Shanghai's Qingpu district held its 2026 Spring Festival reception on Feb 7, honoring outstanding groups, individuals, and enterprises that made significant contributions to regional development over the past year.

A series of awards were presented, including the 2025 Qingpu district outstanding contribution award, the Qingpu district government quality award, and the Qingpu district award for talent teams advancing high-quality industrial development.

The event highlighted Qingpu's growing appeal to talent and its efforts to build an influential hub for investment, entrepreneurship, and talent development.

Qingpu recorded strong economic and talent growth in 2025. Its regional GDP grew by 7.3 percent, while the total number of qualified professionals reached 236,400, up 8.29 percent year-on-year.

New talent residency registrations increased by 17.1 percent, and registrations by returned overseas students grew by 14 percent, the highest growth rate citywide.

Focusing on its dedicated industrial system, the district is building industrial clusters in high-end sectors such as next-generation information technology, modern logistics, and high-end equipment manufacturing.

Leading enterprises such as Huawei, Midea, NetEase, and Anta have established a presence in the district, enhancing its appeal to global talent. Over the past two years, Qingpu has attracted more than 33,000 young professionals in science and innovation, while key enterprises plan to recruit nearly 10,000 more in 2026 alone.

Qingpu is also deepening collaboration among universities, local government, and enterprises, forming partnerships with leading universities such as Fudan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Through jointly establishing laboratories and innovation schools, the district is strengthening the integration of industry, academia, and research, while improving alignment between industrial demand and talent supply.

To retain talent, Qingpu is focusing on returnees, entrepreneurs, and university graduates. To optimize the entrepreneurial ecosystem, it has established entrepreneurship parks offering free office space and business development services.

In terms of financial support, the district plans to launch an angel investment fund and improve mechanisms combining grants and investments, as well as investment-loan linkage models, to better support seed-stage and start-up projects. One highlight is targeted support for micro-entrepreneurial teams, including one-person companies, to further strengthen the startup ecosystem.

To facilitate talent settlement, Qingpu continues to help reduce living costs for talent. Talent apartments have been developed along subway lines and in well-connected areas, including Xicen Apartments and Zhuxi Garden Apartments. The district is building international, sci-tech innovation, and youth-oriented talent communities, which have already accommodated more than 10,000 residents. Preferential housing purchase policies for such talents are also being implemented.

The district has established youth talent stations that provide job seekers with free transitional accommodation for up to three days per stay and no more than 15 days per year. It has also launched rental incentive programs such as apartments with monthly rents of 1,000 yuan ($145) and 100 yuan, while further enhancing education and medical resources.

During the Spring Festival period, Qingpu will host themed events, inviting local students studying at universities elsewhere to return for forums and non-local university students to visit the district. Reunion dinners will be organized for employees of local enterprises staying in Shanghai for the holiday to enhance their sense of belonging.

Looking ahead, Qingpu will focus on establishing itself as a science and innovation hub in the Yangtze River Delta, attracting more global talent and enabling them to fully realize their potential.

Source: Official WeChat account of Shanghai Qingpu District Talent Development Service Center (ID: "shqprcw")