How does China hope to attract tech talent?

Lauren Goode: What is an example of this?

Louise Matsakis: So, for example, there were some Chinese influencers who were spreading conspiracy theories that Indians were planning to use the visa to migrate to China en masse.

Lauren Goode: Interesting. You’ve been covering China’s business and workforce for years. Was this backlash surprising to you?

Zi Yang: I would say yes, but also no. The refusal is because I know that China has never been a country of immigrants, so the idea of ​​bringing a lot of foreign talent into the country, and giving them some kind of preferential treatment over others, will definitely cause some kind of anger among the population. This part I’m sure. The thing is, I feel that after China has been trying to open up to the world for several decades at this point, I would expect there to be more patience from the Chinese people because China also wants to be a leader in AI in this era. Currently, the only model they can look after is the United States, which has been relying on a large number of immigrant talent to build its AI industry. So, I was thinking maybe this kind of political orientation would push them past the hurdles of xenophobia that we’re seeing, but unfortunately, the situation that seems to have happened is that it can’t happen.

Lauren Goode: So there are some cultural challenges to this. I mean, what do you think are some of the other challenges that China is going to face as it tries to roll out this K visa and attract foreign talent?

Louise Matsakis: I mean, I think the main thing is that China, as Ziyi said, is not at all a country of immigrants. In 2020, foreigners made up only about 0.1% of the mainland population, according to one estimate. It is also worth noting that this estimate includes people from Taiwan, Macau, and Hong Kong. These are places that are culturally very similar to China. So, the number of people coming from Africa, North America, or Europe is surprisingly small compared to the population size of China. In the United States, about 15% of the people living in this country are immigrants. This is a big difference. So, I think it may be difficult for newcomers to adapt. It’s a difficult language. There is a completely different ecosystem of apps and software that you have to use. I remember the first time I went on a business trip to China, I needed to get a receipt for my expenses, and I thought to myself, “Can you email me a PDF copy of my receipt?” The people at the hotel looked at me like I was crazy. And they were like, “We’ll send it via WeChat.” And I was like, “Oh.” There’s a lot of little things like that that are really different, whereas over the last few decades, American culture and American technology companies have been so ubiquitous in the rest of the world, someone who comes to the United States from India or from Europe, they’re probably using the same email platforms, the same social media networks. And a lot of the business standards are the same, right? Of course, there are still cultural differences. If these people feel homesick, they can find an immigrant community wherever they are. They can find food that reminds them of home. This is not necessarily the case in China. And so, I think the idea of ​​a city like Shanghai or Beijing becoming a truly global center that represents a mixture of different cultures is something that I think is really out of reach as of now. I think this could happen, and I think it is likely to happen as global power shifts away from the United States. I think in this age where we don’t make a lot of good choices, and we don’t make a lot of friends around the world, it’s certainly possible, but China is just starting from a really different place than a city like San Francisco.