China Focus: Drone pilots emerge as next sought-after profession in China
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E-mail Xinhua, January 22, 2025
Editor's Note: The era of drones is on the horizon. Some say it is already becoming a reality in China, thanks to the rapid rise of the low-altitude economy and high affordability of Chinese-made drones. In this three-part series, Xinhua sheds light on the drone revolution in China and considers how it will redefine everything from disaster response to rural employment. The following is the first piece to explore the changes in the job market, especially in rural China.
by Zhou Zhou, Yao Yuan and Yue Wenwan
KUNMING/WUHAN, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Farming on steep terraced slopes where even walking is a challenge has always been a toilsome work until the debut of drones, a transformative power that is paving the way for a new wave of in-demand careers, drone operators for instance.
A drone carrying a 40-kilogram hand of bananas swiftly lifted off from the rugged mountains in the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan. The feat was accomplished by Li Xianquan, who, at 40 years old and after two decades of hauling goods by truck, traded the steering wheel for a remote control to become a drone pilot.
In 2024, when the low-altitude economy took center stage in tech and venture investment circles, innovations like eVTOL aircraft or flying cars, brimming with futuristic allure, were quick to capture imaginations and spark market excitement.
But what unfolded in Li's hillside orchard--where local farmers have always prioritized practical, real-world solutions that deliver a tangible difference--went beyond a flashy display of technological prowess.
Bananas from areas with large temperature differences tend to be sweeter. However, manually carrying the fruit down steep mountains often caused bruising and damage, leaving them inferior in quality and less competitive compared to imports.
Over 94 percent of the land in Yunnan is sloped, with nearly 46 percent of arable land on a slope of over 15 degrees, said an official from the province's agriculture department.
"Without the help of drones, I would never dare to cultivate on such steep mountainous terrain," said a banana grower who leased this sharply sloped terrain in Yuxi, Yunnan Province. As a result, Li's expertise in operating drones positioned him as a key competitive advantage for the banana orchard.
UNMET DEMANDS
A growing number of individuals, ranging from drone hobbyists to professionals skilled in drone-based pesticide spraying, are shifting to jobs like Li. Drone delivery represents a brand-new business, with a vast unmet demand for skilled operators.
By June 2024, China had recorded 1.875 million registered drones, yet only over 225,000 licensed pilots were available, underscoring a substantial gap of more than 1 million operators.
This estimated gap has not even factored in the growing emphasis that local governments are placing on vertical mobility as an emerging driver of growth.
To align with this momentum, the nation's economic planning authority has launched a dedicated department to advance digital infrastructure, set to fuel the sector's swifter expansion.
China's drone market is forecast to experience continuous growth from 2024 to 2029, surpassing 600 billion yuan (81.9 billion U.S. dollars) by 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 25.6 percent during this period, according to an industry report.
The country's enormous domestic market has fostered a vast pool of over 15 million couriers. Shifting even a portion of their workload to drones would still require a significant amount of manpower.
Starting with the delivery of life-saving organs, serum and emergency medications, to power grid inspection, glass curtain wall cleaning and transporting seafood across the sea to delight people's palate, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) express is broadening its scope of operations.
LICENSING BOOM
Zeng Yan, an admission officer at Shanghai Funtastic Drone Training School, has noticed an obvious increase in inquiries about license training in recent months.
"Inquiries have jumped from one or two a week to two or three daily, with about half of them enrolling," said Zeng.
In China, drone operators are required to obtain a license from the Civil Aviation Administration of China to operate UAVs. Operators are divided into visual line of sight within 500 meters (VLOS) and beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS), the latter demanding higher expertise and stricter standards.
Funtastic's training program for multi-rotor drones, a most popular one, lasts between 18 and 28 days, depending on VLOS or BVLOS levels, with costs varying from 9,800 to 15,800 yuan, as shown on its admission website.
Despite the high charge, the training has maintained its allure with promising job prospects and attractive salaries of a licensed drone operator.
The mini-program "I Am a Drone Pilot" on WeChat, a leading messaging app in China, connects drone operators with jobs nationwide. Monthly salaries offered in the program vary from 5,000 to 10,000 yuan based on roles, and some jobs include a daily 200-yuan field operation subsidies.
Getting licensed is only the beginning. Pilots also need to learn hands-on skills not included in the training.
Li practiced 37 days to master banana lifting. At first, locating bananas in the expansive green field was challenging. He then discovered that the drone's camera is more sensitive to red, and instructed the farmers on the ground to wave red flags as markers once their bananas were ready for lifting.
As industry experts predict the trend for swarm and automated operations of drones, pilots are required to master not just basic operations but also comprehensive management, troubleshooting and maintenance.
A 2024 statistic has shown that about 350 vocational colleges across the country now provide a three-year program in drone application technology, aiming to train more specialized professionals.
NEW FARMERS
While factories in China's eastern coastal cities reduce the number of workers by ramping up automation, emerging technologies such as UAVs are opening up new job prospects in the countryside, the primary source of the country's millions of migrant workers.
The drone fleet in Zigui, a county of Yichang city in central China's Hubei Province, has grown to a considerable size. The county renowned as the "hometown of Chinese navel oranges" now boasts more than 500 drones, and its count of drone pilots has grown from previous over 50 to more than 1,000 at present.
The majority of these pilots are young people returning from cities to their rural hometowns, primarily aged in their 20s and 30s. Called "new farmers," they are bringing new technologies to the countryside while replenishing the aging and shrinking rural labor pool.
Once a hairdresser in the southern Chinese metropolis of Shenzhen, Wang Jiaxin switched to transporting navel oranges with drones in his hometown Zigui two years ago after viewing a video of drones spraying orchards on hilly terrain, which he saw as the future of farming.
"Older farmers used to carry oranges on their back across the steep terrains, a hard labor that few young people today are willing to do," Wang said, adding that the arrival of drone technologies have made orange farming more attractive to young villagers.
A drone can transport 50 kilograms per trip, spanning 200 meters horizontally in just one minute, compared to the 30 minutes it would take a person to carry the same load, said Wang.
"My phone kept ringing from dawn to dusk," said Wang, referring to the flood of orders from local farmers during the harvest season.
Human carriers cost around 0.8 to 1 yuan per kilogram, compared to drones at just 0.4 yuan per kilogram, according to ZTO Express, a logistics firm which utilized drones for navel orange delivery.
At present, drone operators remain in short supply, making their incomes quite impressive. With daily earnings of about 1,500 yuan, Wang can make up to 30,000 yuan in the peak harvesting month. "This is significantly higher than my salary as a hairdresser."
During non-harvest months, drone pilots can supplement their income by focusing on pesticide spraying, typically earning between 5,000 and 8,000 yuan on average.
The remarkable economic benefits have also prompted the local government to strengthen policy support. In early 2024, the human resource authority in Changyang Tujia Autonomous County of Yichang offered a free 12-day drone training course.
Last year, the city of Yichang held seven drone training sessions, subsidizing 156 trainees with nearly 250,000 yuan. In addition to subsidies, the Zigui government has upgraded infrastructure by clearing obstacles, as well as building drone platforms and charging stations.
On China's short video-sharing platforms, many videos of drones transporting agricultural products have gone viral. After seeing these clips, more migrant workers decided to return home and become drone operators, freeing older generations from manual labor.
One comment under a footage quipped, "No wonder oranges are pricey. They're delivered by air." A drone pilot replied seriously: "I think our parents' shoulders were far more precious." Enditem
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