Youth cities attract talent
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This summer, another massive wave of fresh graduates hits the job market. 12 million strong. But behind the numbers is a more personal yet collective question: Where do I want to build my life? From bustling metropolises to up-and-coming smaller cities,

Young people are sizing up options and cities are sizing them up right back. We explore what it means for a city to truly welcome its youth, not just with perks, but with purpose. Coming to you live from Beijing, this is Roundtable. I'm He Young. For today's program, I'm joined by Steve Hatherly and Yu Shun in the studio. First on today's show.

Like seedling ready to take root, over 12 million Chinese college graduates are leaving campus soil behind. A new chapter begins as they face a pivotal decision where to launch their careers and begin adult life. Some return home, others stay where they graduated.

But many are looking to new cities for opportunity, lifestyle and a sense of belonging. Local governments in China are pulling out all the stops to win them over, rolling out youth development initiatives, enhancing quality of life and investing in the industries of tomorrow.

these incentives lies a deeper question. How does a city become someone's dream city? And are today's efforts really aligned with what young people want most?

Let's go to you, Yushun. First, where are China's 12.22 million graduates of the class of 2025 headed? And how are cities across the country vying for their attention and commitment? Yes, graduates, right? This topic, we seem to talk about this topic almost every day.

Every year. We must. Around this time of year. 100%. And I always get excited to talk about this because I'm like living vicariously through these people who are leaving their university days behind and entering into the next big chapter of their lives. It's an exciting time. It's an...

It's an anxiety-inducing time as well. But yeah, this year in China, millions and millions and millions of people will be headed in that direction. Yeah, the numbers are, as always, remarkably high. You just mentioned that, right? More than 12 million, which is an increase of 430,000 from the previous year. And the question of where graduates go after finishing their school also becomes a hot topic around this time. And after they graduate, some will

return to their hometowns, as you mentioned, He Yang Samu, stay in the city where they studied. And others might just choose a completely different place, whether it's for just further education or just start working. And I still remember when I graduated, I was also thinking a lot about

a lot about which path I should take or which city I should stay. - So you're not from Beijing, but you studied in Beijing. - No, I didn't study. I just worked in Beijing after one year

after my graduation. Yeah and here you are and you're thriving and having a great time in the city with your job and everything else that comes with it and that's a wonderful story and well I'm originally from Beijing but I went to school in the UK and after graduation I thought well I might do another degree or do other stuff and there are some options but none of them really

panned out like I planned and I really missed home. So I came back to Beijing and knowing what a great city it is and with some international experience, I thought I'll try my luck to find a job here. And also after just being away from mom and dad for so long, coming back was like a warm and fuzzy feeling, obviously, but also...

there were job opportunities. So, yeah, like I think for every young person, these sort of balancing and weighing of different options, it's

one of the big decisions you got to make as a young adult. I think that's the exciting part is that all of these options, you know, when you go to high school, you just, you studying hard and your life is kind of set, right? You go to university if that's the path that you chose and your life is kind of set.

But then when you graduate, all of a sudden you have all of these options in front of you. And that's super exciting. But at the same time, it's really stressful. Why? Because suddenly you have all of these options in front of you. And you have choices to make. But it is that time of life. You know, I think there are certain times in life that come that are really kind of exciting little moments along your chronological path. And for 12 point, what did you say? Over 12.22 million students.

Chinese graduates, those choices will come now. And now here in China, the initiatives are to make those options as pleasant and as exciting as possible. Yes. And also taking a look at the global situation, it seems like the cities are really the magnets for young people. And what are your thoughts on

Yeah, I think a lot of us have thought about staying or settling down in cities, right? As you mentioned, He Yang, you were also thinking going back to Beijing. Well, obviously, Beijing is a big city. So many young people trying to settle down in cities and

More than half of the world's population now lives in cities and towns. And by 2030, this number is estimated to increase to about 5 billion. And that's the stats released by the United Nations Population Fund. Yeah, you've got half of the world's population under 30 years old.

and you've got everyone, not everyone, but a large majority who want to go move to cities. So let's put one and one together and do the math. If you've got all these young people and you've got all these cities and that's where they want to be, then it would be a wise thing to design cities that are places where those young people want to be. Yeah, and that is why also

So many cities are making efforts to attract youths and wanting to make young people to stay and develop in that city. So since 2016, when China's state council released a plan to help 100 million people without local hukou restrictions, and for those who are not familiar with hukou system, it is directly tied with individuals' education, retirement, and medical care needs.

