Encouraged by Xi, local governments, many return to rural areas to find jobs
Medical professionals conduct health checkups for rural residents and provide them with treatment and medicines in Miaoqian village, Changning, Hunan province, on Thursday. (PHOTO / XINHUA)
After graduating from Guangxi Medical University in June, Tang Shixiong went back to his hometown in Bobai county of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region to work as a doctor at the county hospital.
While most of his classmates have chosen to work at bigger hospitals in cities or continue to pursue further studies, the 24-year-old doesn't regret his decision. In fact, the Bobai County People's Hospital is the only place he applied for work.
My Chinese teacher in primary school and physics teacher in middle school had bachelor’s degrees and chose to teach in mountainous regions, and so I want to follow their example.
Ma Yiqing, graduate of Zhejiang Normal University who chose to work on an outlying island in the province
He started working as an intern at the hospital on July 18, and said that he is already learning from doctors in different departments.
Tang is one of many university graduates choosing to work in remote regions.
Earlier this year, students at China Agricultural University wrote a letter to President Xi Jinping, stating that they developed close ties with people only when they worked in China's rural areas. In his reply letter to the students in May, Xi praised their efforts and said that young people must seek personal development from hardships.
In 2020, in a reply to a letter from 118 graduates studying at China University of Petroleum-Beijing in Karamay, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Xi expressed his support after learning that the graduates were taking grassroots jobs in Xinjiang and wanted to work with people of different ethnic groups to boost the development of the country's western region.
Xi urged the graduates to aim high, be down-to-earth, brave difficulties and obstacles, shoulder the mission of the times, integrate the pursuit of their ideals into the cause of the Party and the country, and contribute more to development.
To encourage college graduates to work at the grassroots level, the general office of the State Council issued a notice in April asking for recruitment quotas for grassroots positions to remain stable this year.
The notice also required a special program to be launched to hire college graduates to work as village doctors.
Local authorities have also issued favorable policies. Guizhou province has allowed professionals who have worked at the grassroots level for a long time or have made significant contributions to obtain work promotions more quickly.
In Yunnan, college graduates who work at government institutions in villages and townships are offered 500 yuan ($70) of extra subsidies each month, while those working in remote and less-developed counties are offered extra monthly subsidies of 150 to 2,320 yuan.
Tang said that although he graduated from the best medical school in Guangxi, he does not consider working at a county hospital to be a waste of his talent.
"As a medical student, I want to become a doctor, and no matter which hospital I work at, I can serve the people by saving more patients," he said.
Working at a hospital in his hometown also gives him the chance to live close to his parents, both of whom have cancer.
Ma Yiqing, 22, has chosen to work as a computer science teacher in Daishan county, an outlying island in Zhejiang province's Zhoushan.
She graduated from Zhejiang Normal University this year, majoring in computer science. Becoming a teacher has long been her ideal profession.
"When I was little, my hometown also had weak education resources, and most of the teachers at the primary school only had a secondary school education," she said. "However, my Chinese teacher in primary school and physics teacher in middle school had bachelor's degrees and chose to teach in mountainous regions, and so I want to follow their example."
