Chinese Workers Abandon Silicon Valley for Riches Back Home

I am a Norwegian in Silicon Valley that have spent most of my career with Chinese colleagues, both in academia and industry, and my anecdata seem to indicate that my highly talented China-born colleagues are sadly leaving because;

- China has great opportunities for riches

- Getting a US VISA is hard and painful when you come from a populous country like China or India

- My China-born colleagues seem to in general be more conservative, and Silicon Valley has become violently intolerant of anyone that holds an opinion different than the predominant view

Only the first reason is somewhat objective, while the two others cause stress in their daily life as their ability to provide can at any time be removed due to what is perceived as arbitrary reasons. Everything being equal, many of them have told me they would prefer the less crowded Silicon Valley.

> sadly leaving

Why is it sad? They get to go back home instead of on the other side of the planet from the place they grew up, and they don't have to give up nearly as much to do it.

Good for them.

> My China-born colleagues seem to in general be more conservative, and Silicon Valley has become violently intolerant of anyone that holds an opinion different than the predominant view

Had to get that "oppressed conservatives" narrative in.

I keep asking what views people are so intolerant of. Tend not to get real answers.

As I said below I do not find it useful at all to try to list out the views that are not tolerated as there is no way that you can reduce a huge population groups opinions into neat categories, people can hold both conservative and liberal opinions as well as everything outside those at the same time, and I believe doing so would distract from the real conversation which is the intolerance.

There are also plenty of leaked examples of how people with other opinions are treated to even shock me that generally agree with the predominant view, and I encourage you to look it up and form your own opinion.

> Why is it sad? They get to go back home instead of on the other side of the planet from the place they grew up, and they don't have to give up nearly as much to do it.

As an immigrant myself I can tell you that leaving my network and life here would come at a huge cost. There are benefits of cause, especially since my home country Norway has a much better social support system. In my opinion nobody should have to do this out of fear, and that I perceive fear to sometimes be a contributing reason is what I find sad. Including the fact that I loose great colleauges that I love working with.

But I'm not asking for a comprehensive list, I'm asking what people are afraid to say. I think it's incredibly disingenuous to claim oppression, but also be unwilling to discuss it any further. I also think it does nothing to help the situation.

The obvious answer is "I voted for trump". But then of course, why?