Chinanews, Shanghai, May 17 – Over 1 million students from the Chinese mainland went to study in more than 100 countries during 1978 and 2006. Excluding the 250,000 who have returned to China, those remaining abroad now forming a new generation of overseas Chinese. The information was released by Ma Rupei, deputy director of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, at the 2th joint meeting of secretary-generals of overseas Chinese professional associations.According to statistics, there are nearly 600,000 overseas Chinese students trained in different professional fields living in other countries, mostly developed countries. Most of these professional talents have gone abroad during the recent 30 years. Hundreds of professional associations have been established, with mainly well-educated people of high social status as their members.Since 2005, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, together with departments concerned, has cooperated with many local governments of China in organizing a series of communion meetings including "Business Innovation Conference for Overseas Chinese", "High-Tech Conference of Overseas Experts and Scholars" ,etc.To date, more than 1,000 overseas Chinese professionals with 1,200 high-tech projects have cooperated with enterprises in China.