Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon
aims to alert you to the threats and opportunities that China and India present. China and India require serious attention; case of ‘hidden dragon and crouching tiger’.
Without this attention, governments, businesses and, indeed, individuals may find themselves at a great disadvantage sooner rather than later.
The POSTs (front webpages) are mainly 'cuttings' from reliable sources, updated continuously.
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Zhuhai police, at the end of the world’s longest sea bridge, use body armour and tear gas in preparation for Macau’s 20th anniversary celebration
Hong Kong is just an hour’s drive away from Macau using the bridge
More than 1,000 police officers took part in the anti-terror drill in Zhuhai. Photo: Toutiao
Armed police in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai held a massive anti-terror drill at its end of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge on Friday morning as part of its preparations for the 20th anniversary of the handover of Macau, when President Xi Jinping is expected to visit the city.
More than 1,000 police officers and 80 vehicles were involved in the exercise, amid
Photos circulated online showed officers in body armour, helmets and shields firing tear gas as they confronted a group of people carrying sticks and wearing black shirts and yellow helmets – attire associated with the protesters in Hong Kong, 60km (37 miles) away from Macau.
The drill was held three weeks before the 20th anniversary of Macau’s return to Chinese administration under the “one country, two systems” policy on December 20.
Police trucks and riot officers during Friday’s exercise at the Zhuhai end of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. Photo: Toutiao
Security is expected to be tightened when Xi visits the city, in response to the violent clashes in Hong Kong over the past six months, which Beijing has repeatedly blamed on radical protesters.
The former Portuguese colony is connected to Hong Kong and its neighbouring city of Zhuhai, Guangdong province, by the world’s longest sea crossing bridge. It takes about an hour to drive from Hong Kong to Macau via the bridge.
Guo Yonghang, Zhuhai party chief, urged the local police to stay loyal to the party. “[Police] should be loyal and fulfil duty and mission to create a peaceful and stable political and social environment for the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area and the celebration of the 20th anniversary of Macau’s reunification to the motherland,” he said.
Macau was returned to China two years after Hong Kong and celebrations of its success under one country, two systems could be overshadowed by its neighbour’s anti-government protests which stemmed from opposition to proposed extradition legislation and have escalated into violence on the streets and in university campuses.
In August, two months after more than 2 million people in Hong Kong took to the streets to protest the now-suspended extradition bill, police in Shenzhen held at least three drills featuring anti-riot exercises involving tear gas, armoured vehicles and water cannon.
Image copyright GETTY IMAGESImage caption A worker applying a capping layer to a landfill site in Hangzhou
China’s largest dump is already full – 25 years ahead of schedule.
The Jiangcungou landfill in Shaanxi Province, which is the size of around 100 football fields, was designed to take 2,500 tonnes of rubbish per day.
But instead it received 10,000 tonnes of waste per day – the most of any landfill site in China.
China is one of the world’s biggest polluters, and has been struggling for years with the rubbish its 1.4 billion citizens generate.
How big is the landfill site?
The Jiangcungou landfill in Xi’an city was built in 1994 and was designed to last until 2044.
The landfill serves over 8 million citizens. It spans an area of almost 700,000 square metres, with a depth of 150 metres and a storage capacity of more than 34 million cubic metres.
Until recently, Xi’an was one of the few cities in China that solely relied on landfill to dispose of household waste – leading to capacity being reached early.
Earlier this month, a new incineration plant was opened, and at least four more are expected to open by 2020. Together, they are expected to be able to process 12,750 tonnes of rubbish per day.
The move is part of a national plan to reduce the number of landfills, and instead use other waste disposal methods like incineration.
The landfill site in Xi’an will eventually become an “ecological park”.
The country had 654 landfill sites and 286 incineration plants.
It is not clear what China’s recycling rate is, as no figures have been released. China plans to recycle 35% of waste in major cities by the end of 2020, according to one government report.
This July, sorting and recycling rubbish was made mandatory in Shanghai – leading to “a sense of panic” among some residents.