issues like that. So the plan is to help people settle in these cities and many local governments have rolled out policies to attract skilled workers without these restrictions that I just mentioned. So today these

Talent programs are increasingly aligned with industry needs. And one example is Guangdong province in southern China. It launched a major initiative aiming to fill over 600,000 jobs in its first phase. And over 70% of these positions are in fast-growing sectors like semiconductors, artificial intelligence, obviously, and the low-altitude economy. We mentioned it a lot in our shows.

something like drones and urban air mobility, stuff like that. So with this non-Hukou resident plan, so this is, help me understand this a little bit more clearly if you could. So this is kind of,

Putting more options, available options on the table for people, for students who just graduated? It's more like clearing bureaucratic hurdles and also administrative hurdles for young people. And through that, they're offered, in a way, more options. And...

to sort of support what Yushun's definition has been provided for the hukou system. So in the past, let's say decades ago or a decade ago, the hukou system represented a sort of dichotomy of

access to public services such as the ones that Yushun has mentioned. Education is an example. Where can your kid go to school? Pension or pension benefits. How much

are you going to get from the state once you retire after contributing to the pension fund for more than 15 years? And another big one is health care. And the reimbursement rate is different region to region. So it boils down that

If you find a job in China, depends on the region, you are not promised equal access to these social benefits. If you're not registered in that area. Exactly. And registration, especially if you're a blow-in, then that means to acquire a hukou, especially one that's very coveted in the biggest cities in China. You often need to go through a rigorous...

point collection system, which can take up to like maybe 10 years time or something. But for the smaller cities, the upcoming cities, which have a smaller gap of these benefit treatments or entitlements, as opposed to maybe the smaller

Even smaller cities or maybe rural areas, we have seen promising change in this area, although one can always argue there could be more and faster change. But there is an easing and closing of the gap to a certain extent. But this is, yes, definitely one thing that if you are a... If you're really young, fresh out of college, 22 or maybe 25 after...

obtaining your master's degree, this might not be the first thing you're thinking about because when we're young, we feel we're bulletproof, omnipotent, and you're in top health and you can pull all-nighters not feeling anything, which I can't do anymore. Yeah.

Got to go home before 11 o'clock. No more partying for this one because I got to be on the show tomorrow. But for young people, especially maybe after they've worked for a couple of years or especially after they've started to think about, oh, maybe I'll settle down and have a family. Then education comes into mind for the second generation. And then, of course, the hukou is going to become a more popular.

prominent thing that they would have to consider. But for young graduates, I think they're quite forward thinking in a way that they're looking into this aspect of things. But non-HUCO restrictions are

rolled out as this urban settlement plan by the state council definitely shows that, well, for certain areas, the Hukou hurdle is no longer a burden or an obstacle. And then that is really great news for people who can enjoy it. More paths to opportunity.

Yes, I would think so. Yes. That's a nice summary. Yeah, after all that explanation. And Steve's like, yeah, one sentence, I can do that. Kudos to you. Yes. And why all this effort? Why are cities so eager to pull in the young? It turns out this isn't just about filling jobs. It's about energy, innovation, and keeping cities alive and evolving. What do you think about this? We used to have that kind of metaphor, too.

We're calling the children or the kids as the nation's flowers. And then young people are the little trees of the flowers because they tend to grow bigger and thrive. So the skills and the talent are very, very important for the whole development of the city, the province, and even the nation. And that is why a lot of...

especially the largest ones, will together shape the future of the planet. And that is why it's essential for cities to appeal to youth and actively find ways to unlock their potential and, you know, actively thinking about and to appeal young people to get into the city and stay in the city and eventually, you know,

develop and build a better future for the city. Yeah, and there are examples of this, right? Hangzhou is way down south, right? It's vigorously, really vigorously promoted their digital economy. So a lot of young entrepreneurs, for example, they take with them their keen market knowledge and their insights, and then they make use of new technologies, and they've made their mark in the city today.

through things that young people are really, really good at, like e-commerce or live streaming or big data. And they've introduced business models and operational concepts that help the city become a hub for digital economic development. And when you do that in your city and you have young, talented people who are really good at these types of things, then those young, talented people who are good at those types of things will go to those types of places.

