Reporter's log: Advanced tech draws foreign talents to Suzhou

Suzhou in East China's Jiangsu province has been listed in the 10 most attractive Chinese cities for expats, according to the latest rankings released by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. This was the eighth consecutive year that Suzhou has won this honor.

The latest statistics show that there are 13,000 foreign talents working in Suzhou, accounting for 50 percent of the province's total. Among them, the number of high-caliber talents accounts for 63 percent of the province's total, far surpassing Wuxi and Nanjing with 14 percent and 7 percent.

Actually, I was amazed by these statistics. As a resident of Wuxi, which is only a 20-minute high-speed train ride from Suzhou, I have never heard that Suzhou is such an importer of expats.

As we all know, Suzhou is a modern city famous for graceful gardens which were listed as UNESCO heritage sites as early as 1997. Wondering whether the traditional culture drew so many expats to Suzhou, I joined an interview delegation organized by the Suzhou Science and Technology Department and the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs from May 28 to 31.

During the four-day event, we visited dozens of companies, institutes and schools scattered around Suzhou new district, China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park, Kunshan county and Wujiang district, areas where most foreign talents live and work. These companies and institutes mainly cover the fields of education, trade, science and research, and information and technology.

They include Suzhou Raycan Technology Co, Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (SIBET), Overseas Chinese Academy of Chiway Suzhou, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Duke Kunshan University, Suzhou Symphony Orchestra, and Sany Heavy Industry Co.

We met and spoke with foreign talents and overseas Chinese working in these companies and institutes. By the way, most foreign talents in Suzhou are from developed countries, including Japan, South Korea, the United States and Germany.