in the mainland/on the mainland (2025)

I want to say that there are lots of job opportunities in China, and use "the mainland" to refer to China. The sentence that I have in mind is:

Job opportunities in/on the mainland are abundant.

I am not sure if I should use "in" or "on" in the above sentence. "In" sounds okay because we can "in a country", but "on" also sounds correct because we say "on a piece of land". So, should I say "in the mainland" or "on the mainland"?

Thanks much!

So in my sentence, it should be either one of the following?

Job opportunities in mainland China are abundant.
Job opportunities on the mainland are abundant.

EdisonBhola said:

So in my sentence, it should be either one of the following?

Job opportunities in mainland China are abundant.
Job opportunities on the mainland are abundant.

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Both versions look fine to me.

Thanks owlman.

On a very similar note, if I want to say "I work in China", and instead of that I say "I work ON the mainland", does it sound natural to native speakers?

EdisonBhola said:

On a very similar note, if I want to say "I work in China", and instead of that I say "I work ON the mainland", does it sound natural to native speakers?

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Context is important. If you live on an island that is not part of China but close enough to China that you might work in China and China is the only country not on an island which is nearby your island so that the residents refer to China as "the mainland", then, yes, it sounds natural.

loghrat said:

Yes, that is correct, 'in the mainland' is not correct. At least I can't think of a context where it would sound right.

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When "mainland" is being used as a locational adjective: In the mainland peoples, eating raw coconut is not common.
In this case, the "in" is referring "peoples" rather than "mainland." If "mainland" is the actual subject, I cannot think of an instance where "in" would sound natural.

loghrat said:

I agree with owlman5 that we say 'on the mainland'. However, in the context of China, I feel the way it would normally be expressed in English is 'in mainland China jobs are abundant' (note absence of definite article 'the').

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I came across the following sentence in New Headway, an English studying book:

"Zanzibar (an island just off the Tanzanian coast of East Africa - heshayershah) lacks the abundance of wildlife that is found

mainland Africa."

It is said in the extract above that "in mainland China" is correct. However, I have "on mainland Africa" in the sentence above. I don't know which one is correct. I feel quite confused now.

heshayershah said:

I came across the following sentence in New Headway, an English studying book:

"Zanzibar (an island just off the Tanzanian coast of East Africa - heshayershah) lacks the abundance of wildlife that is found

on

mainland Africa."

It is said in the extract above that "in mainland China" is correct. However, I have "on mainland Africa" in the sentence above. I don't know which one is correct. I feel quite confused now.

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That looks wrong to me. I would use 'in mainland Africa' in that context.