THE number of foreign experts in Shanghai has doubled since 2010 under government efforts to attract foreign talent, as China aims to entice more skilled foreign professionals to spur the country’s development.

Shanghai is home to about 165,000 foreign experts who have been working in Shanghai for more than six months. That number has already exceeded a goal of 160,000 set in a city talent plan for 2015, said Huang Weimao, deputy director of Shanghai Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, in an exclusive interview with Shanghai Daily.

Huang said about 85,000 foreign experts work in government offices, state-owned companies, schools and scientific research institutes. They account for one-sixth of the total number of foreign experts in these sectors throughout China. Only Guangdong Province has more than Shanghai. The remaining 80,000 foreign experts work for private Chinese and foreign companies.

Nearly half of the foreign experts in Shanghai work in the business area in such positions as economists, company managers and chief accountants.

About a third are technical professionals who play an important role in the construction of many international projects such as the maglev train and Shanghai International Automobile Park. The rest are cultural and educational experts including teachers, artists, media staff and sports coaches.

Huang said the quality of foreign experts in Shanghai has risen as the city has developed into a more sophisticated city. Among them are Anthony J. Leggett, the Nobel Prize winner in physics in 2003, and Annette D.S.M. Nijs, former State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science of the Netherlands.

Huang said supporting measures from the local government give Shanghai a major advantage in attracting foreign talent.

“As a government, we must take the lead in creating conditions and channels for foreigners to come so that they can see how they can display their talent and continue their career here,” Huang said.

In 2013, the local government spent over 10 million yuan (US$1.61 million) on funding 160 initiatives to lure foreign experts to Shanghai.

Experts who arrived last year came from more than 30 countries, including the US, Japan and Brazil. They serve in more than 20 industries that include medical, energy, biology, media and automobile.

“We welcome not only experts from developed countries, but also from developing countries and with strengths in a specialized area,” Huang said.

To help foreign experts live a better life in Shanghai, the city provides high subsidies, especially to high-end professionals.

For example, foreign experts who are in the “One Thousand Talent Plan for Foreign Experts” program by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs will enjoy an annual medical insurance worth 50,000 yuan if they are employed by Shanghai companies, and a one-time subsidy of 200,000 yuan if they have worked for one year on the job, Huang said.

“We must ensure our policy is good enough to keep our foreign experts in Shanghai,” Huang said. “The last thing we want to see is experts leaving for financial reasons.”

For veteran aviation expert Patrick Power, an interesting job and an easy-to-adapt-to living environment always came before money when he made the decision to work in Shanghai.

Power, a 57-year-old American, has been working as senior adviser for the Airworthiness Management Department at the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd (COMAC) for 18 months. He has been in the aviation industry for 35 years, including seven years in China. His last job was head of aviation at the US Embassy in Beijing

Power said he was ready to end his tour in China and planned to go back to the US when COMAC asked him to join the state-owned company.

“I took the job because it’s a very exciting time in China in aviation now, as they are building their first commercial airplanes that are certified to international standards,” he explained.

“Manufacturing airplanes is a new industry for China which needs more people with experience,” Power said. “I feel like the decisions I made have helped the progress, and my contributions are being recognized by COMAC. I’m happy so far with my work and it’s always getting better.”

Power is part of the “One Thousand Plan,” which he said made it very smooth for him and his wife to get a living and working visa in Shanghai.

“The Administration for Foreign Experts Affairs is doing a great job trying to make life easier for foreigners who decide to come to China,” Power said. “Also for people who have children, it helps provide assistance to those families and schools.”

But Power also pointed out some problems that bothered him in Shanghai, such as rising living costs and complicated procedures to get a car license plate. But these have not been enough to stop him from seizing this opportunity.

“Shanghai is getting more costly, and for foreigners like us, we tend to buy things that we used in our home country, which will cost more as they are imported here,” Power said.

Unlike Power, Rose Oliver, an English teacher at Shanghai University, has stayed in Shanghai for 13 years because of her love of Chinese culture and friendship, rather than for an exciting job.

Before Oliver came to Shanghai, she had a tai chi school in the UK and many of the teachers in her school were from Shanghai.

In 2001, Oliver and her husband decided to come to Shanghai to do more research on tai chi and Chinese culture. The British couple lived a happy life in Shanghai until Oliver’s husband passed away in 2003.

“It was really a hard time for me. The university and my tai chi teachers and students here were so kind to me that I decided to remain,” Oliver said.

Oliver, in her late 40s, said she wants to stay in Shanghai after retirement but she worries how she can continue her life here without a job.

“It’s very difficult when you suddenly have to go after living here for 20 years, and it’s a shame for Shanghai to lose such kind of talent who can help with innovation and giving so much to the Chinese society,” Oliver said. “I wish to stay here forever, because I feel I’m at home with my tai chi family here.”

Huang said the administration has been aware of the many problems that foreign experts still have to face in their lives here. He said the administration will do its best to solve the problems, but it will definitely take time.

According to a long-term government plan, Shanghai is expected to have 210,000 foreign experts by 2020.

“We will try our best to provide a better living and working environment for foreign experts and ensure that they won’t leave because of policy problems,” Huang said.