Xiangzhou District, Zhuhai

Xiangzhou District has attracted some 10,000 talents to its fast growing high-tech and manufacturing businesses since March 1 of last year when the Approval Methods of Introducing Talents to Zhuhai became effective. The number is about 53 percent of the total introduced to the city during the period.

Recruiting talents has long been one of the government work focuses as Zhuhai enters the fast track of development.

The Approval Methods were issued last year among a flurry of five-year talent development policies. One improvement was that by granting household registration convenience without too much restriction on applicants' region of origin or education, the government further lowered the entry barrier for non-Zhuhai pros; an illustration of its sincere desire for quality newcomers.

That measure put an end to the dilemma confronted by many talents who have found favorable positions in Zhuhai but had difficulty with household registration issues.

The city consequently saw a hike of 46.5 percent in the number of newly arrived talents in the past year. Among them were 52 PhD students, 1,542 postgraduates, and 10,410 undergraduates, more than 70 percent of whom have working experience at advanced technology enterprises elsewhere.

Xie Jingqing from Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, was one of the beneficiaries. The holder of the National Registered First-Class Construction Engineer certificate was identified as having professional technical status well matched to Zhuhai's talent policies and so was helped in settling down in the city as soon as possible.

"The process from application to online review and approval took no more than 10 days," said Xie. "Now that I have obtained the hukou (household registration certificate), my four-year-old daughter is able to enter a local school in time."

Recruitment sites are crowded with Zhuhai graduates. [Photo courtesy southcn.com]