Nearly 610,000 Chinese students attended schools and colleges overseas in 2017. China remains the world's (large) supplier of international students. A majoritythe students went to European and North American countries. Countries (include) in the Belt and Road Initiative (B&R) became new destinations, with student numbers (rise) by 15.7 percent in 2017. At the same time, about 480,000 graduates returned to China. Since 1978, about 5.2 million Chinese (study) abroad and among those graduated about 83.7 percent returned to China.
Meanwhile, a total of 490,000 (foreign) from 204 countries and regions studied in China is 2017. Students from the Republic of Korea, Thailand and Pakistan were the most numerous, while the United States ranked (four). Students from B&R countries accounted for 64.9 percent of total. About 59,000 international students in China (support) by Chinese government scholarships.
