A recently released national guideline aims to transform China's urban centers into launch pads for the next generation, with the ultimate goal of tackling young professionals' most pressing hurdles, those of housing costs, job hunting and the risks of early entrepreneurship.

The guideline, released on April 22 by 15 central departments, including the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China, the Cyberspace Administration of China, and the National Development and Reform Commission, outlines 18 measures covering industrial foundations, innovation support, urban planning, housing, childcare and employment.

By 2030, the concepts promoted in the guideline are expected to have been widely rolled out, and by 2035, a mature institutional framework for youth development should be in place.

City governments across China are actively competing to attract fresh talent to boost local high-quality economic development. By addressing daily pressures like childcare and high rent, major hubs are trying to ensure young workers can put down deep roots.

Slashing costs

For recent graduates, the transition from campus to the workforce is often a financial shock. Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, is targeting this vulnerability directly through digital integration and cash subsidies.

The city has introduced a specialized youth area on its online government services platform. The area integrates job searches, entrepreneurship support and policy access, providing over 100,000 job listings, according to the city's Committee of the Communist Youth League.

There are 97 specialized youth hostels offering seven days of free accommodation for job-seeking graduates, clocking 260,000 nights as of April this year, the committee said.

The city also provides one-time living subsidies of up to 100,000 yuan ($14,700) for doctoral graduates, 30,000 yuan for master's graduates and 10,000 yuan for graduates with bachelor's degrees.

An additional rental subsidy of 10,000 yuan per year is offered to all qualifying college graduates for three consecutive years, backed by 248,000 units of subsidized rental housing. Young people have accounted for 70 percent of the beneficiaries so far.

"The policy precisely addresses our urgent needs in job hunting and stable living," said recent graduate Chen Nuo. Fellow graduate Ding Yiling called it "a protective umbrella" that enhances young people's sense of belonging.

Free workspaces

Suzhou in Jiangsu province has 145 youth hostels offering free accommodation for up to 14 days in total, spanning a wide eligibility window from one year before graduation to two years after, the city's Communist Youth League committee said.

For young entrepreneurs, the city offers up to 500,000 yuan in seed funding and three years of rent-free workspace up to 200 square meters. It has also offered 43 youth apartment projects, with over 27,000 units available at discounted rents.

Critically, the city is also addressing the "double-income trap" facing young parents by managing seasonal childcare gaps. Over the past five years, the Suzhou youth league committee has organized more than 6,900 subsidized winter and summer daycare classes, serving 1.63 million children during school vacations to alleviate the domestic burden on working parents.

Serving startups

In Southwest China's Sichuan province, Chengdu is proving that the most valuable asset a city can give a tech startup is not just cash, but a market.

When Liu Yang graduated from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, he launched his drone software startup, Shine Tech, with just two free desks in a government-run youth entrepreneurship park. The true breakthrough came a decade later when the government integrated his systems into the city's operational infrastructure.

The city provided Shine Tech with "application scenarios" — a policy where local governments act as the first major client for local tech startups, allowing them to test and prove their emerging technologies, like low-altitude urban drone governance, in real-world public management settings.

"Chengdu gave us a lot of support," Liu said. His low-altitude digital operation system has since been replicated in 11 cities and 28 districts and counties nationwide. Liu added that Chengdu's stable housing market — with prices well-regulated between 10,000 and 20,000 yuan per square meter — makes homeownership a realistic goal. "Chengdu is inclusive and not exclusive. People say, 'After drifting to Chengdu, you never feel adrift again'," Liu said.

The city has built 40 youth talent stations serving 138,000 people and has also established a youth housing security system offering free short stays, low-cost long-term rentals and subsidized talent apartments. Matchmaking events are held regularly.

Funding safety net

Hunan province, with its capital Changsha serving as the primary talent magnet, has taken an aggressive stance on funding high-risk startups, explicitly building a safety net for business failure.

At a recent recruitment drive at Zhejiang University, Jiang Difei, vice-governor of Hunan, announced that the province is offering 100,000 annual internships and over 300,000 quality jobs, backed by a 500-million-yuan university startup fund and 6.2 billion yuan in guaranteed entrepreneurship loans.

Policies include up to 14 days of free accommodation, up to two years of housing subsidies, and a minimum 10,000-yuan subsidy for first-time entrepreneurs, Jiang said.

The warmth of this policy was felt directly by Liu Yehuan, a tech printing entrepreneur who stayed in Changsha after graduating from Hunan University. After four failed startup attempts, Liu and his classmates founded VMonkey.cn. Between 2020 and 2022, the company lost nearly 10 million yuan.

"As a small asset-light enterprise with no collateral, we could not get conventional loans," Liu said. The local entrepreneurship service center helped him secure a 5-million-yuan unsecured credit loan backed by government risk compensation.

"Policy has the most warmth not when it adds flowers to brocade, but when it sends charcoal in the snow," Liu said.

His company now has 300 employees and its online campus printing brand is among the nation's front-runners. "Hunan is a place that tolerates failure and encourages young people to go through trial and error," Liu said.

Contact the writers at zoushuo@chinadaily.com.cn