At 9:00 pm on November 27th, 2007, renowned pianist Lang Lang arrived at Hong Kong. He had just become a Hong Kong resident after completing the paperwork for the "Quality Migrant Admission Scheme" at the Immigration Department of the HKSAR, and on that night, for the first time, he was arriving in Hong Kong as a resident.

"I'm very happy to be the first person to receive the special visa under this program," said Lang Lang, Pianist.

Introduced in 2006, the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme is the third immigration program established over the past ten years specifically designed to attract mainland talents to Hong Kong.

This is a Ph.D. dissertation defense (being) presented at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). Wu Yun Dong, who serves as the chairman of the dissertation committee today, is a professor of chemistry at the university and is an academician of the prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Prof. Wu, who has now been in Hong Kong for 16 years, joined the HKUST after completing advanced degrees in the United States. Before Hong Kong returned to China, top talents from the mainland were being attracted to settle in Hong Kong after studying outside China.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology was founded in 1991, and, like Professor Wu, members of its faculty come from all over the world.

"I was born in 1962. In 1978, I went to Wuhan and spent 4 years there.After that, I spent 4 years in Fuzhou, 3 years in England, 4 years in the United States, and 13 years in Hong Kong.I've spent more time in other places than in my hometown," said faculty member of Hong Kong University of Science of Technology.

In the 16-year history of the HKUST, scholars from the mainland who completed advanced degrees outside China have contributed a great deal to the school's success.

In spite of its short history, HKUST enjoys a good reputation among the best universities around the globe. Its success in the academic world (which usually places great emphasis on the history of an educational institution) encouraged the leaders of the HKSAR government to stress the importance of attracting top talents from the mainland.

On December 12th, 2006, the Modern Chinese Medicine Research and Service Centre opened at Hong Kong's Queen Elizabeth Hospital. This was a major event for the field of Chinese medicine because the Queen Elizabeth Hospital had long been a major hospital of modern western medicine in Hong Kong. When Lui Liang, head of the School of Chinese Medicine at Hong Kong Baptist University, heard of this, he became very excited, commenting that it was a landmark event for the field, and one that had historical meaning.