This Day, That Year

40 years on

An item from Nov 21, 1984, in China Daily showed Werner Gerich answering questions from engineers at a plant in Wuhan, Hubei province.

The retired engineer from Germany, who became the first foreigner to run a Stateowned enterprise in China, the Wuhan Diesel Engine Plant, helped the plant increase production. He was granted all the powers of a Editor’s note: This year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up policy. Chinese director, including the right to hire and transfer employees.

Since Gerich’s successful work in China in the 1980s, thousands of expats have chosen to work in China.

To honor his commitment, a memorial statue was erected in Wuhan on April 17, 2005, to mark the second anniversary of his death.

To attract more foreign talent to China and to help them live and work, authorities have adopted a more open and inclusive policy for foreign experts in recent years.

The application process for Chinese permanent residence permits, or “green cards”, has been streamlined, and talented foreign workers are encouraged to apply for national research programs.

Since November 2016, a trial program to combine the country’s two foreign work permits into one was launched in Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin as well as in Hebei, Anhui, Shandong, Guangdong and Sichuan provinces and the Ningxia Hui autonomous region.

Besides policy support, local governments have been offering greater financial incentives to lure talent.

The human resources and social security bureau in Chengdu, Sichuan, announced measures in September last year that allow leading foreign teams and individuals, including Nobel laureates, to be eligible to receive 100 million yuan ($14.4 million) in government funding if they start an innovative or entrepreneurial project in the city.