New Urban Poor

Migrant factory workers working in a clothing factory

China recently has triumphed to become the world’s second largest economy after three decades of economic reform. With the rise of the emerging middle class and the rich, Chinese people are eager to buy luxury goods.  China will become the world's biggest market for luxury goods in five years, according to a report from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. China's luxury goods market had increased to 9.4 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2009, making up for 27.5 percent of the world's luxury goods market and replacing the United States as the world's second largest luxury goods market.  For instance, I was surprised to learn that Louis Vuitton and Burberry have their designate stores in Changchun, one of the second tier cities in China.  Many economic elites have grown accustomed to a western life style. They have their personal vehicles for daily transportation, take trips abroad, and dine at fancy restaurants, etc. However, the life of an average Chinese citizen is very different from what described above.

Like other developed countries, the rich and middle class only make up part of the Chinese population; many others are living in a life of poverty. A new urban poor has emerged in China. The new urban poverty is mainly composed of rural migrants, unemployed people, laid-off workers, poor workers, and retirees from failing or bankrupted enterprises. They are marginalized under the market transition of the economic system.

Here I am going to share with you some of the stories and scenes I heard and observed while I was in China last December. Associated with the last two decades of economic reform, many of workers from the factories used to be owned by the government lost their jobs. The security they were paid as a buy-out was far less than what is required to maintain a basic life in a long term. A considerable portion of them did not receive a desirable level of education due to the Cultural Revolution. The job opportunities for them are slim in the current competitive job market. Many of them end up with living with their parents for survival. The family of Mr. Lao Zhang, a long time neighbor of my family, is the perfect reflection of the reality. Mr. Lao Zhang has an enviable pension since he retired from a government institution. However, two of his three children have been jobless for years. Now the two children have to live with Mr. Lao Zhang in order to cover their food and shelter. This phenomenon is general in traditional industrial cities, like Changchun.

When we were waiting for our connecting train back to Changchun in Beijing, I saw a few people lying down on the cold, concrete ground in the hallway of the train station. From their appearances and the luggage they were carrying, I could tell that they were rural migrants who might be construction workers or small restaurant waiters waiting for their trains heading back to their countryside homes to reunite with their long-time-no-see parents, children and bring home well needed money. They are the group of people who do not really benefit from China’s explosive economic growth.  

The rural migrants became a large part of the workforce in China’s developing economy.  A lot of large cities suck in migrant workers with the demand for construction of new high-rises. They worked very hard with a low pay. Also, in cities located on the Pearl River Delta, such as Shenzhen and Guangzhou, industrial development attracts lots of young rural migrants. It is typical that the workers in this area were made to work long hours, sometimes in less than desired environment. It may be exaggerated to say that the expanding economy has improved the lives of millions of citizens while simultaneously crushing the dreams of others. However, it does reflect the unfairness in the distribution of the benefits from Chinese economic development.

The article I read for this topic states that the new urban poverty in China, which has been brought up in the market transition and social restructuring period, has had consequential impacts on Chinese socio-economic stability (Liu & Wu, 2006).  Researchers argued that the state is the manipulator of institutions and policies do matter in the creation of new urban poverty, and that the cleavages between the old and new institutions further intensify it (Liu & Wu, 2006. Authors suggest that the Chinese government should aggressively reform the current welfare system and establish a system based on citizenship which will provide basic living support and development rights for the urban poor group. Also, abolishing unjust policies, like the hukou system, and correlated unfair employment policies will let the migrant workers to be treated as regular citizens (Liu & Wu, 2006).

The social inequality has its root in a long standing policy, called hukou, in China. Hukou is a register household system according to a person’s birth place and serves as an “invisible wall” between the urban and rural sectors. It is extremely difficult to transfer one’s rural registration to an urban one.  In general the farmers in the countryside are not protected by the social welfare system. Because of hukou, the massive population of rural migrant workers in China has been excluded from receiving the full benefits, like healthcare and education, despite their remarkable contribution to the society since they remain their “peasant” status. They only can undertake the hard, dangerous and dirty physical, labor-intensive jobs. They do not receive equal employment opportunities and security of life in urban areas. Therefore, many migrant workers have to return to the countryside to retire, raise children or treat illnesses as their limited pensions are not enough to cover the high cost of living in cities.

In recent years, the Chinese government has introduced a series of anti-poverty programs, such as the three-tier social security system. Some programs have already started to have effects, while others are still in the development process.  However, the infrastructure of Chinese cities has developed far too quickly for the development of benefits for urban dwellers. It is the time to tell the government that more changes are needed in order to end the discrimination and the unequal treatment against migrant workers living in cities.

