BEIJING, March 12, 2010 -- A total of 229,300 Chinese went overseas for study in 2009, up 27.5 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Education.

Among them, about 92 percent were funded privately and the rest went on national scholarships or were funded by companies and organizations, figures released Friday show.

Also last year, 108,300 people returned from study aboard, an increase of 56.2 percent from the previous year.

From 1978 to the end of 2009, the number of Chinese either studying or who had finished studying overseas, surpassed 1.62 million, of which 62.3 percent had returned home.