Yes, indeed. And Hangzhou is such a great example that I'm sure many local governments in China have been studying. How did they make it? First of all, Hangzhou is home to Alibaba Group. And that's huge. Apparently, you just need one Alipay app to

on your phone, fire it up, and you can do everything, go anywhere, and just have a great time in Hangzhou. And in most recent years, especially, I think last year we did a special show on this, or was it earlier this year? There were these six flagship startups in the tech sector, which have really caught national attention. And DeepSeek, you know, that...

Black, dark horse in the AI world has really wowed the world and that's in Hangzhou. So Hangzhou is really showing that this is, it's almost rebranded the city into an innovation hub and definitely attracting a lot of young people.

And also we're seeing that different cities, they're trying different things to attract young talent and to keep them. And we see that concrete initiatives can bring young people, but keeping them takes something more. There's...

Well, also, that's where the concept of youth-friendly or youth-development-oriented cities comes into play. What do young people seek in their dream city?

Could you tell us more about that, Yushun? The goal of making the cities to be more friendly and conducive to the growth and development of young people while also enabling them to actively participate in the construction and development of the city. And through these measures, the government hopes to not only improve the quality of life

a life for young people, but also promote harmony and progress in society as a whole. I think we discussed before the show, right? We're talking about so many policies,

you know, a children-friendly city, youth-friendly city, elderly-friendly city. And maybe with all of these policies combined together, we are creating a whole society for all the population. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And, you know, you talk about, well, what do young people want? They want a space that makes it feel like their own. And there are international examples of this as well. And I think the

that not only making it feel like their own, but feel like they're a part of the community is a really wise thing to do as well. I found an example called the Alley Project, and this is in Detroit, Michigan. This is in the United States. Now, I don't think graffiti is an issue here in Beijing, but we'll use it as an example. The Alley Project, they've talked to and included 120 young people in workshops working with local professional artists

to produce work for local garage galleries and small studios and garden lots. And the program has been able to establish this really kind of unexpected relationship between the business stakeholders in the community and the youth of the community. And graffiti, yeah, an issue, right, in Detroit. But that can happen.

obviously have a negative impact on the youth there, on their reputation there and on the community itself. But when you have artistic programs like that in space, it gives young people kind of the legal license to show their creativity, give back to the community through their artistic talent and have a stake in what happens. And I think that's such a wise thing to do because you're not only giving those young people there a space, but

but you're also giving them an opportunity to care about where they are and where they live. That's just one example. There's plenty of others as well. Yeah, creating. I think it is kind of a...

way of creating a sense of belonging, right? And I think it's one of the most important factors of making young people stay in a city aside from their hometown. And actually, we have similar examples here in China to enrich young people's lives as well as offer startup support, right? Southwest China's Chongqing municipality has upgraded

10 innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems around universities and offering 10 000 free startup workstation and issuing more than uh 7.9 billion yuan that's about 972 million us dollars in youth targeted loans ranking among the top nationwide and this city has also established more than 120 youth development oriented parks and communities making

night schools and also youth canteens. And these initiatives cover the needs of over 4 million people, making young people's life, I think, a lot easier, you know, offering them a place to go. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yes. And also, if you look at the different factors that could contribute to a youth-friendly city, there are various indexes out there. One that caught my eye is the media outlet Banshoes Hygiene evaluates its youth power city list, and it uses five key dimensions. Listen to this. Job attractiveness, cost of living,

Convenience of daily life, policy support, and humanity appeal. And Guangzhou is top on the list. And if you're curious, Guangzhou is among the...

Southern part? Yes. And it's among the four biggest cities in China. And the population of its permanent residents stands at 18.98 million. And apparently those who voted for Guangzhou say that the daily life convenience is fantastic. That's the first thing that they say is the best. And also humanity appeal, that's second place worldwide.

what young people thought was great about this city. And number three is job attractiveness. Immediately, I'm feeling the generation gap. I thought job attractiveness should be number one. I'm not surprised because I'm suddenly reminded, you know, life convenience makes sense, but maybe the one that is confusing a little bit, number two, humanity appeal. Yeah. What does

Well, the first thing that came to my mind was conversations that we've had about what Gen Z is looking for from their work, right? It's not just a paycheck anymore. There needs to be some sort of satisfaction, personal satisfaction, feeling good about what they're doing with their work and with their career. And they don't just expect to go and work for a company and they don't care about the company's values anymore.

