Shanghai will offer 10,000 positions in technology and
management for Chinese professionals and students returning
from overseas in the next two or three years in an effort to
further improve its human resources base, city officials
announced yesterday at a press conference broadcast live in
Washington, Tokyo, London and Paris.
Wang Anshun, deputy secretary of the Shanghai Municipal
Committee of the Communist Party of China, said about 1,000
positions were available for returned professionals as the
first step of the program covering public administration,
urban development, automobile manufacture, biological
medicine, information technology, education and public
health.
Information about the first 1,000 positions at 350 local
companies in 30 industrial sectors was released on a series of
government Websites yesterday.
Returned professionals could work for six months to three
years, after which they could decide whether or not to
stay.
Government departments promised a series of preferential
policies, including residency registration, license
applications, customs procedures, legal consultations, welfare
payments and others, said Jiao Yang, spokeswoman for the
Shanghai government.
The city will help them find a job for their spouse as well
as providing their children with an education at either a
local school or one of the city's international schools.
Salaries will be negotiated directly with the companies
involved in the program, but all successful applicants will be
provided with the same welfare policies - such as health care
- as local workers, Jiao said.
"As returned professionals play an increasingly important
role in the city's development, Shanghai sincerely welcomes
more of them to return and work for a bright prospect for both
the city and themselves," said Wang.
Currently, some 32,000 overseas professionals have returned
to the city to work since a boom in overseas study began
following the reform and opening-up drive launched in 1979.
Nearly half of Shanghai's 146 national academicians have
studied overseas.
Chinese now working and studying abroad, who took part in
yesterday's press conference, raised questions about their
career prospects in Shanghai and requested detailed
information about policies concerning their children's
education if they come back.
Information about the program will be published and updated
on several Websites, including (sh.gov.cn), (21cnhr.com),
(eastday.com), and (edu.cn).
