It's like how Odysseus demanded to be tied to the mast of his ship, so he wouldn't be tempted by the Sirens.

The grad student doesn't want to be tempted by the software industry offering to quintuple his salary.

(Disclosure: Former physics grad student, who tended a similar optics bench).

forget software, they all go into starting boutique bakeries

Some one needs to be handcuffed to the table to poke it with a stick when needed.

Presumably they require constant high-precision adjustment and a lot of domain knowledge. I'd read it that the only way to do it now is with a high-maintenance setup and a lot of technicians.

I believe this was a figure of speech to illustrate that the student has to stay right by the table, not that the student is actually being handcuffed

Why does the student need to be Chinese? And is that Chinese as in from China or Chinese as in having Chinese heritage?

It’s to help avoid the expensive lawsuits - they usually come pre-conditioned to not make a fuss.

To stop them leaving academia for the private sector.