Shenzhen attracts talented people from Hong Kong, Macao
( 2002-02-04 15:41) (8)
Thanks to the sustained economic boom on China's mainland, the flow of talented people between Hong Kong, Macao and the mainland is gradually evolving into a two-way track.
While high salaries in Hong Kong and Macao still have strong appeal for mainland people, an increasing number of Hong Kong and Macao people are drawn to the mushrooming job opportunities in the mainland, especially prosperous neighboring cities like Shenzhen.
Mr. Zhang from Hong Kong has worked for a Shenzhen-based security company for one year. "It feels good to work in Shenzhen. And I'd like it to be here for a long time," said Zhang.
Zhang is among some 41,500 Hong Kong and Macao people who have registered to work for companies in Shenzhen since 1993, with 6,000 of which were registered in 2001. They mostly serve as senior managers or technicians for both Hong Kong- and Macao-funded and mainland businesses in the city.
An official with Shenzhen ZTETC, a leading Chinese telecommunications enterprise based in Shenzhen, said that Chinese businesses are in urgent need of more specialists familiar with international business practices since China's entry into the WTO. For its vast pool of such people, Hong Kong tops the talent- seeking targets of companies in Shenzhen.
Hong Kong professionals are enthusiastic about working in Shenzhen. In a survey of managers of big companies in Hong Kong conducted by the South China Talent Market, a Guangzhou-based employment agency, 93 percent of respondents expressed their intention to work in mainland cities. Many accepted monthly salaries between 10,000 yuan (US$1,204) and 15,000 yuan (US$1,807).
Analysts attributed the zeal mainly to Shenzhen's dynamic economic growth, the concentration of many Hong Kong enterprises in Shenzhen (estimated at around 15,000), and the narrowing gap between income levels in these two places.
Nationwide, China's has attracted more than one million foreign experts to China since it opened up to the world in the late 1970s. There will be an accelerated growth of the number during the Tenth Five-Year Plan period (2001-2005), according to the State Bureau of Foreign Experts Affairs.
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