Chengdu offers big money to lure talent

Top-notch foreign teams and individuals, including Nobel Prize laureates, will each be eligible to receive 100 million yuan ($15 million) in government funding if they start an innovative or entrepreneurial project in Chengdu, Sichuan province.

It is one of six measures adopted to woo high-end foreign talent, the city's human resources and social security bureau said on Wednesday.

To make it easier for foreigners to work in Chengdu, the city government has said it will simplify its procedure for issuing work permits.

There will be no limitation on age, educational background or work experience, while a work permit in Chengdu can be valid for up to five years.

High-end foreign personnel and foreigners involved in innovation, including scientists and entrepreneurs, are badly needed to aid China's economic and social development.

Employers in pillar industries, or in industries that are predicted to become important, will relax rules on age, educational background and work experience for foreign professional managers and technical personnel.

To encourage companies to bring in foreign talent, Chengdu will pay 50 percent of the service fee paid to a headhunter for finding talent overseas. But the amount of money paid for recruiting by the city should not exceed 100,000 yuan, the bureau said.

Chengdu has stressed the introduction of both domestic and foreign talent. In July, the city implemented a policy permitting all graduates of four-year institutions of higher learning from different parts of China to apply for residence permits and become citizens even if they have no jobs in the city.

The policy has lured talent, but it has also been a factor in the rising price of residential real estate, said Yi Chao, a white-collar worker in the media industry.

Good apartments were selling for about 13,000 yuan per square meter this time last year, yet prices have skyrocketed to 25,000 yuan, he said.