‘Snow Dragons’ Xuelong and Xuelong II leave on China’s 36th Antarctic expedition
Mission to resource-rich continent carries great scientific and economic weight
A ceremony is held for the maiden voyage of China’s home-built polar icebreaker Xuelong II in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. Photo: Xinhua
China has sent two icebreakers to the Antarctic in its most ambitious polar expedition to the Earth’s resource-rich southernmost continent yet.
The Xuelong, or Snow Dragon, left Shanghai on Tuesday morning with a crew of 107 and 1,450 tonnes of supplies on board. It is expected to meet another icebreaker, Xuelong II, at Zhongshan Station on Prydz Bay in East Antarctica in late November before the ships carry out separate missions in the region.
This will be the 36th official Antarctic expedition for China, and the first involving two research icebreakers. Xuelong II, the first Chinese-built vessel of its kind, was commissioned in July and left for its maiden Antarctic journey last week. The ships will be back in China by late spring next year.
The voyages have been hailed by state media as “the start of China’s new era of polar exploration”. Zhao Yanping, the captain of Xuelong II, was quoted by the Science Daily website as saying that experts believed the ships could significantly expand Chinese science missions in the polar regions.
China’s Xuelong icebreaker was bought from Ukraine in 1994. Photo: Handout
Xuelong II, with propellers at bow and stern, can make up to 15 knots (28km/h) in open water and three knots (5.6km/h) when breaking ice. Observers said it could pave the way for a nuclear-powered icebreaker.
Xuelong, the country’s first polar research vessel, bought from Ukraine in 1994, is to carry out surveys in the Amundsen and Ross seas.
A report by The Beijing News said that Xuelong’s crew would also visit Inexpressible Island in Terra Nova Bay on the Ross Sea to help in construction work on China’s fifth Antarctic scientific station, which is expected to be operational in 2022.
How Chinese access to Chilean port could give Antarctic exploration activities a boost
Since it joined the Antarctic Treaty in June 1983, China has steadily increased its stakes in a region that contains vast, untapped natural resources, including oil, gas and minerals.
Last year, China announced it would begin building its first permanent airfield on Antarctica – a 1,500 metre strip to be located on an ice cap about 28 kilometres from Zhongshan Station.
Meanwhile, Chinese businesses have taken an interest in the region. Food companies have been among the largest players in fishing krill – tiny, protein-rich shrimp-like creatures that are abundant in Antarctic waters. Tourists from China now account for 16 per cent of the total number of travellers to the world’s last great untouched wilderness, second to visitors from the United States, according to the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators.
While Beijing said its engagement in the Antarctic would be “peaceful” and the focus of its expeditions was on protecting the environment, its growing presence there has raised concerns in the West, particularly among established explorers such as Australia and the US.
Australia said at the annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in Hobart, Tasmania, this week, that despite opposition from China and Russia, it would push for the creation of marine reserves off East Antarctica.
China’s new icebreaker Snow Dragon II ready for Antarctica voyage later this year
China and Australia have also been at odds over Beijing’s proposal to establish a code of conduct for the region around Dome A on the Antarctic Plateau, an area on the top of the ice sheet ideal for space and satellite observation. Canberra rejected the proposal, saying that Dome A is inside its territory.
BEIJING, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) — Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan has called for efforts to boost social causes such as education and healthcare in south China’s Guangdong Province to better serve the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Sun, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks during a three-day research tour in Guangdong that ended Saturday.
She visited major higher education and medical institutions in the province and presided over a symposium in Shenzhen, asking local departments to make more specific policies and measures to serve the construction of the Greater Bay Area, enhance their coordination and help push the development of the area to a new level.
Sun urged efforts to optimize the structure of higher education of the Greater Bay Area and encouraged universities in Guangdong to open up their resources in scientific research to universities and research institutes in Hong Kong and Macao.
She also asked for further cooperation and exchanges of talent in medical care within the Greater Bay Area, better implementation of the policies that grant Hong Kong and Macao’s medical institutions and doctors access to the mainland, and deeper cooperation in traditional Chinese medicine.
