UPDATE 1-Caijing's Shen to rejoin Citi as China economist

* Caijing chief economist Shen Minggao quits

* Returns to Citi as chief Greater China economist

* Caijing turns to four part-time economists (Adds comments from Caijing, Shen's background)

HONG KONG/BEIJING, Aug 11 - Shen Minggao, chief economist for Chinese magazine Caijing, will rejoin his former employer Citigroup <C.N> to cover macroeconomic research in the Greater China region, according to an internal memo.

Shen's title at Citigroup will be chief economist for Greater China. He will help coordinate macroeconomic analysis and research in mainland China, Hong Kong and self-ruled Taiwan, the memo shows. Shen will be based in Hong Kong.

Shen's previous role at Citigroup was Beijing-based senior China economist until July 2008, when he left the U.S. bank to become chief economist for the leading Chinese-language political and business magazine Caijing.

" will take on an enlarged portfolio covering macro economic research with a primary focus on mainland China as well as working closely with our teams on the ground in Hong Kong and Taiwan," Johanna Chua, chief economist for Citi Asia-Pacific, said in the memo.

As Caijing's chief economist, Shen, who earned a doctorate degree in economics from Stanford University in 2001, led a team of researchers to help it strengthen its macroeconomic coverage.

During his one-year stint at Caijing, Shen also helped Caijing launch weekly economic research newsletters to subscribers, including many institutional investors who used to be clients for Shen's research work at Citigroup.

"We hope to hire a new full-time chief economist for Caijing if we can find a suitable candidate," said a spokeswoman for Caijing in response to a Reuters inquiry.

Shen's decision to join Caijing surprised the financial industry as it is rare for bankers and economists to join the media industry for research or journalistic work, partly because of the gap in income levels. Instead, the media industry is often a talent pool for global banks, such as Citi and Morgan Stanley <MS.N>, as many journalists have joined them, usually as public relations managers or equities analysts in recent years.

Before Caijing finds a replacement for Shen, the magazine, often dubbed China's eqyuivilent to the Economist, would have four "contributing economists", said Caijing spokeswoman.

The four include former Morgan Stanley star economist Andy Xie, and Huang Yiping, former chief Citi Asia economist.

They would write reports for Caijing on part-time basis, she said.