The research competition is basically a funding competition nowadays. In the 20th century, China had far less research funding for universities compared to U.S.. That's due to two facts:
1. China was poor back then.
2. China had barely no high-tech industries which can provide additional financial support to labs and cultivate talents.
Therefore, people got high-level education who want to pursue a research career would have less chance to get a job in China (at least mainland) and had to go to U.S., EU or Japan to utilize their knowledge.
In fact, until now, U.S. still offers the highest the research funding to its universities. That's why there're so many Chinese students in U.S. schools.
Yeah thanks. The difference of CS and physics, and other natural science, I think, is that it's more about engineering even though it's name is computer "science". However the pupolar deep learning may satisfy the needs of a natural science enthusiast. Since Hinton sayed the way neural network workss resembles the mechanism of human brain[^1]. It's quite exciting.
After reading this blog, I'm ashamed. I just graduated from college. In my high school, the education of physics was so boring and tiresome that I even hated it at one point. For this reason, I chose computer science rather than physics as my major in college. Later, I gradually became interested in physics, however, due to the lack of good enough study habits, atmosphere and courage (which is a self-deprecating way of saying cowardice and laziness), until now I have not taken a step forward. This is the decision I regret most in my life. I am going to the United States to study for a master's degree in CS. Maybe I can learn some physics during the freetime of the two-year program because the educational resources in the United States are more abundant(perhaps).
Therefore, people got high-level education who want to pursue a research career would have less chance to get a job in China (at least mainland) and had to go to U.S., EU or Japan to utilize their knowledge.
In fact, until now, U.S. still offers the highest the research funding to its universities. That's why there're so many Chinese students in U.S. schools.