Guangzhou has relaxed recruitment requirements in order to attract talents from across China, joining the race with numerous cities in scramble for sought-after experts and professionals.

Recently, the southern Chinese city rolled out a new talent recruitment policy which delinks compliance with family planning policy from issuance of permanent residency, or hukou, and allows younger talents to gain permanent resident status.

According to the new talent introduction policy, the age thresholds for people with bachelor's degree, master's degree and doctoral degree are lowered to 40, 45 and 50 respectively from the previous 35, 40 and 45.

Guangzhou, the capital of South China's Guangdong province, is among a list of first-tier cities that consider introduction of high-level talents as a cornerstone for achieving innovation-driven development.

In August 2018, Shanghai took the lead in releasing a points-based assessment system, which allows graduates from the country's top universities such as Peking University and Tsinghua University to directly gain permanent residency in the city in what it calls a "green passage".

The Shanghai policy came months after the city issued an action plan aimed at attracting experts in 13 fields to work in the city by issuing permanent residency to core members of the teams and their relatives.

Tianjin followed suit by issuing a similar policy in May 2018, under which experts and professionals who meet the requirements could have the opportunity to gain the city's permanent residency. At the time, the policy was hailed as an incentive to attract talented people to start businesses in the northern port city, which is part of a regional development zone that also includes Beijing and Hebei province.

Even Beijing, a major base of talents from around the world, has joined the bandwagon, issuing a series of talent introduction measures last year to lure talents who have passion for technological innovation.

Over the past two years, a dozen of first-tier and second-tier cities of China including Hangzhou, Wuhan and Xi'an have successively joined a fierce competition for top talents amid a slowing economy. They have taken various measures ranging from lowering age thresholds to giving housing subsidies.

A professional mobility report released by Liepin.com, a leading job recruitment website in China, showed that Hangzhou, where e-commerce giant Alibaba Group is headquartered, was the most popular destination for talents in 2017. Hangzhou was followed by Shenzhen and Chengdu, according to the report.