China increasingly becomes a preferable career destination around the world. In 2016, over 432 thousand oversea students came back and started working in China, marking the largest scale of returnees since 1949.
And according to a recent report from China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Guangzhou is ranked second for its attractiveness among all the cities in China, as 8.74 percent of the returnees consider it the prior place for jobs. Other popular locations include Shanghai ( 11.96 percent), Beijing (7.88 percent) and Shenzhen (6.57%).
Apart from the returnees, Guangzhou is also attractive to talents as renown scholars and skilled technicists. According to Guangzhou Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, 100 thousand oversea experts come and work in Guangzhou per year, making remarkable contributions to the local development.
Fan Qun and the co-founders of his company. [PhotoSouthcn.com]
In 2010, Fan Qun is one of these 100 thousand oversea experts who began their connections with the city. And 7 years afterward, he said he “made a right choice”.
From Silicon Valley to Lotus Mountain
“I decided to come back to Guangzhou and start my own business in 2010,” said Fan Qun who is now the co-founder of WayGreen, a new energy company located under the Locus Mountain of Panyu District. But back then, he was working in the Silicon Valley after gaining a doctorial degree in America over 30 years ago.
Fan Qun and the chip he developed. [PhotoChinanews.com]
“With a long history of opening up, Guangzhou is a great starting point for my business,” said Fan Qun, “the city has great commercial environment and industrial base. And innovative industry is rather dynamic as well and supported by a series of advantageous policies.”
Fan Qun successfully applied the Thousand Talents Program when he started his business in Guangzhou. And with their innovative program dealing with the diesel engine exhaust, his company won a fund from the city among 13 thousand candidates.
“The fund we recently gained is from a program that Guangzhou operates to boost the city’s innovative startups,” said Fan Qun, “I think this is one of the most promising talent programs in China as the city government spend 3.5 billion yuan to develop tech industries in 5 years. And I feel exciting as well because it proves I have made a right choice for my business.”
Multiple measures to lure oversea talents
Liu Baochun, director-general of Guangzhou's Foreign Affairs Office, considered the city’s internationalization is highly depending to the talents working here.
“When we talked about internationalization in the past, we mostly focused on economy,” said Liu Baochun, “but in fact, it’s related to the various fields as economy, politics, education and etc. I think Guangzhou is attractive because it’s quite integrated in all these fields.”
To lure overseas talents, Guangzhou has released a series of advantageous policies in the passing months of 2017, including the green cards policy (click here for detailed info) and the new work visa apply process (click here for detailed info).
And most recently, Guangzhou Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau released a new program for the high-end foreign experts who are working for the local enterprises or universities. Once stressfully applied, individual experts could gain a 200-thousand-yuan fund at most.
Apart from these advantageous policies, Guangzhou attracts oversea talents, programs and assets through global events including the Convention on Oversea Talents as well as the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fair.
3,000 overseas talents and 20 foreign academicians participated in the Convention on Exchange of Overseas Talents held in December last year. They brought over 1000 tech programs to display and searched for opportunities in the convention. (Click here for detailed info)
Foreign talents exchanging with local enterprises in the Convention on Exchange of Overseas Talents. [Photo / newsgd.com]
“Guangzhou’s attractiveness to the oversea talents will continue in the future,” said Liu Baochun, “the living environment here is better considering its living cost and ecological environment as air quality.”
“And most importantly, the business environment here is rapidly improved. As large number of transnational companies as GE and Cisco have settled in Guangzhou, oversea talents could find more chances here,” he said.
