Chang Zhipeng 57589527@qq.com CHAN WAI-YU, who struggled and became fluent in Mandarin Chinese in two years, arrived in Shenzhen to join smartphone manufacturer VIVO as a product manager. After graduating from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2020, he believed there are more opportunities on the mainland. “I felt like a fish out of water in the first place, because my Mandarin was so bad. Once, I was communicating with a colleague on the phone, and he just hung up on me because of the communication barrier between us,” Chan recalled. Since then, he began to work on his Mandarin diligently by frequently talking to his mainland friends, listening to audiobooks and learning pinyin on video platforms, thus overcoming the communication barrier. “It is important to admit your own shortcomings when adapting to a different role from student to office worker. So, I stayed humble and patient, and got into the habit of making daily summaries on the day’s work for me to improve faster,” Chan said. Speaking of the reason why he chose the mainland for career development, Chan said he participated in some mainland internship programs during his first two years of college, which allowed him to experience the mainland’s development first-hand. “The high-tech industry is developing rapidly on the mainland, where the market size is huge. Then, I decided to come to the mainland after graduation as I got an intuition that I could achieve something better and greater here than in Hong Kong,” he said. “Working as a product manager at VIVO is challenging, as the job examines a person’s comprehensive skills. In the next few years, I’m going to keep improving my expertise and comprehensive skills and try to become a part of the company’s managerial staff. In the longer run, I may try to start my own business if I can come up with some good ideas and accumulate enough experience and competence,” Chan said. Ubiquitous electronic payment and colorful exchange activities, among others, have helped the youngster quickly adapt to life in Shenzhen and make new friends. “I met many Hongkongers like me when I attended activities organized by the Qianhai International Talent Hub. I was also informed about all kinds of preferential policies Qianhai rolled out exclusively for Hong Kong people seeking career development on the mainland,” he said. Last September, the Central Government promulgated the Qianhai Plan, which includes Bao’an District’s central area — where VIVO’s Shenzhen office is currently located — into Qianhai’s geographical range. In addition, VIVO’s new headquarters building is now under construction in Qianhai, which will be put into use in 2024. “I think Qianhai will become a new world center, just like Silicon Valley in the United States and the Tokyo Bay area,” Chan said. | 