The 20th Convention on the Exchange of Overseas Talents was closed in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong province, on Saturday.

The two-day conference that began Friday attracted about 4,000 overseas Chinese students and foreign talents, of which 70 percent hold a doctorate, according to a release by the conference organizer.

The talents registered at the convention came from 30-plus countries and regions worldwide, including the United States and nations in Europe and Africa. About 80 percent are interested in preferential talent-recruitment programs offered by China.

Domestically, about 400 delegations from universities, companies and governments of Beijing, Shanghai and Suzhou city in East China's Jiangsu province proposed nearly 2,000 talent-recruitment programs with over 14,000 jobs offered to the overseas students and foreigners at the convention, the organizer said.

Li Haozhuan, chief executive officer with Liepin Overseas, a branch of recruitment agency liepin.com, said that more overseas Chinese students are seeking jobs on the Chinese mainland for preferential policies offered by the government, including household registration and financial subsidies.

"The more important element attracting talented people to work on the mainland is that China has a great market prospect, especially in the industries concerning information technology and artificial intelligence," he said.