In this video interview, Xinchou Lou describes his experiences working at Beijing’s Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP). Lou is IHEP’s director of the experimental physics diivision and is also the project director on the circular electron–positron collider (CEPC) – an ambitious Chinese project to build a 100 km collider referred to as a “Higgs factory”.
Lou himself is testimony to China’s burgeoning scientific strength. He left China in 1984 for the West and – after spells in California, New York and CERN – settled at the University of Texas, where he remained for almost two decades before returning home in 2012. He was tempted back by the country’s “Thousand Talents” plan, which seeks to deepen the country’s scientific base by encouraging overseas scientists (both Chinese and non-Chinese) relocate to China.
In the interview, Lou explains why he returned to China and why he is excited about the future of particle physics. Find out more about the CEPC project in the 2018 Physics World Special Report on China. That free-to-read report examines China’s unabating rise as a scientific powerhouse, but also the challenges its facing in attracting foreign-born researchers to make a permanent move to China.