Work Cited:

Liu, Y & Fulong Wu. (2006, April). The State, Institutional Transition and the Creation of New Urban Poverty in China. Social Policy & Administration, 2006 Volume40, Issue 2, P121-137. Retrieved March, 21, 2011from Academic Search Complete Database.

Workers (2010, August). Chinahukoureform.wordpress.com  Retrieved April, 16, 2011 from Google Image, http://chinahukoureform.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/workers1.jpg?w=232&h=300

Gaokao: College Entrance Exam

Stressed Chinese student preparing for gaokao 

In my previous post, I wrote about the grim employment situation millions of graduates are facing now. However, in order to get into colleges, high school graduates have to pass one of the most stressful tests in the world, college entrance exams, also called “gaokao”. According to Xinhua News, Chinese education officials forecast a nationwide drop in the number of students taking the gaokao exams this year since many educated young Chinese after their graduation cannot find jobs that can effectively utilize the skills they learned in college.

The gaokao, which can be compared to SATs, is observed as one of the most important life events for the participants and their parents because college admissions in China are solely dependent on how well the students perform on this particular test. The results of these specific tests can ultimately change the fates of many students, especially for those who come from the countryside to climb the social ladder (Jing, 2007). For instance, my friend’s case reflects what I had written above. He was a farmer’s son, raised in a small village. Being the first in his entire family to go to a prestigious university, the results of the gaokao totally changed his destiny.

 The Chinese people have always been advocates of education.  Selecting talent through exams is a tradition in China, and passing the exams was considered one of the most important accomplishments in a person’s life.  Keju, the imperial civil service exam, was first adopted in the Sui Dynasty (581-618 A.D.), and lasted through the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Intellectuals who wanted to be an official must take the multi-tier examination.  The keju was a high stakes gateway to the ruling class that, during its 1,300 year history, proved to be one of the only ways of gaining social promotion. I remembered that we had read lots of sad, happy, and bizarre stories in my high school years about individuals who studied for the keju or about their long journeys to the sites where the keju was held. The present gaokao is an evolved version of ancient keju. After a decade-long suspension during Cultural Revolution, the gaokao was restored in 1977. Based on the records, almost 6 million students competed for 220,000 university spots.

After more than 20 years, I still remember what it felt like to take the gaokao. My experience with gaokao was in the summer of 1984. Before the test, I was very stressed out in preparing for it. I got so nervous that I was biting the pencils in my hands while I was taking the tests. Many anxious parents were waiting outside the classrooms. My parents came and brought food and other treats to my classmate’s house where I stayed during the two hour lunch break. I felt guilty for the fact that my parents did so much for me and I did not make it into good university. Eventually I ended up at a local university. In retrospect, gaokao was a bitter experience to me.

It has been more than 30 years since the first gaokao after Cultural Revolution. There have been many controversies about the gaokao (Jing, 2007). The gaokao puts too much psychological pressure on the students and their family, especially for the fact that a single test decides one’s destiny (Jing, 2007). It is also unfair to many students in the area where fewer colleges or universities are available in their local regions or provinces since they are correlated with the admission quota (Jing, 2007). Many believe that the gaokao discourages the training for student’s creativity because the cramming teaching methodology is often employed to boost the student’s test scores (Jing, 2007). 

There are probably many answers to why China has suffered from this lack of innovation, but the gaokao have contributed to a widely recognized problem in Chinese education.  Now looking back at it, I thought that most of the information that we had learned in school had no practicality in real-life situations. I believe that despite having many upsides, the gaokao has not benefited many people as it was thought to be. Although so many problems have been realized, there is not much better system available for choice. The education reformation is another one lying ahead of the Chinese educators.  

Works Cited:

Chinese students: The most stressed in the world. (2009, June 08) cnreviews.com Retrieved April, 10 from http://cnreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/gaokao.jpg

Jing, X. (2007, June, 27). Test Under Test. Beijing Review, 2007 Volume 50, Issue 25 PP28-29. Retrieved March 19, 2011from Academic Search Complete Database.

Why are Chinese College Graduates Jobless?

Jobless China Faces Grad Glut

During my visit I spent some time with my sister and my niece, Qingqing. Qingqing is a sophomore, majoring in Mechanical Design Manufacture and Automation. Within two and a half years, she will be on the job market. Although my sister has made her best efforts in getting her into a right school with a promising major, they are still concerned about the kind of job available to Qingqing by then if there will be a one. Currently, the outlook for college graduates is pretty bleak.

