Hangzhou wins hearts of overseas talents with friendly policies

By Li Huiru Photo by Li Yiwen

Mohamad Sawan, an internationally renowned scientist in the field of smart medical devices, joined the School of Engineering of Westlake University in Hangzhou in January 2019.

In recent years, Hangzhou has rolled out several generous policies to lure and retain skilled workers and degree holders, helping the city’s appeal to overseas talents grow.

“Working in Hangzhou, the one thing impressed me most was the local government officials who often visit us and offer us timely support,” gushed Joe Buetzler from Germany during an interview.

Buetzler is now the CFO of the Fortune Global 500 Linde plc Linde Engineering Asia Pacific Regional Headquarters, and has lived in Hangzhou for seven years. He said that the support provided by Hangzhou’s local government was one of the key lures in deciding to base the company's regional headquarters in the city.

Linde is a leading global industrial gas and engineering company with 2019 sales of $28 billion. It was also the first Fortune Global 500 company to settle its Asia Paci fic regional headquarters in Hangzhou.

Hangzhou’s municipal government has been very supportive of Linde, providing help whenever the company encounters problems and coordinating with relevant parties to address its needs.

Buetzler received his Chinese “green card” (Foreign Permanent Resident ID Card) last year. He is happy about the security that it gives him.

“After staying in China for 13 years, I now feel more at home.With the ‘green card,’ I’m now a Hangzhounese. The card is helpful in many aspects of my life, including travel, checking into hotels, schooling, and many other things,” explained Buetzler.

Buetzler is not the only overseas talent in Hangzhou to have that feeling. On a list of the top 10 most attractive Chinese cities for expats in 2019 announced in November 2020, Hangzhou was ranked fourth, and is one of only four cities on the list to place for 10 con-secutive years since the survey was launched.

Mohamad Sawan, an internationally renowned scientist in the field of smart medical devices, joined the School of Engineering of Westlake University in Hangzhou in January 2019. He said Hangzhou is a fantastic city to live and work and that he too received great support from the Hangzhou government.

In recent years, Hangzhou has rolled out several generous policies to lure and retain skilled workers and degree holders. As such, the city has shown a growing appeal to overseas talents.

According to Lyu Min, head of the International Affairs Of fice at Westlake University, the university has seen rapid development even in the short two years since its founding thanks to its international talent pool. He added that the science and technology bureaus of Hangzhou’s municipal government and Westlake district have played a big role in that growth.

“The two-level science and technology bureaus have given us policy incentives and concrete measures to attract talents. The COVID-19 epidemic has caused much inconvenience to our work. However, their thoughtful arrangements have made our work of recruiting foreign talents and project funding much easier,” Lyu said.