Chengdu earned recognition as one of the 15 best global emerging cities, according to Fortune magazine.

Zhou Zhanhong, acting editor in chief of Fortune (Chinese version), explained his support for the city. Zhou said, “many talented professionals work in Chengdu, since the city maintains many excellent universities..”

Chengdu Gynasium Center by Yan Yongcong

By building the Tianfu New District, the city could lure talented individuals to the region.

Favored by global companies

“Chengdu has the most universities and colleges in Southwest China,” said Chris, director of Maersk Information Processing (Chengdu) Co Ltd.

“In the course of recruiting staff members, we noticed that Sichuan local graduates are equally competitive with college graduates from the coastal areas of the nation. They are devoted to team work in their training programs.”

Universities gather

Chengdu has 49 colleges and universities, including Sichuan University, Chengdu University of Electronic Science and Technology and Southwest Jiaotong University.

The nightview of Binjiang road in Chengdu by Wangqin

Chengdu University of Electronic Science and Technologyhas graduated over 1,000 IT talents that were hired at IT, high-tech companies and research institutes in the Silicon Valley in California.

Chengdu host 152 key labs including 10 state-sponsored labs, as well as120 engineering technology research centers, including nine national level centers,and 33 technology company incubators.

By 2010, Chengdu had pooled over 2.26 million talents along with 35 academics from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering. Chengdu has developed into a powerful city in terms of its technology strength in southwest China as well as a gathering place for talented people in the western region.

Talent and loyalty

“Many top 500 companies in the world think highly of the living environment of Chengdu as a city that knows how to retain the loyalty of its highly-skilled workers,” said Chen Fu, deputy director of the municipal investment promotion committee.

Chengdu Tianfu Square by Cao Hongyu

On April 13, 2011, Kelly Services, a global leading human resources company, and three Chinese professional agencies released the Kelly Services Global Employee Index Research Report, which indicated that Chengdu, Beijing and Shanghai are the top three cities in China to retain talents.

Preferential policies

The Chengdu municipal government promulgated an interim measure to encourage companies to hire talented professionals as early as 2007.

The city has implemented the Measures of Chengdu to Attract High-level Innovation Talents, which was issued on June 13, 2011. High-level innovation talents that were selected will be offered a one million yuan grant.

Local officials have set up a high-level innovation talent special fund that amounts to 120 million yuan, which was earmarked by the municipal government this year.