Li Xi, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee, attended the events along the tour.
Train trips, Xinjiang and chartered flights among the growing holiday trends, travel agents say
Destinations such as Dubrovnik, Croatia, are becoming more popular among mainland Chinese tourists, according to one of China’ s biggest travel services. Photo: AFP
Chartered flights and niche destinations such as Croatia and Malta are growing in popularity as Hong Kong falls out of favour for mainland Chinese holidaymakers over the National Day “golden week” break.
Japan has overtaken Thailand as the most searched overseas destination on the website of travel agency Ctrip, followed by Malaysia, the United States, Singapore, Australia, Macau, France, Italy and Russia.
Within the mainland places such as Beijing and Shanghai continued to be among the most popular searches but Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, is a fast-growing term, especially among people in Shanghai and Guangzhou.
“It could be that tourists want to see autumn leaves,” a Ctrip spokesman told the South China Morning Post.
October 1 marks the start of a week-long break on the mainland when millions of Chinese take the chance to travel. This year, an estimated 800 million people are expected to go on trips in China or overseas, about 10 per cent more than last year.
The country’s motorways are expected to be jammed from about 2pm on Monday, reaching a peak at around midnight, and again from 10am Tuesday, according to web mapping service Tencent Map.
China’s highways can expect heavy traffic as travellers head out for the holiday. Photo: Reuters
Ctrip said people heading overseas were increasingly seeking out new destinations, with bookings to places such as the Czech Republic, Austria, Croatia, Malta and Cambodia growing by 45 per cent this year.
“As Chinese people travel outside the country more and their experience of travel grows, many are more willing to go to smaller eastern European countries, such as the Czech Republic,” the spokesman said.
“Popular movies also have a strong influence. Many young people are willing to travel to see where films are shot, such as Croatia, one of the locations for Game of Thrones.”
Other noticeable trends this year include more people travelling with pets, by train and on chartered flights. The site said it sold 60 per cent more European train tickets and 10 times the number of train tickets for Japan for this golden week compared to last year.
The most popular routes in Asia were Tokyo to Kyoto in Japan, and Seoul to Busan in South Korea.
Hong Kong protests leave ‘golden week’ tourist boom in tatters as visitor arrivals during Chinese holiday period are set to be slashed by a third
Thousands of users also chose chartered flights, a service Ctrip introduced in September.
Ji Yu, head of chartered flights for Ctrip said most people thought chartered flights or helicopters were something only millionaires could afford, but in the internet age, they had become cheaper and more accessible.
“In the internet era, consumer needs vary from person to person, especially in terms of travel. There are products on the market to satisfy each customer’s personal needs.”
Among the more popular chartered routes were from Beijing or Shanghai to Tokyo, Bangkok, the Maldives and London.
More people are also going away for longer. Digital travel services giant Qunar said that 80 per cent of the travellers booking flights or hotels through its services were heading off for more than five days. And of those 41 per cent were travelling for more than a week.
Meanwhile, trips to Hong Kong have fallen substantially, with just 15 group tours expected to enter the city each day, down from 110 last year, according to the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong.
Efforts to promote Hong Kong attractions have also increased in Shenzhen in recent weeks, with advertising videos scenic spots, popular restaurants and malls in Hong Kong playing on cross-border buses. Passengers can also get discounts to some stores and services with their tickets.
New system to enable businesses and government agencies to verify mainland-issued travel permits
The new system is expected to expand access to the public transport system on the mainland. Photo: Roy Issa
Hong Kong and Macau residents and “overseas Chinese” may soon be able to have full access to public services on the mainland using their China-issued travel documents, state news agency Xinhua reported.
Xinhua reported on Wednesday that the National Immigration Administration was putting a platform in place to enable government agencies and businesses to verify mainland-issued travel permits for Hong Kong and Macau residents.
“As soon as the platform becomes operational, these overseas travellers can, from October, have access to 35 public services, ranging from transport, to finance, education, communications, medical care and accommodation,” the report said.
