(Xi's Vietnam-Singapore Visit)Xinhua Insight: Overseas students bring home "Singapore Model"

No group understands the experiences China has drawn from Singapore's rapid modernization than Chinese students who have returned from overseas study in the city-state.

This was clear at a gathering last August, when about 100 graduates of the Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore (NUS) discussed China's seeming encouragement for Internet start-ups.

They were prophetic. At the Summer Davos in northeast China the following month, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang highlighted innovation and entrepreneurship as a new economic growth engine. Since then, an array of favorable measures have been passed to spur start-ups.

"Those educated in Singapore become more pragmatic. Singapore's sense of insecurity as a small country surrounded by big neighbors has affected us, making us always strive to catch up," Yan Shufen, a NUS graduate who helped organize the get-together.

As the two countries prepare to observe 25 years of formal diplomatic ties with President Xi Jinping's visit on Friday and Saturday, students are traveling to Singapore to learn the "Singapore Model" now more than ever.

Official statistics show that nearly 250,000 Chinese government officials have been trained in Singapore.

Zhao Jun was among those who travelled to study there. In 2000, Zhao was working at the Ministry of Agriculture and won a Singaporean scholarship at the NUS LKY Public Policy School where he received a master degree in public policy.

Zhao said the world-class faculty at the LKY school renewed his out-of-date knowledge in public policy in areas such as economics, political science and sociology.

"The mind-blowing two years thoroughly remolded me," said Zhao.

Not long after he came back to China, Zhao decided to pursue a doctoral degree in public policy in Canada, which took him six years.

"Few people would spend so much time on a degree. I did it because I understand good public policies improve lives and vice versa. I learnt that in Singapore, " said Zhao, now a Rural Development Specialist at World Bank China.

As a predominately ethnic Chinese society and located near China, Singapore's methods for modernization caught the eye of Chinese leaders early on.

Back in 1978, China was initiating the reform and opening-up drive. Thus, it was not just pure coincidence that drove late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping to visit Singapore and observe its development.

Zheng Yongnian, director of the East Asian Institute at the NUS, said the "Singapore Model" is known for its efficient economic and social management, rule of law and clean governance.

Geng Jing, executive vice president of Greenland Holdings Group, a Fortune Global 500 company based in Shanghai, also attended a public policy master degree program at the NUS LKY Public Policy School.

China has definitely learnt from Singapore in various areas, but the most inspirational lesson may be that a country with a permanent ruling party can also see economic prosperity and political progress, said Geng, referring to the People's Action Party, which has been Singapore's sole ruling party since the state's founding.

Moreover, Singapore has also been instrumental to scientific advances in China.

Miao Yuanhua graduated from Nanyang Technological University. Back home, he started up his own environmental technology company after being inspired by the superb living environment in Singapore.

Upon arriving in the city-state in 2000, Miao was impressed by the fresh air, tidy streets and widely available drinking fountains.

"When I saw people in parks drank from fountains at road sides, I was dreaming about introducing the technology back to China," Miao said, explaining why he founded the company.

He named his environmental technology company "Zhongxinyiju", which translates into China-Singapore livable city. "Livable city is my objective and Singapore is where I got the idea," he said.

In 2001, China and Singapore signed a framework agreement on exchange and training programs for mid-and-high-level officials. High level bilateral mechanisms such as the China-Singapore Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation have also been established.

Susanna Leong, vice dean of the NUS Business School, is in Shanghai this week to do research on legal problems in Internet finance. Born in Singapore, Leong is fluent in Chinese and uses popular social media platform WeChat to keep tabs on the country's news.

Leong said the NUS was among the first Asian institutes outside Chinese mainland to launch Chinese-language EMBA programs.

The fact that 90 percent of the program's students are from Chinese mainland, with more and more students entrepreneurs, shows Chinese companies are eager to expand globally, which is a strong suit of Singapore, Leong said.

Leong said that China's reform and development needs the help of innovative entrepreneurs with integrity and a strong sense of mission. These, she said, are the core values the NUS advocates. Endite