"Inheritance and reunification" in the mainland

In that year, Yin Zhantang came from the "Pearl of the Orient" to the city where the Oriental Pearl Tower had just been erected. The April 1996 issue of "CEConline", titled "The Rise of the Mobile Manager," reported on the job-hopper whose salary increased by 300 percent in three years. Ten years later, still in this city, the "mobile manager" has a new label: one of the "50 headhunters in China".

Yin Zhantang's ten years is also what more and more Hong Kong people are going through. Just like the campaign slogan of Hong Kong's special guard Donald Tsang "I will do my job well", Hong Kong people will do their best work wherever they go, and the mainland, which is no longer far away, is becoming a broader blue ocean for their workplace.

In Beijing, 24-year-old Xu Jiarong squeezes the bus to work every day, working hard for his first job; in Shenzhen, 46-year-old Chen Qinye also rarely rests on Sundays, teaching his daily quality management experience in university classes; In Shanghai, Yin Zhantang, who knew the destiny, continued to "move" and entered a brand-new human resources consulting industry.

Regardless of their seniority, Hong Kong people in the mainland have witnessed the ten years of their return with the "start, succession, transfer and integration" of their respective careers.

The first job was in Beijing

"Since it takes a lot of time to travel to the Mainland to work in a company in Hong Kong, why not go directly to the Mainland to work?"

More than two years ago, Xu Jiarong, who was about to graduate, He asked himself this question when he saw a job offer from a mainland company on campus.com. Then, after submitting a resume, telephone interview, and written test, he was successfully admitted to a game company in Beijing. Although he could find good big companies in Hong Kong, and even though he was the first among his classmates to go to work in the Mainland, Xu Jiarong embarked on the journey north with the support of his parents.

Soon, Xu Jiarong grew from a rookie who participated in the design to the person in charge of a casual game. However, in addition to the intense work of often working overtime, he has traveled all over the suburbs of Beijing with his colleagues, as well as Jinan and Qingdao. In the year when Hong Kong returned to China, Xu Jiarong was still a middle school student. He never wanted to come to work in the Mainland, but now he can't do without here. He said, "Beijing will be an integral part of my life."

This is Xu Jiarong's "start", where he took the first step of his career. Before 1997, this was unimaginable. Even ten years after the return of Hong Kong, Xu Jiarong can be called a "pioneer in the north" among his peers. But it won't take long for Xu Jiarong to meet more of his younger brothers and sisters here.

In recent years, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's "Motherland Occupational Status" Mainland Internship Program and the Chinese University of Hong Kong's "China Employment Development Award Program" have provided students with opportunities to come to the Mainland for internships. With international education and Hong Kong-style business traditions, the new generation of Hong Kong people will increasingly take root in this large market of 9.6 million square kilometers.

Staying on the mainland for 20 years

"This is very short-sighted." On the eve of Hong Kong's return in 1997, friends were busy with immigration and persuaded him to go to Canada with him, Chen Qinye said.

The more than ten years of experience in the Mainland before returning to the country made him choose to stay without hesitation. After the return, from the Pearl River Delta to the Yangtze River Delta, Chen Qinye's career path has become wider and wider. As early as the 1980s, Chen Qinye came to the mainland and worked in KONE and Xunda, two major international elevator companies. In the joint venture between Xunda and Shanghai Elevator Factory, he felt the value of international quality management for mainland enterprises for the first time.

After Xunda successfully turned losses, Chen Qinye came to Shenzhen Salcom as the general manager of global quality and environmental protection. At the Finland-based mobile phone charger company, he introduced Six Sigma and lean manufacturing into the manufacturing process, exceeding even buyer expectations. The Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta, known as "world factories", have become the best soil for Chen Qinye to optimize quality management. Now, it has been one year since Chen Qinye became the Vice President of Goodbaby Group.

This is Chen Qinye's "inheritance". Although the "good boy" is not the highest, but through several exchanges with the company's top management, he finally chose this private enterprise that regards quality as life. On Sundays and on business trips, he teaches at universities in Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Tianjin, refining his work experience on campus. In the "good boy" year, Chen Qinye promoted the "Lean Six Sigma" summed up by years of practice and teaching step by step, and at the same time maximized his own value.

Persistence is also an advantage. Today, with the increasing popularity of scientific management experience, Chen Qinye's familiarity with mainland corporate culture has undoubtedly become a major weight in his career development. And Hong Kong people like him who have stuck to the mainland for many years often become the target of headhunters.

Crossing with Shanghai

"How to recruit and retain senior talents in China?" This is the topic of Yin Zhantang's recent speech and his new career.

As the "mobile manager" of the year, Yin Zhantang has not stopped "moving" now. His latest position is the president of Ouxin Elite International Group - guiding the right people to the right place from a professional point of view. The "CEConline" report recorded his movements before the return of Hong Kong: from foreign trade marketing, general manager of food companies, Canadian civil servants, marketing executives, and then to the department manager of a multinational company resident in Shanghai.

Unlike Chen Qinye, Yin Zhantang was also involved in going abroad before Hong Kong's handover. However, at the call of his eldest brother Yin Shutang, he resigned as Director of International Trade of Alberta and returned to Hong Kong to start his marketing career in Greater China. After that, from Hong Kong to Shanghai, it became his key step. It can be said that Yin Zhantang experienced Shanghai's revival at the end of the century, and Shanghai's increasingly open market environment also provided him with a good opportunity to climb to the top of his career.

Interest and confidence in the mainland market is exactly what Yin Zhantang, Chen Qinye and many Hong Kong managers have in common. In Shanghai, where enterprises and people are rapidly connecting with the world, the general manager of Philips China Lighting Division turned around again and went from the front line of the shopping mall to a third-party consulting company. Here, many years of multinational professional experience have allowed him to maximize his management wisdom, and he has also changed from being "hunted" to being ranked among the "50 Headhunters in China".

This is Yin Zhantang's "turn". For him and more Hong Kongers, the return may have been a source of hesitation. However, the dynamic and opportunity-rich economy in the mainland allows them to quickly integrate into it, and realize a "strategic shift" in the workplace that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.

Mainland is good, Hong Kong is good

For Xu Jiarong, Chen Qinye, and Yin Zhantang, the return of Hong Kong in memory is not only a rainy night ten years ago, but also indicates the self today.

Like them, every Hong Konger's career has changed forever. Or learn Mandarin hard to deal with the surge of mainland customers; or, like Xu Jiarong, start a career in the mainland with excitement and anxiety. No matter how grand or changing history is, the spirit of "Under the Lion Rock", which coexists with hard work and flexibility, guides every step of the career path of Hong Kong people.

The achievements of Hong Kong people at home and abroad in the past ten years also explain what "integration" is: the mainland is good for Hong Kong, and Hong Kong is good for the mainland. The opportunities and challenges among them also contain the infinite possibilities of self-development for every Chinese.

The author is an associate editor of the CEConline website.