Premier Li Keqiang visited two companies of much different sizes within one hour, during his inspection trip to Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan province.

One company was Changhong Group, a 63-year-old large multinational, and the other was a start-up established within the last two years. The two have nothing in common in terms of their size and when they were founded, but they both have attracted remarkable talents nationwide with their development vitality.

Hearing of Chengdu's policies to attract talents, Premier Li praised Chengdu as an energetic city, and urged it to provide easier access and more development opportunities for talents to build a talent-pooling highland.

Talents gather to pursue entrepreneurship and innovation

"You are farsighted to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation among employees of the group, which now turns out to be right," Premier Li told the person in charge of Changhong Group.

According to the person in charge, in recent years, businesses pioneered by the employees' innovative efforts achieved revenue of 18.3 billion yuan ($2.82 billion), with a net profit of 660 million yuan, and added over 7,000 jobs.

Seeing some employees brainstorming in the office, the Premier asked about achievements they had made, before concluding that Changhong not only motivates its own employees, but also cooperates with external enterprises focusing on entrepreneurship and innovation to create larger development spaces.

"As the saying goes, 'a mountain makes its greatness for never overlooking even a grain of soil'. Joint efforts from everyone involved in mass entrepreneurship and innovation have helped Changhong keep its permanent vitality," the Premier said.

During the inspection, he particularly asked employees where they come from and how many of them are not Chengdu locals. With more than half of the employees raising their hands, Premier Li said gathered talents indicate the great attraction of this place.

Perseverance and down-to-earth attitude encouraged

The Premier was told that Chengdu has been deepening reform to streamline administration, delegate power, improve regulation and upgrade services, optimize the business environment, and promote mass entrepreneurship and innovation.

Several plans to attract talents also were launched in the city. Since 2017, Chengdu has attracted more than 476,000 young talents to settle down, with 78.9 percent of them under the age of 30.

In 2020, Chengdu ranked fourth in talent quantity in China and was 47th in the top 100 science and technology clusters of the Global Innovation Index 2020. It also won the Award of Most Attractive Organizations to Talents 2020.

Premier Li also inspected another startup company, where he met some young employees who are from other provinces and cities outside Chengdu.

The person in charge said the company has grown from a small startup team to a company with more than 800 employees in less than two years. Twenty percent of the employees have master's degrees and half of them are not from Chengdu.

The Premier then met dozens of entrepreneurs, most of whom are not from Chengdu. They are engaged in a variety of industries, including pharmaceuticals, earthquake early warning, and drones.

Noting competitiveness and difficulties in the above industries, the Premier encouraged the entrepreneurs to make solid efforts and pursue innovation.

"There is no end to scientific exploration. I hope you can stay persistent and lay a solid foundation. One can only seek improvement in stability," the Premier said.

Energetic Chengdu appeals to young talents

During the inspection, Premier Li asked young entrepreneurs about what help from the government they would need.

He said the government will make further efforts to streamline administration, delegate powers and improve regulation and services.

With administration streamlined and powers delegated to lower levels, market vitality and social creativity will be unleashed to provide the country with more potential, resilience and broad prospects in development, the Premier said.

Improved regulations are needed to allow enterprises to compete fair and square in accordance with market rules.

Better services aim for more convenience to help more market entities develop and further tap talents' potential.

Premier Li asked about staff members' birth places. Outside the R&D center of Changhong, he requested locally-born staffers to raise their hands. Only two people out of hundreds raised their hands.

"That means Chengdu is very attractive to non-local talents," the Premier said. Talents, especially the young ones, are willing to work and start businesses in regions full of vigor.

Premier Li also expressed the hope that those pursuing their dreams can enjoy their life and work in Chengdu.