and pain, unless we were at the same situation. One immediate thought is to check if he has any sign of depression while in US study. As RenDaDaiBiao said, he has always been the top one in his class of Tsinghua and Northwestern. Many such "TianZhiJiaoZi" are more susceptible to depression attacks, when confronting sudden adversary environment (psychology studies have shown). Also sad is that typically these kind of people would never show their weakness and frustration to their friends and family, to save their "face", which could further delay the revelation of their depression symptom.

That said, I do have many friends went back (as academics). Some are happy and others are not (or even been strewed). Nothing in China can be guaranteed......even written contract can be renegaded without proper remedy or channel to appeal.

It is a self selection process, who went back earlier are very accustomed to "Chinese way" of getting around ---there is no rule or you can bend the rule, while those stayed in US are used to "playing by the rule".