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The number of Chinese grads in the OPT program seem large. But then you need to consider the fact in 2017, there were over 360,000 Chinese students in the US. In other words, 85% are returning home. And that's assuming that the OPT students don't go back, which may not reflect what's actually happening.* From Wikipedia:

Year	Total use of OPT	Mainland China	India	South Korea	Taiwan	Canada	Japan
2006-07	48,387	7,171	10,703	4,497	2,993	1,653	2,350
2007-08	56,766	7,718	10,846	4,965	3,178	1,869	2,459
2008-09	66,601	8,212	14,886	5,134	3,444	1,778	2,237
2009-10	67,804	11,003	19,657	5,862	3,569	1,969	2,068
2010-11	76,031	13,268	24,665	6,026	3,737	2,204	1,820
2011-12	85,157	18,394	26,742	5,807	3,377	2,140	1,593
2012-13	94,919	23,968	27,831	6,268	3,417	2,333	1,630
2013-14	105,997	33,401	27,696	6,639	3,540	2,568	1,458
2014-15	120,287	43,114	29,388	6,635	3,622	2,683	1,285
2015-16	147,498	52,193	42,328	7,039	4,017	2,897	1,416

Re the H1B program, I expect the Chinese government isn't particularly interested in exporting the country's best minds, and would probably put the kibosh on anyone who tried to set up an H1B pipeline in China. India is a democratic country, so the top talent who aren't born into India's license Raj-generated plutocracy tread a well-worn path into large American MNC's, unhindered by a democratic government that lacks the power to throw obstacles in their way. Whereas the Chinese government has no compunction about doing whatever it needs to do. It's one thing to allow students who pay their own way to leave for studies abroad, and quite another to allow foreign MNC recruiters to siphon off large numbers of graduates of Chinese universities educated at the Party's expense.

* Anecdotes from the Economist.

The rest of their “best minds” are most likely spies planted as “ workers” and “students” in our country. What a mess.

Thanks for your helpful Comments.

The OPT numbers from Wiki look strange - there were 275,000 total OPTs in 2017. It's possible the Wiki numbers are just first year OPT applicants and do not include renewals.

After reviewing the relevant data for the last three years on the number of Chinese STEM grad students, OPTs, H-1Bs, Green Cards, and Naturalizations, the number of Chinese nationals in each one of those categories has gone up almost every year, and China is ranked #1, #2, or #3 in each one of those categories.

To me, it looks like Chinese students and adults are at or near the country quota for almost every USA program they can apply for.