Zhigang, a grandson of the owner of a convenience store near my parents’ home, has been seeking for a job for more than two years since his graduation from Jilin University of Finance & Economics.  He has been interviewed for positions like bank teller, accounting assistant, government jobs, etc. None of the efforts turned the way he wished. At one point, he even moved to Beijing in hope of more job opportunities. That trip rewarded him only with a couple of temporary positions with low pays. The incomes he earned were not enough to cover his living expenses there. After a year he was back to his starting point, home in Changchun. This is an educated young man who is willing to work hard and earn his living. However, the society simply could not help him to fulfill his basic goal.

I know the picture I portrayed above does not match the prospects of China we learned in our media here. To many of us, China’s economy is still on a historic run, posting a succession of double digit growth rate although many other countries are slowly climbing out of the recent economic recession. The reality is that Chinese government is facing a tough issue in easing the employment situation for millions of college graduates.

Recently I read an article regarding this issue.  The author discussed its causes and solutions. The high unemployment rate for college graduates can be related to economic development, education policy making, and reform in the economy as well as in higher education (Bai, 2006).

Beginning in 1999, the Chinese government launched an ambitious plan to boost university enrollment and believed that it would stimulate domestic consumption and ease the rising urban unemployment rate due to the 1997 Asian economic crisis. Eventually it would improve the educational level of Chinese citizen, and enable China to stand in a better position to compete with other nations in the environment of globalization and the knowledge-based economy of the 21^st century (Bai, 2006).  Therefore, a mass higher education system has been transformed from education for examinations to a fee-based, market driven system.  However, China’s socio-economic conditions, the structure of the higher education system, and the society were unprepared to embrace this dramatic change (Bai, 2006).  In addition, being short of diversity in curricula at different levels and in different divisions of higher education determined that graduates were not equipped with the specialties and the flexibility to respond to market demand (Bai, 2006).  For instance, many companies, especially privately owned, do not trust new graduates, who may have learned mountains of theories but the lack of practical abilities. The supply and demand out-of-touch problem had lead to a higher rate of unemployment for college graduates.   Furthermore, the central government was in favor in building up the top 100 national universities to become world-class universities in the 21^st century. Therefore, these key universities were allocated the majority of its funding to the key universities (Bai, 2006). In order to stay in business the local universities and colleges in the economically undeveloped areas were forced to lower the admission requirements to get enough enrollments (Bai, 2006). The quality of a certain group of students would be in question.  In order to relieve the pressure of graduate unemployment, the Chinese government has deployed various measures, such as reforming the residence registration system to enable graduates’ integration to a national job market; encouraging students to enroll to vocational institutes since the job market is in short of technical professions (Bai, 2006).  However, none of above measures has effectively lessened the severity of the problem. At the end, the researcher advocated that China should focus on building an excellent, diversity and different functions system,  which requires to tailor the curriculum to emphasis current and future workforce needs and skills shortages, and to focus on research relevant to economic and social priorities (Bai, 2006).

After reading this journal article and according to my personal experience, I think there is no magical solution to resolve this issue. In order for this dilemma to be tackled, it needs the whole society’s cooperation. People should change their minds regarding that higher education is the only opportunity to upward mobility.  The Chinese people had a long history for pursuing upper level education. It can trace back to the imperial period. The Chinese peoples’ passion for higher education is also associated with an extremely close connection among the higher degrees to a higher social status and wealth. The diploma frenzy is always present. Getting a degree is becoming one’s lifelong goal. People cannot leave the sense of superiority behind when China’s higher education was transformed from the elite type to a massive form. College students should lower their job expectations and change their attitude by going any place where a job is available instead of squeezing into a better condition, but crowded big cities. Community organizations should provide more jobs for young people although now those positions are mostly filled by the elderly. Finally, the major enterprises should shoulder more social responsibilities and also benefit in building a good social image for them.

Works Cited:

Bai, L. (2006, March, 24). Graduate unemployment: dilemmas and challenges in China’s move to mass higher education. The China Quarterly Volume 185, PP 128-144. Retrieved March, 24, 2011from Academic Search Complete Database.

Jobless China faces grad glut.   (2009, April 28,). Newser.com. Retrieved March, 31, 2011 from http://img2.newser.com/square-image/57409-20101109200537/jobless-china-faces-grad-glut.jpeg.