According to the report, “overseas travellers” cover Hong Kong and Macau residents and ethnic Chinese living overseas.
But it did not say why the new measures did not apply to people from Taiwan.
The administration did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
Will Hong Kong anti-government protests ruin city’s role in Beijing’s Greater Bay Area plan? Depends on whom you ask
The new measure appears to be part of a long-term strategy by Beijing to foster closer ties between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macau.
In the last few years, the central government has launched a host of incentives for Hong Kong and Macau residents and businesses, including opportunities in the Greater Bay Area development plan in southern China.
Ivan Zhai, executive director of the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce in China-Guangdong, welcomed the new measure.
“If such an arrangement can be fully implemented, Hong Kong businesspeople who operate on the mainland will be thrilled,” Zhai said.
The Hong Kong business community has long lobbied for relaxation over areas such as train ticketing and hotel registration.
Zhai said that although Hong Kong and Macau residents could now book high-speed train tickets with their mainland-issued travel permits, there were few ticket machines that could automatically read the permits, complicating the process.
“There are also hotels on the mainland that can only entertain guests with Chinese identity cards and currently Hong Kong travellers can only go to hotels that are authorised to accept the mainland-issued travel permits,” he said.
China’s regulator relaxes currency conversion rules throughout Shenzhen, sharpening city’s edge in Greater Bay Area
According to the report, there will be stiff penalties for departments or businesses misusing information collected through the platform.
Zhai said Hong Kong businesspeople who travelled to the mainland often were more likely to be concerned about convenience than the risk of invasion of privacy.
“If you are a frequent traveller in China, you would have expected that the relevant departments of the Chinese government already have information about you anyway,” he said.
An increasing proportion of young people no longer willing to wait tables in China as restaurant owners look to new technology for answers
Catering robots developed by Pudu Tech, the three-year-old Shenzhen start-up, have been adopted by thousands of restaurants in China, as well as some foreign countries including Singapore, Korea, and Germany. Photo: Handout
Two years ago, Bao Xiangyi quit school and worked as a waiter in a restaurant for half a year to support himself, and the 19 year-old remembers the time vividly.
“It was crazy working in some Chinese restaurants. My WeChat steps number sometimes hit 20,000 in a day [just by delivering meals in the restaurant],” said Bao.
The WeChat steps fitness tracking function gauges how many steps you literally take and 20,000 steps per day can be compared with a whole day of outdoor activity, ranking you very high in a typical friends circle.
Bao, now a university student in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, quit the waiter job and went back to school.
“I couldn’t accept that for 365 days a year every day would be the same,” said Bao.
“Those days were filled with complete darkness and I felt like my whole life would be spent as an inferior and insignificant waiter.”
Olivia Niu, a 23-year-old Hong Kong resident, quit her waiter job on the first day. “It was too busy during peak meal times. I was so hungry myself but I needed to pack meals for customers,” said Niu.
Being a waiter has never been a top career choice but it remains a big source of employment in China. Yang Chunyan, a waitress at the Lanlifang Hotel in Wenzhou in southeastern China, has two children and says she chose the job because she needs to make a living.
Catering robots developed by Pudu Tech, the three-year-old Shenzhen start-up. Photo: Handout
Today’s young generation have their sights on other areas though. Of those born after 2000, 24.5 per cent want careers related to literature and art. This is followed by education and the IT industry in second and third place, according to a recent report by Tencent QQ and China Youth Daily.
Help may now be at hand though for restaurants struggling to find qualified table staff who are able to withstand the daily stress of juggling hundreds of orders of food. The answer comes in the form of robots.
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Shenzhen Pudu Technology, a three-year-old Shenzhen start-up, is among the tech companies offering catering robots to thousands of restaurant owners who are scrambling to try to plug a labour shortfall with new tech such as machines, artificial intelligence and online ordering systems. It has deployed robots in China, Singapore, Korea and Germany.
With Pudu’s robot, kitchen staff can put meals on the robot, enter the table number, and the robot will deliver it to the consumer. While an average human waiter can deliver 200 meals per day – the robots can manage 300 to 400 orders.
