Unemployed young Chinese turn to prayers, but the government wants them on the farm
Visiting temples to ask for a job is becoming popular among young Chinese. Although the economy is recovering from the pandemic, one in five young people are currently out of work. As an alternative, Chinese authorities are encouraging new graduates to accept manual jobs.
Beijing (AsiaNews) – This year, temples are becoming favoured destinations for young Chinese tourists as the unemployment rate spikes.
The latest statistics released by the Chinese government in April show that unemployment among 16-to24-year-olds hit 19,6 per cent.
Given this situation, many young people are going in great numbers to some of the best-known temples during weekends to pray for jobs.
A report on Trip.com Group, China’s largest online travel service provider, shows orders for admission tickets to temples up by 310 per cent, with half of temple visitors born after 1990.
In Beijing, young people have visited the Yonghe Lama Temple over the past few weekends to pray for jobs, as well as inner peace, to cope with the pressure of society and a bleak job market.
Official media have, however, criticised them for going to temples. The Beijing Daily, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece in the capital, cited an official who said that those who put their hope in gods and Buddha are “going astray”.
Despite the end of the zero-Covid policy and the economy’s rebound, employment is still lagging, this at a time when a record 11,58 million college graduates are expected to enter the job market in 2023.
Private businesses provide more than 80 per cent of jobs in China; however, the authorities have cracked down on some sectors such as Internet technology and after-school tutorial, thus reducing the number of jobs available.
The authorities are encouraging state-owned companies to hire, and are providing at least a million internship positions to new graduates.
Analysts warn that high levels of unemployment could cause social unrest, as young people realise that their diplomas will not guarantee their welfare and social position.
Last November, protests broke out in some major cities with young protestors blatantly shouting political slogans regardless of the risk, forcing the authorities to drop their zero-Covid policy.
Against a background of uncertainties and limited social mobility, young graduates are complaining that they are unable to get a job after years of education, using self-deprecation and irony to get around cyber-censorship.
Official media have accused young people of being too picky in choosing jobs, urging them to accept manual work. At the same time, they have reported stories of young graduates who put aside the expertise they acquired in university and got rich by becoming street vendors or farm workers.
This kind of propaganda has drawn mockery and criticism, with one commentator writing: “The tax bureau should collect taxes on the basis of the income mentioned in these stories.”
In the southern province of Guangdong, once a vibrant region regarded as the frontier of economic reform, local authorities recently made a controversial suggestion, encouraging 300.000 young people and entrepreneurs to look for jobs in the countryside, which reminded some people of measures taken during the Mao era.
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02/06/2018 07:43
03/06/2021 17:07
