Youth urged to bring talents to the countryside

In 2021, the State Council, China's Cabinet, released a guideline requiring governments at all levels to develop more talent that will help boost the nation's rural vitalization efforts. The guideline has set a target of creating a high-quality talent pool focused on rural development by 2025.

The guideline stressed the importance of vocational skills education and encouraged vocational schools to cultivate technical or skilled talent urgently needed for rural development. It also urged demobilized military workers, people who have been laid off, migrant workers, farmers and women living in the countryside to apply to vocational schools to learn skills.

In addition, the nation has set up a national skills competition system in recent years, emulating the standards of the WorldSkills Competition, which is essentially the Olympics for skilled workers around the globe. Students and skilled workers can showcase their talent at different skills competitions under the national system, potentially earning good social reputations and better pay if they perform well, the human resources ministry said.