“Nearly every restaurant owner [in China] says it’s hard to recruit people to [work as a waiter],” Zhang Tao, the founder and CEO of Pudu tech said in an interview this week. “China’s food market is huge and delivering meals is a process with high demand and frequency.”
Pudu’s robots can be used for ten years and cost between 40,000 yuan (US$5,650) and 50,000 yuan. That’s less than the average yearly salary of restaurant and hotel workers in China’s southern Guangdong province, which is roughly 60,000 yuan, according to a report co-authored by the South China Market of Human Resources and other organisations.
As such, it is no surprise that more restaurants want to use catering robots.
According to research firm Verified Market Research, the global robotics services market was valued at US$11.62 billion in 2018 and is projected to reach US$35.67 billion by 2026.
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China’s labour force advantage has also shrank in recent years. The working-age population, people between 16 and 59 years’ old, has reduced by 40 million since 2012 to 897 million, accounting for 64 per cent of China’s roughly 1.4 billion people in 2018, according to the national bureau of statistics.
By comparison, those of working age accounted for 69 per cent of the total population in 2012.
Other Chinese robotic companies are also entering the market. SIASUN Robot & Automation Co, a hi-tech listed enterprise belonging to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced their catering robots to China’s restaurants in 2017. Delivery robots developed by Shanghai-based Keenon Robotics Co., founded in 2010, are serving people in China and overseas markets such as the US, Italy and Spain.
Pudu projects it will turn a profit this year and it is in talks with venture capital firms to raise a new round of funding, which will be announced as early as October, according to Zhang. Last year it raised 50 million yuan in a round led by Shenzhen-based QC capital.
To be sure, the service industry is still the biggest employer in China, with 359 million workers and accounting for 46.3 per cent of a working population of 776 million people in 2018, according to the national bureau of statistics.
And new technology sometimes offers up new problems – in this case, service with a smile.
“When we go out for dinner, what we want is service. It is not as simple as just delivering meals,” said Wong Kam-Fai, a professor in engineering at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a national expert appointed by the Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence. “If they [robot makers] can add an emotional side in future, it might work better.”
Technology companies also face some practical issues like unusual restaurant layouts.
“Having a [catering robot] traffic jam on the way to the kitchen is normal. Some passageways are very narrow with many zigzags,” Zhang said. “But this can be improved in future with more standardised layouts.”
Multi-floor restaurants can also be a problem.
Dai Qi, a sales manager at the Lanlifang Hotel, said it is impossible for her restaurant to adopt the robot. “Our kitchen is on the third floor, and we have boxes on the second, third, and fourth floor. So the robots can’t work [to deliver meals tdownstairs/upstairs],” Dai said.
But Bao says he has no plans to return to being a waiter, so the robots may have the edge.
“Why are human beings doing something robots can do? Let’s do something they [robots] can’t,” Bao said.
Shanghai’s authorities have doubled the free-trade zone to 240 square kilometres by including part of Lingang, a previously untapped area linked to the Yangshan deep water port
The expansion reflected the city’s renewed efforts to build a free marketplace that can rival regional business hubs such as Hong Kong and Singapore
Aerial photo taken on March 9, 2017 shows the Shanghai free trade zone (FTZ). Photo: Xinhua
Shanghai’s ambitious plan to turn Lingang into a Hong Kong-style free-trade port has yet to impress European companies due to a slow pace of enforcement with a series of liberalisations subject to Beijing’s approval.
The European Union Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai said on Tuesday that the business lobby group was expecting concrete measures to be implemented at the 119.5-square kilometre newly expanded free-trade zone (FTZ), which would whet European companies’ investment appetite, but it also vented dismay towards the slow progress.
It was advisable for the government to carry out planned reforms sooner to convince foreign investors of the golden opportunities inside the zone, said Carlo Diego D’Andrea, the chamber’s Shanghai chairman, who is also vice-president of the EU business chamber in China.
“After so many years [of waiting], we would like to see reform happen soon, not just the talks,” he said in an interview with South China Morning Post.
