As autumn approaches, crops on the Loess Plateau in eastern Gansu are gradually ripening. Beyond the fields, another type of "harvest" is being produced with increasing intensity.
At the Digital Employment Base in Huan County, Qingyang City, data annotator Zhao Yanrong scrolls her mouse wheel, dragging across a 3D point cloud image to draw a cube framework. The image annotations she creates are transformed into coordinate data transmitted to a server. "In the past, our parents' generation planted crops in the yellow soil. Now, we 'feed' data to machines, becoming the people who process 'digital grain'," Zhao describes her work.
Qingyang, situated on the Loess Plateau and known as the "Granary of Eastern Gansu," is a key part of the old revolutionary base area of Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia. For a long time, the region relied heavily on its petroleum industry, which led to a singular economic structure and a scarcity of job opportunities, dampening local economic vitality. The turning point came with the "East Data West Computing" project.
Where to start?
With a national computing hub node established in Qingyang, the question became how to convert this computational power into employment. The strategy involved actively attracting data annotation companies and accelerating the cultivation of local teams. Facing the massive volume of data awaiting processing from eastern regions in areas like autonomous driving and smart cities, Qingyang has upgraded its service from pure computing power output to an integrated service combining data and computing, transforming the data flow into a "reservoir" of local employment.
Zhao Yanrong is a direct beneficiary. Previously working away from home, she struggled to balance work and family. By chance, she learned about recruitment opportunities at the Digital Employment Base through the Qingyang Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau and decided to apply. During training, she was introduced for the first time to autonomous driving perception systems and how data annotation helps vehicles "see" complex road conditions. "When I was a child, I helped adults measure corn plant spacing in the fields, which was all about precision. Now, the hoe has been replaced by a mouse, but the pursuit of continuous improvement must remain," Zhao says, feeling a great sense of achievement in her new role. The data she annotates now serves various scenarios in over a dozen cities, including Beijing and Shenzhen.
Why just 10 ASX 200 shares?
Where does the data come from? A significant source is from the sky—generated by drone surveys. At the Qingyang Drone Pilot Training Base, trainee Guo Panpan watches the remote control screen, making fine adjustments with his fingertips. A four-rotor drone ascends straight up, the screen displaying the rugged, ravine-crossed Loess Plateau. "This hill looks at that hill—seems close but takes forever to walk. Now, a single drone can survey it all at a glance," Guo says. A former seafarer who worked at sea for eight years, Guo has now transitioned to a drone pilot back home. "I've found a new job right at my doorstep, and the pay is quite good."
"Based on the labor demands of the digital industry, we have included 51 occupations, such as data annotator and drone operator, in the list of urgently needed skilled professions. To date, we have provided subsidized training in the digital and low-altitude economies to over 16,000 individuals," explains Zhou Jie, Deputy Director of the Qingyang Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau. "During the '15th Five-Year Plan' period, we will continue to cultivate mid-to-high-end technical positions in computing power maintenance and cloud-network architecture, creating more employment opportunities for young people."
A complete employment chain covering data collection, annotation, and application is now taking root on the Loess Plateau of Qingyang. In this digital age, the "Granary of Eastern Gansu" is writing a new chapter in its story.