Western China, by unanimous consensus, lags far behind the rest of the nation in terms of development on nearly every level. For all its abundant natural assets and market potential, one of its most precious resources - people - is going to waste.

Lu Buxuan works in his butcher shop.

The story of Lu Buxuan has been plastered all over China's newspapers in the past few weeks. A graduate of Peking University, one of the nation's top institutions of higher learning, Lu now works as a butcher in the northwestern province of Shaanxi.

His experience is testament to the Catch-22 plaguing the country's underdeveloped western regions: provinces in the west struggle to draw talented people from elsewhere in China due to a lack of appealing opportunities, while the severe shortage of highly skilled workers means attractive opportunities are not being adequately developed. Meanwhile, under-appreciated local professionals have been leaving in droves.

As a result, governments at all levels in Western China have been competing against one another to introduce preferential policies aimed at luring more talented people since the ambitious "Go-West" campaign was launched in 1999.

Local leaders have also been working hard with numerous head-hunting missions, both at home and abroad, trying to find high-qualified personnel.

But the urgency of the government's efforts apparently pale in significance to the media attention given to Lu Buxuan's situation.

After graduating from university 14 years ago, Lu was first assigned to a State-owned enterprise in his native Chang'an County in Shaanxi.

University-graduate-turned-butcher Lu Buxuan is visited by his former classmates after his story appeared on the media.

Although he was once offered a temporary post with the local government, Lu opted to work for another regional firm, ultimately losing his job when that business went bankrupt years later.

He took a few other shortlived jobs before deciding to open his own butcher shop in 2000.

Cui Shixin, a journalist with People's Daily and one of Lu's former classmates at Peking University, said he was astonished by Lu's story.

"Does anyone believe that talent-starved Western China can afford such a waste of talent?" he asked.

"It is high time (for local governments) to improve their poor personnel management systems and create a better environment in which talented individuals can contribute fully (to society)."

Wang Zhibao, deputy director of the Office for Western Development under the State Council, said Lu's story was typical of the problems troubling talent development in China, especially in the west.

"It just goes to show that the western provinces need to stop complaining that a poor policy environment prohibits them from attracting talent from beyond the region," he told China Daily.

"They must come up with concrete steps to abandon the current practice of neglecting local talent and make the best use of their potential contribution."
Lu's case is just the tip of the ice-berg; millions of talented people are enduring similar experiences in Western China.

More than three million professionals in 10 provinces and autonomous regions in Western China are working in posts for which they are not suited, according to Professor Zhang Zhiliang, vice-president of the School of Western Development at Lanzhou University.

College students from Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, wave goodbye as they leave on a fact-finding tour of rural areas. How to foster and make the best use of local talent is a challenge to governments in the western region. [Newsphoto.com]

The professor said the huge waste of local talent in Western China contrasted sharply with local governments' vigorous attempts to introduce talent from outside the region.

"The development of Western China can only benefit from local governments giving attention to and fostering local talent rather than being preoccupied with attracting external talent," Zhang said.

He attributed the existing problem to an imbalance in the regions' talent structure and the outdated personnel management systems of local governments and enterprises.

As revealed in an earlier survey by the Ministry of Personnel, on average, 80 per cent of highly educated individuals work in cities, for government bodies and State-owned enterprises, in Western China.

By contrast, rural areas and some basic industries badly in need of an intellectual boost are suffering from a scarcity of skilled talent.

Zhang pointed out that the much-flawed personnel management systems are filled with obstacles to making the best use of local talent.

The government's antiquated approach, inherited from the planned economy, the absence of a well-established labour market encouraging the free flow of talent, and rampant nepotism are all to blame, he noted.

Economist Xu Fengxian went further, saying that the cold reception given to local professionals has partially led to a brain drain of talent to Eastern China.

Compared with their wealthy coastal counterparts, the far-flung provinces have always been at a disadvantage in their attempts to provide lucrative salaries and benefits packages, attractive housing and favourable working conditions, according to Xu.

"Given the obvious drawbacks, the western provinces will lose even more quality people if they fail to create an environment that can, at the very least, guarantee bright prospects for career development," he said.

The economist added that governments and enterprises in the region should learn how to better cater to the needs of prospective employees, especially in terms of career progression, as professional development has become just as important to today's job seekers as salary, living conditions and other considerations.

As corroborated by one of Xu's surveys, the talent flowing out of the western region has been double the inflow since the 1980s.

More than 35,000 scientists and technicians working in top posts have left for coastal cities over the past few years.

In Tianshui, a poverty-stricken city in Gansu Province, an average of 100 senior and secondary technicians left for greener pastures each year between 1990 and 1997.

During the same period, only 46 similarly qualified individuals were promoted or hired each year in their places, leaving an annual shortfall of 54.

The exodus has only exacerbated the talent shortage in Western China, which accounts for nearly 70 per cent of the country's territory but just 26 per cent of its gross domestic product.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Personnel, there are only 92 people holding technical posts at the junior-level or higher for every 10,000 labourers in the western region, less than one-tenth the ratio in Eastern China.

Professionals and senior-level talent in Western China make up 20.4 per cent and 13.6 per cent, respectively, of the country's total.

In an effort to keep local talent from leaving and to alleviate the shortage of qualified people, the central government is encouraging training programmes and the development of talent already in the western provinces.

In 2000, the Ministry of Personnel officially kicked off the "Programme for Developing Human Resources in Western China", pledging special support for talent development.

The carefully designed plan focuses on building up human resources in key industries - including energy, transport, telecommunications and water conservation - that are critical to local economic development.

The programme also includes proposed preferential policies to encourage talent from Eastern China and overseas Chinese to join the western development bid.

Under the programme's talent-support scheme, eastern provinces are required to send leading professionals to work in the western region for one to three years.

Two continuing-education centres have also been set up in Beijing and Shanghai to train up professionals currently working in the western region with the latest technical knowledge.

In 2002, the Chinese Government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) co-funded a project to foster local talent and develop the human resources market in Western China.

Under the scheme, the UNDP will put US$1 million into the talent development programme between 2002 and 2004.

The plan also covers studies on human resources development strategy, the establishment of a talent market, the introduction of overseas experts, and the training of local professionals, civil servants and personnel-management officials in West China.

Zhang Xuezhong, a former minister of personnel, said the central government hopes to bring the proportion of talented professionals within the western region's entire labour force up to the national average in 10 years.

"Speeding up human resources development in the west is not only a pressing task at present but also a long-term, strategic task," he said.

The move demonstrates that western provinces still have a long way to go before the region becomes a magnet for talent of the highest calibre.

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