Despite the strained relations between the mainland and Taiwan since Tsai Ing-wen took office this May, many Taiwan young people are now coming to the mainland to seek a better future. They find more opportunities, but also face fierce competition.
After obtaining a master's in finance from Peking University this July, Chen Min-ping from Taiwan decided to stay in Beijing to build her career.
She managed to find a job as a researcher at a private equity fund, where her main role is to recommend stocks to clients.
"The financial industry in Taiwan lags behind the mainland which is now blooming. Taiwan's financial industry is almost saturated, giving graduates majoring in finance very limited job choices," Chen told the Global Times.
For her, the decision to stay in Beijing was quite straightforward as the mainland can provide her more working possibilities.
Finance industry heavyweights like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase only hire a handful of people in Taiwan each year. While in the mainland, things are different, she said.
"Although the competition here is so fierce, the opportunities are greater. I see many Taiwan people have found pretty good jobs here," she said.
Currently around a million Taiwanese people work on the mainland. Since Tsai Ing-wen became Taiwan leader this May, the cross-Straits political relationship has become strained. There has also been a remarkable slump in the number of mainland tourists going to Taiwan. But deteriorating cross-Straits ties haven't influenced young people's choices, some of whom, like Chen, see a future for themselves on the mainland.
Meanwhile, the central government has issued a series of polices favoring Taiwan youth who want to seek a career in the mainland. Recently, the government of Yantan, Shandong Province established a basement as a space for Taiwan youth to set up new businesses.
Think bigger
Chen first came to the mainland in 2004 on a trip with her family. At that time, the impression she had of the mainland was that is was "uncivilized, in disarray and had shabby infrastructure."
But when she revisited Beijing in 2012 as an exchange student at a Beijing college, she realized the "Guomao central business district has greatly surpassed Taipei 101 (a landmark skyscraper in Taiwan)."
"The mainland has progressed so fast and it has surpassed Taiwan in many fields. The development of the Internet and various mobile applications have totally transformed people's way of living, providing a convenience that is hard to imagine back in Taiwan," she said.
According to Chen, besides the mainland, many Taiwan youth also choose to go to Hong Kong for work. But for Chen, the goal is clear: staying on the mainland and climbing the social ladder.
"Man struggles upwards, water flows downwards. This is a natural phenomenon" Wang Jianmin, a research fellow at the Institute of Taiwan Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times. "The Taiwan economy is now stagnating and it is finding it hard to absorb so many talents."
In the early 1990s, Taiwan encouraged mainland talents to come to Taiwan to help develop the island. Later this route was cut off when the administration became "alert" toward the mainland. But this barricade not only restrained Taiwan's development but also pushed more Taiwan talents to head to the outside world, Wang explained. "Working on the mainland is an inevitable trend and is the choice of Taiwan people," he added.
In 1995, a fresh graduate from a Taiwan university could expect a monthly salary of NT$30,000 ($953) on average but 21 years later, this has decreased to NT$25,000.
In the late 1970s and 1980s, the mainland government encouraged Taiwanese to come the mainland, and cross-Straits trade began. In 2005, after Lien Chan, former chairman of the Kuomintang, paid a visit to the mainland, the exchange of talents warmed up. Afterwards, many Taiwan scholars came to teach in the mainland.
In the last three years, favorable policies have tried to lure more Taiwan youth to the mainland. So far the mainland has set up nearly 40 bases targeting Taiwan youth to help them set up businesses and foster innovation exchanges.
Besides settling down in first-tier cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, the Global Times found out that some Taiwan youth are now choosing to work in medium-sized cities.
