, China's increasing problems with pollution are also a deterrent.
目前，中国越来越严重的污染问题也是一个阻碍。
Freeman H. Shen, a Shanghai-based sea turtle who is a top executive at Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., a Chinese car maker, said some of his friends have good careers in China but 'want to move out of China because of the air-quality thing.'
中国汽车厂商浙江吉利控股集团(Zhejiang Geely Holding Group)高管、驻上海的“海归”沈晖(Freeman H. Shen)说，他的一些朋友在中国有着不错的职业发展，但因为空气质量的原因而希望离开中国。
These executives are moving to the U.S. with a Chinese company because they believe their children will have a better chance of getting into a good U.S. college if they complete high school there, said Mr. Shen, Geely Holding's group vice president for corporate development and mergers and acquisitions. In his own case, Mr. Shen's two children are ages 5 and 11 years old; they attend an international school in Shanghai with many American children.
沈晖说，这些高管随一家中国公司转战美国，原因是他们认为自己的孩子如果在美国上完高中，就会有更好的机会进入不错的美国大学。沈晖是吉利负责企业发展及并购的集团副总裁。就他自己而言，沈晖的两个孩子年龄分别为5岁和11岁，在上海的一所国际学校与许多美国孩子一同上学。
After 16 years at Western multinationals, he intends to stick with Geely, which became his first Chinese employer in 2009, because 'Geely has opportunities for me,'' said Mr. Shen, who has brought 10 high-level sea turtles to the company or its units during the past four years.
沈晖说，在西方跨国公司工作了16年后，他有意留在吉利，因为“吉利对我来说有很多机会”。他于2009年加入吉利，这是他工作的第一家中国企业。过去四年，沈晖为吉利及其子公司招募了10名海归高管。
Those who stick it out often cite powerful personal motivations.
那些坚持下来的人通常给出的理由是强大的个人激励。
Joan Ren, a partner at Shanghai private-equity firm Ample Harvest Finance, said a chance to make a bigger impact at a local company influenced her 2012 decision to leave General Motors Co. in Shanghai, where she was a top manager of its Chevrolet division.
上海私募股权投资公司Ample Harvest Finance的合伙人Joan Ren说，促使她2012年离开通用汽车(General Motors Co.)的一个影响因素就是可以在一家国内公司中发挥更大的影响力。Joan Ren此前是上海通用雪佛兰(Chevrolet)业务的一位高级经理。
Li Sanqi, 60, was part of the first wave of Chinese to study in the West. Mr. Li said when he came back to China in 1985, he couldn't find many jobs that adequately used his engineering background.
60岁的李三奇是首批到西方留学的中国人之一。他表示，1985年回国时他找不到多少可以充分发挥他工程背景的工作。
He left again and launched a number of technology startups in the U.S. over the next two decades, returning in 2009 with telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co.
李三奇又离开了中国，并在随后的二十年中在美国创办了许多科技初创公司，之后于2009年加入了电信设备巨头华为(Huawei Technologies Co.)。
'I was impressed,' said Mr. Li, who is now chief technology officer in Huawei's products and solutions division. 'I know it would have been hard in the 1980s and 1990s for a Chinese company to become this big.'
李三奇目前担任华为产品和解决方案部门首席技术长。他说他当时被打动了，因为他知道一个起步于上世纪八九十年代的中国公司要发展成如此大的规模非常不容易。
Mr. Chen, of Vanke, said the Chinese property developer is giving him many opportunities to make use of his Western job experience. He is revamping Vanke's executive hiring and promotion system to put less weight on certain aspects of the interview and more on past performance and online assessment tools. Such criteria were used successfully at his Western employers, according to Mr. Chen.
万科的陈玮称，这家中国房地产开发商给了他很多机会应用他在西方公司的工作经验。他正在改革万科的高管聘任和提拔系统，减少面试中一些环节的比重，增加对以往工作表现的考察及在线评估工具的使用。据陈玮说，这些标准在他所工作过的西方公司中得到了成功的应用。