The Greater Bay Area vs. The Yangtze River delta, which one is appealing to you?
Established in 1978, "One country, two systems" becomes the institutional principle applied to solve Hongkong, Macao, Taiwan problems left over by the history of the western colony. Based on that principle, "Three free trade zones, four core cities" was brought forward to stimulate the whole economic development of Guangdong province. Shenzhen was one of the core cities and rose from a fishy village to an international city in the past 30 years.
The success of pilot projects in Shenzhen and the establishment of free trade zones of Hongkong, Macao, Guangzhou provides valuable experiences to China's central planning of city development.
To further spur the regionally joint growth, The central government put forward the "Chinese Great Bay Area" concept, also known as Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Great Bay Area.
Unlike New York Bay Area, San Francisco Bay Area, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is planned to link the cities of Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Zhongshan, Dongguan, Huizhou, Jiangmen, and Zhaoqing into an integrated economic and business hub, which covers two systems, three different currencies, and three free trade zones. It will be China's version of the EU system unprecedentedly.
It has been three years since Beijing announced the ambitious Great Bay Area Outline Development Plan. The development priority is moving from talents retaining to the construction of advanced labs & research platforms and uniform professional certification center, which aims to resolve the R&D ability shortage occurring in practice and support the inflow of labor resources. Talent subsidy is not the primary measure to retain the talents as the working environment and conditions are more significant in talents' views.
According to the data from last year, to retain high-end talents and talents in short supply working in Shenzhen, employees will receive a least 2300 USD living subsidy or rental allowance and enjoy a specific tax deduction on their income. Some policy analysts forecast that the grant will go tightening.
Besides the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Great Bay Area, the Yangtze River delta Special Economic Zone is deploying step by step.
On the contrary, the Yangtze River delta Special Economic Zone is a more aggressive and ambitious late-comer. It adopts a more relaxing policy. An uprising college graduate who works in Zhejiang province can enjoy a living allowance ranging from around 15700 USD to about 63150 USD, or a housing subsidy, Chen Zhong, deputy director of the Zhejiang Human resources and social security department, said at a press conference on February 17.
Additionally, college students who want to start a business can borrow around 15700 USD to 78800 USD. If the company fails, the government will compensate for the loan of less than 15700 USD and pay 80% of the loan over 15700 USD.
The policy immediately explodes the internet, and experts believe that more inflow of labor will move to Zhejiang in the short future.
In the past, people usually used the word "北上广深"(Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen) to describe the most four prosperous cities beaming with tremendous opportunities for workers. This pattern will definitely change soon as the Yangtze River delta Special Economic Zone and its Hangzhou Bay area develop, where Alibaba's origin is.
When the Yangtze River delta Special Economic Zone's rise brings more opportunities to the young generation and entrepreneurs, it also brings competition against the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Great Bay Area. However, it will be more interesting to see the strategies these two bay areas will adopt in the future to develop their own Bay models and inspire the rest of the world.