Shanghai doubled the size of the free-trade zone last month to about 240 sq km by including part of Lingang, a previously untapped area that is linked to the Yangshan deep water port.
The expansion reflected the city’s renewed efforts to build a free marketplace that can rival regional business hubs such as Hong Kong and Singapore.
Shanghai plans to impose zero tariffs on imported goods inside the Lingang FTZ, but the reform measures cannot be implemented unless the General Administration of Customs gives a green light.
Shanghai’s city government had proposed a series of incentives aimed at building Lingang into a world-class investment magnet, the free-trade zone’s deputy director Wu Wei said at a Friday press conference, without elaborating on when the policies might be endorsed by the relevant ministry-level authorities.
Professor Zhou Zhenhua, president of Shanghai Academy of Global Cities, said the central government was still cautious of taking drastic steps in quickly liberalising the Lingang FTZ amid worries of rampant capital and cargo flows.
US bestselling electric vehicle maker Tesla has built its Gigafactory 3 at the Lingang FTZ after it secured an approval from Beijing to establish a wholly owned assembly plant late last year.
The approval for the first wholly-owned foreign car factory on mainland China coincided with a sales drop in the country’s automobile market, the first contraction in nearly three decades.
“Why could not you have opened the market before when the market was booming,” said D’Andrea.
He said that the timing of scrapping the foreign ownership cap amid the first negative growth of the domestic car market in three decades was not enough to show Beijing’s determinations in drawing overseas funds.
Beijing has been harping on its resolution in further opening up the markets to foreign businesses as a way of amid the US-China trade war that began in 2018.
GUANGZHOU, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) — After exploring registering a company in Shenzhen and Zhuhai in 2013 and 2015, ChiMan Chan, a Hong Kong entrepreneur, finally made the plunge and launched a business on the Chinese mainland in 2017 when he came across the Tianhe District Service Center for Hong Kong and Macao Youth Entrepreneurship.
The service center, a non-profit organization which acts as an incubator for emerging enterprises, is located in the heart of Guangzhou’s bustling CBD, Zhujiang New Town.
Since it was established in 2017, the center has embraced more than 2,200 young entrepreneurs from the two Special Administrative Regions, and 45 Hong Kong and Macao enterprises have settled down at the center.
Thanks to the assistance from the center, Chan is now the founder and chief executive officer of Deming ProDevelop, an engineering consultant agency with four offices scattered across the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
In Chan’s view, the service center played an instrumental role in his company’s current success. “Without the help of the service center, there is no way we could have thrived to such an extent on the Chinese mainland,” Chan said.
Establishing a business is tough in itself, but for newcomers to the mainland, the application and registration process can especially present a massive initial hurdle, according to Chan. Luckily, the service center reduced some of that pressure for him.
Chen Jingzhan, director of the center’s entrepreneurship and innovation department, said many Hong Kong and Macao entrepreneurs that have set their eyes on development on the mainland often face similar headaches.
“It’s not just a matter of investing enough time to complete the registration process. Without professional guidance, many Hong Kong and Macao newcomers to the mainland simply do not know where to start,” said Chen, adding that is where the service center comes in.
Not only does the center help entrepreneurs get started, but it also offers support as they continue to develop through free registration, entrepreneurship, policy, intellectual property rights, law, and market resource consulting services.
To enterprises that meet specific requirements, the center even provides office space for two to three people free of charge, with aims of “reducing the operational costs associated with startups, and offering more development opportunities to Hong Kong and Macao enterprises,” said Chen.
Since the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was released in February, more and more youths from Hong Kong and Macao have set their sights on Guangdong.
Ye Zhengqiao, a young entrepreneur from Hong Kong, is one of them. Drawn to the Greater Bay Area after graduating from university in the U.S., Ye now is the founder of Geometry Technology Co., Ltd., a company that has launched an online intelligent pet platform. Ye’s platform lists pet-related service providers and product sellers in a one-stop online solution for pet owners in China.