They care about what that company stands for now. And this says to me, if number one is a daily life convenience, sure. And then number two is humanity appeal. That's,

That kind of says the same thing to me. What is this city? What's it about? What does it stand for? Do I want to be here? Do I want to be a member of this community? The atmosphere and vibe of the city that can provide with, I think. Yeah. And that's something you immediately feel. Do local governments really understand what young people want? Or do you think they could be stuck in a 1970s mindset and in a way,

I rush to defend the local government, not like they need it, because a lot of the policymakers, they're older people and they're trying really hard to figure out what young people might want. But, well, you know what? They should be able to come up with better policy with consultancy and everything else. So tell us about the multiple demands of young people. Yeah. And that's...

I think the governments and policies are doing really good. One issue that often comes up and is frequently addressed is housing, of course, right? Especially when a young person moves to a, let's say, completely new city in search of opportunities, what they need most at the beginning is probably a stable place to live. And that is why many cities now offer services or programs to help with this.

One example is Beijing Youth Daily is reporting that Qingdao in northeast China's Shandong province announced that starting from July the 1st, 2025, the city plans to offer rent-free accommodation support to job-seeking graduates who obtained jobs.

a full-time associate degree or above within the past three years. An eligible graduate is coming to Qingdao for job hunting, can apply for up to six months of rent-free housing. I think that is quite important for people who just got into a new place and know nothing about it. And the solely important and reliable thing is the accommodation that they can get.

Yeah. And how you come to get that information or acquire that information is by asking. Right. It's the easiest way to do it. And that's what they did back in 2022. There was a study that was conducted here in China, partly by a news outlet, and it was in collaboration with Xiaohongshu.

and the Institute of Sociology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. So what they did was they asked 2,025 participants. 90% of those, by the way, were born in the 90s and 2000s. And what they found from that report was that 82% of them expressed a desire to move to a different city, and they were actively...

And with the posts analyzed on social media, the team, the researchers, were able to identify 20 key demand keywords. The top five were housing prices, transportation, high-speed rail convenience, and medical services.

So when you do those types of things and you talk about the policymakers who young often being, you know, older people, how can they stay connected? How can they know how to design cities that are attractive to young people? It's by doing that, looking at social media, analyzing data, analyzing posts, conducting surveys, asking questions,

and finding the answers and then implementing policies that reflect those answers. Absolutely. And let's go deeper into what you just mentioned, what young people want. Some of the subcategories really astounded me. Apparently, there are some personalized preferences that have emerged from the survey, and some of them are just beyond my imagination. I didn't know anybody would care about the city of fruits.

Oh, that was one of the answers? I know. I want to live in a city of fruits. Yeah, you want somewhere that's got a fantastic array of fruit selection? I understand that, sure. Yeah. Okay. Especially in summer, to be honest. All right. Okay, you get young people more than I do, obviously. And good for introverts. Okay. Okay. That would imply to me spaces like libraries, museums, museums.

Museums? Okay, okay, for introverts. Don't need to talk. Yeah, because you can just go and enjoy, you know, have a space where you can enjoy things by yourself and not have it to be a big social event. I kind of get that too. I think that also means, you know, a fully established basic infrastructure and facilities of the city. Definitely. Which means they don't need to ask more questions. Right. Yeah.

Okay, maybe that's more of hardware. And for software, is this software or in between? Rich in live houses. So they like live house music. They want to go to places to watch performances and it's not always stadiums. It's

Life house music. I get that too. I get it. I get it. We went to Tianjin a few weeks ago and there's a full street in Tianjin. It's so wonderful. And almost every place on that street has live music playing. And that street was bumping. That was awesome.

really, really busy and it was filled with young people. Okay. Form of entertainment, right? Yes, and Steve. You're not Gen Z, but you're forever young in heart. Yeah, right. Yeah, and also pet friendly is something that young people really like and even historical architecture, theaters, and exhibitions are

As a young person, and I guess the closest to a Gen Z representative we have on the show right now, Yu Xun, what do you think all of this means? This means, I think, the whole construction of the city and the environment the city could create for young people. Like you mentioned, the whole...

industry of performance is really really popular right now and can you imagine how many people would go just travel to another city to see the people that they like the celebrities they like right this is boosting consumption as well and that means that if the city can have all of these capabilities of having these things for young people and prepared for young people they probably have

that kind of advantage of attracting more young people to stay. I agree, yeah. The fate of cities and youth are deeply intertwined. As fresh graduates become innovators, consumers, parents in the future, and community builders, their choices shape the ecosystem. And it's salient and promising to see that the local community

Governments and businesses, they are responding to this influx of young people into their jurisdiction, and together shall they build a better future.