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CHICAGO, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Consul General in Chicago presented awards for students who have achieved excellence in their academic study in a ceremony held Saturday in the University of Chicago.
While addressing the ceremony, Chinese Consul General in Chicago Hong Lei spoke highly of the diligence and innovation of Chinese students and urged them to go on studying hard to attain higher achievements.
A total of 33 Chinese students studying in U.S. Midwest won the 2015 Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad.
The 33 awardees come from 16 universities in the U.S. Midwest, including the University of Chicago, the Northwestern University, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Purdue University.
"China needs talents, and embraces you all who come back," said Hong Lei. He also encouraged Chinese students to contribute to the development of China-U.S. relations.
Jiang Yuanwen,a student from the University of Chicago and one of the awardees, expressed his gratitude, saying it is a token of the support and care for overseas Chinese students from the motherland.
Launched in 2003, the "Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-financed Students Abroad" project aims to reward self-financed Chinese doctoral students studying abroad that have achieved academic excellence and encourage them to return to China or to serve the motherland in various ways.
China Scholarship Council (CSC), a non-profit agency affiliated to China's Ministry of Education, is in charge of the project.
As of 2015, a total of 4,914 outstanding overseas Chinese students studying in 32 countries had won the award, which grants 10,000 U.S. dollars for extraordinary excellent students and 6,000 U.S. dollars for excellent students.
Self-financed students now make up over 95 percent of the Chinese students studying abroad.
