At the height of the 2008 financial crisis, as Wall Street slashed jobs, Beijing took advantage of the disarray to poach top Chinese financial talent from overseas to help reform its stock markets. By summer 2015, China’s Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) needed them more than ever; a year-long market boom had imploded in a few weeks, and the government was desperate to keep the crisis from widening. But the best and brightest returnees, known in China as “sea turtles”, had already left for the private sector, disillusioned and disappointed. A former official at the CSRC, one of a group of 20 high-profile returnees, recalled the CSRC’s appeal to make “sacrifices for the motherland”. “We moved our families back to China and gave up high-paying […]