無 / Overseas study has a long history in China which can even trace back to Hang Dynasty in around B.C. 200. It is always one of the most important ways to transfer and reproduce knowledge. It is also an essential indicator to evaluate the level of internationalization of higher education in modern era. China, with its growing GDP and the largest population, has always been the most potential source of international students in the world. The accumulated number of Chinese overseas students from 1978 to 2007 was 1,107,023, with an average annual growth rate of 28%. There are many important turning points along the development of overseas study in China, such as China’s entry into the United Nation in 1971 and the normalization of the Sino-U.S. diplomatic relation in 1979. Both have helped China to begin new contact with outside world and initiate many major reforms. The South Tour in 1992 was also a critical moment for overseas study in China because in this year, the ambiguous direction swinging between the capitalism and socialism was finally clarified. Through analyzing considerable quantity of related speeches and documents, this research aims to find the changes of overseas study policy before and after 1992. By making a comprehensive comparison of overseas study policy between these two stages, we came to draw the conclusions as follows:1.Overseas study policy always reflected the direction of national development in China.2.The main factor behind the policy-making of overseas study was transferred from political reason to the economic needs and manpower concern3.The influence of the state on the policy-making of overseas study always exists, but the role of state was adjusted overtime and turned into a facilitator from a controller.4.The focus was switched from the increasing of number of overseas students to the elevation of the quality and also to the recruitment of returnees. We also find that through the promotion of overseas study during the past three decades, the improvement on the elevation of its labor force and the teaching faculty has been made.