SND grows appeal to global talent

In today's Shushan village in Suzhou New District, East China's Jiangsu province, rural homestay and boutique stores mingle with green trees and mountains, creating a vibrant and inspiring scene.

At Leisurely North Mountain, a local homestay decorated with lovely plants and flowers, owner Zhu Yaqin is busy greeting and preparing food for customers.

"I've been running this homestay for eight years," Zhu said. "As a Shushan native, I never imagined I would one day return to my hometown and start my own business."

Zhu recalled that Shushan was a well-known but poor mountain village when she was a child. Villagers made a living by mining stone and used the remaining ore to pave a gravel road – the only road to the outside world.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, villagers have gradually realized that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets and begun restoring the mountain.

Zhu and her husband came up with the idea to return to Shushan for business in 2014, when they renovated their two-story family house and saw their businesses prospering and expanding.

"Come to Shushan for pear blossoms in March, waxberries in June and Cuiguan pears in July. Our village is growing its appeal to visitors, and villagers are getting richer and richer," Zhu said.

In addition to retaining local residents, SND is becoming popular among high-end talent and foreign enterprises.

Statistics show that the district is currently home to over 1,800 foreign enterprises, 686 of which have Japanese investors. Thirty-nine global top 500 enterprises have invested in 62 projects in the district.

For example, Siemens, a world-leading manufacturer which has been operating in SND for decades, opened a new electrical product headquarters in the district for its business in China and East Asia on Oct 1. The headquarters marked the first of its kind in Suzhou targeting the East Asia market.

"Suzhou is located in the Yangtze River Delta region and the local government has provided us with supply chains, human resources, and high-quality services," said Markus Grabmeier, global executive vice-president of Siemens Electrical Products.

Grabmeier said that Siemens will further strengthen its cooperation with SND to develop a complete industrial chain integrating business expansion, product management, digital innovation, research and development, and manufacturing.

In order to enhance high-end professionals' sense of belonging, SND is putting more emphasis on talent apartments and plans to create 20,000 such accommodations by 2024.

SND is currently home to 28 listed enterprises, 14 national specialized enterprises that produce cutting-edge products, also nicknamed "little giants", 33 unicorn and unicorn-to-be enterprises, 297 gazelle enterprises, and over 130 national high-tech enterprises.

By the end of 2021, SND had attracted 293,000 talents of all kinds, including 41,000 high-end talents and more than 2,100 leading talents. Its main talent indicators ranked first among districts and county-level cities of Suzhou.