Ye said the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has given young people like him “more confidence and opportunity.” He said he believes “the rate of success in Guangdong is higher than in Hong Kong,” and that the Greater Bay Area gives young people “more room to try new things with lower capital requirements.”
The concept behind the Greater Bay Area also provided the inspiration for ChiMan Chan’s business. While working on a project related to the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the Greater Bay Area’s most iconic feat of engineering, Chan saw the potential for deepened cooperation and wanted to build a bridge of his own: a platform to connect Chinese mainland engineers and their Hong Kong, Macao and overseas counterparts.
Chen hopes more services like those on offer at the Tianhe District Service Center for Hong Kong and Macao youth entrepreneurship will be offered to young Hong Kong entrepreneurs, both in the mainland and in Hong Kong itself.
Ye Zhengqiao agrees that the mainland offers new pathways to Hong Kong and Macao youths, adding that he hopes more young people from the two SARs can latch on to the new possibilities provided by the Greater Bay Area, and “come to the mainland more often to appreciate the opportunities available.”
As well as earning three times the industry average, successful candidates are promised 165 days’ leave
Social media posts linked to story attract more than 60 million views
Authorities in Shenzhen are offering three times the national average salary to attract more teachers. Photo: Weibo
A recruitment advertisement offering schoolteachers in southern China the chance to earn up to 280,000 yuan (US$39,500) a year – more than three times the industry average – has sparked a massive response on social media.
Published by the Longhua district education bureau in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, the advert said it was looking for 400 high, middle and primary schoolteachers. As well as an annual salary of between 260,000 yuan and 280,000 yuan, depending on qualifications, the very best candidates would receive a bonus of between 30,000 and 80,000 yuan, it said.
New recruits would also be entitled to 165 days’ leave per year, though the advert – published on Tuesday on WeChat, China’s most popular messaging platform – did not make clear if that included weekends.
The Longhua district education bureau says it is looking for 400 new teachers. Photo: Weibo
The hashtag “Shenzhen middle schoolteachers are being recruited for almost 300,000 yuan a year” racked up almost 60 million views on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform.
While some people praised the authority for trying to attract the best possible candidates – it said itself that hundreds of teachers currently working in the district were graduates of China’s top universities, including Peking and Beijing Normal – others said that even with a sky-high salary most young professionals would find it hard to get by in Shenzhen.
“Do you know how expensive houses are in Shenzhen?” one person wrote on Weibo. “You need to wait several years after graduation before buying a house, unless you already have money.”
“Even if your starting salary is 200,000 yuan or 300,000 yuan, you’ll still need to wait 10 years before you’ve saved up enough to buy a house,” said another.
The advert said the new teachers will be get 165 days’ leave per year. Photo: Xinhua
The education bureau has not released any additional information about the recruitment campaign and calls to its offices on Friday went unanswered.
However, it said in a recent Q&A on its website that teachers’ salaries were in line with those of civil servants in the district, and had been steadily rising under a reform of the pay system.
Longhua is not the first district in Shenzhen to offer attractive salary packages, however. In May, 21st Century Business Herald reported that authorities in Yantian district had recruited 20 teachers from Beijing with the offer of between 290,000 yuan and 330,000 yuan a year.
According to central government figures released in May, teachers in China’s public schools earned an average of 92,383 yuan last year.
While Shenzhen has grown from a once sleepy fishing village to a vast metropolis, and is now slated to become a model city for China, its education facilities have failed to keep pace with other areas of development. It also faces competition from more established centres, like Beijing and Shanghai.
Despite having a population of about 15 million, the city has just 344 primary schools. By comparison, the provincial capital Guangzhou, which has a similar population, has 961 primary schools and about 17,000 more primary schoolteachers.
According to official figures, of the nearly 80,000 students who applied for places at public secondary schools in Shenzhen last year, just 35,000 were accepted. That left the parents of the remainder having no option but to pay for places at private schools in the city or, in some cases, send their children overseas to study.
The problem is set to get worse as Shenzhen’s preschool system is already straining under the pressure of the city’s high birth rate.
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 