On August 23, 1955, the headline on the front page of the People's Daily was particularly striking: Huang Baotong had been unreasonably detained by the US authorities for applying to return to China. Since then, Huang Baotong's name and his difficult journey to return to China began to be known by the Chinese people.

In 1947, Huang Baotong went to the United States to study. He first studied for a master's degree in organic chemistry at Texas A&M College, then transferred to the Brooklyn Institute of Technology in New York, majoring in organic chemistry and minoring in polymer chemistry. In 1952, he received his doctorate and entered the Plastics Laboratory of Princeton University in the same year. His work was highly regarded by the American chemistry community.

While studying in the United States, Huang Baotong actively joined the Chinese Students' Advancement Organization and served as the president of the organization's New York district. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he was very excited and actively prepared and mobilized the overseas students to return to China. However, the Korean War broke out, and the return of Chinese students came to an abrupt end. Mr. Huang's group was also listed as a "subversive organization."

On May 24, 1951, Huang Baotong was taken to the United States Immigration Bureau for questioning. The next day, he was arrested and taken to Ellis Island to be interned. In the meantime, reading books, playing bridge, reading telegrams and writing letters to other Chinese prisoners became Huang's daily life. Of course, his main concern was when he would be able to return to China. Thanks to the hard work of his mentors and friends, Huang Baotong was finally freed after 114 days in captivity, but he had to report to the US immigration Bureau every Monday. Even so, he insisted on seeking help to return home as soon as possible.

Three years after he was released on bail, Huang Baotong's path back to China has dawned. In April 1954, at the Geneva Conference, China won a major diplomatic victory. Premier Zhou Enlai asked Huang and a group of other Chinese scientists to return home. In the early morning of October 13, the US Immigration Service informed Huang Baotong that he was free to leave the United States, but he had to apply for his own "deportation."

After several twists and turns, Huang Baotong finally boarded the "President Wilson" passenger ship from San Francisco to his motherland, and returned to his motherland. After returning to China, Huang Baotong accepted the assignment of the state to work in Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and successively carried out research on the structure and drying mechanism of raw paint, synthesis of new molecules, and new catalytic/activation system of ethylene-propylene rubber. Throughout his life, he always linked scientific research work with the construction needs of the motherland, laid the foundation for new China's polymer chemistry discipline, and developed a new catalyst system with Chinese characteristics.

Talking about the tortuous road back to China, Huang Baotong once said: "At that time, I knew it would be very difficult to return to China. If we had stayed in the United States to work, study and live, conditions would certainly have been better in every respect than in the new China, where everything was still to be rebuilt. But if we think that our country needs us, we will come back no matter how poor we are."

(our reporter on behalf of small Pei)

Profile Huang Baotong, born in Shanghai in May 1921. Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, polymer chemist. He was formerly a researcher and deputy Director of Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. According to the national demand, he presided over the "new ethylene-propylene rubber catalyst activator" and other related research, and developed a new catalyst system with Chinese characteristics.

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