Business

Communist missionaries spread the gospel of the party in rural China

Sherry Shang could have pursued a comfortable media career after graduating from a top university with a master’s degree in journalism last June, but the 25-year-old went to a village instead. small in Hunan province, where she enforces Covid-19 regulations and signs establishing locals to join the Communist Party of China.

The Tsinghua University graduate had previously interned at tech giant Tencent and state broadcaster CCTV but found the job unappealing. “This job has allowed me to understand go to work [grassroots]to learn about real Chinese society,” she speaks.

Shang is just one of tens of thousands of graduates who have landed jobs in China’s subsidized bureaucracy. New cadres are often deployed in rural areas, far from the megacities that have fueled the country’s economic growth over the past few decades.

She joins an elite civil service program called new year or “recruitment and transfer”. It takes ambitious young men from top universities and turns them into managers at the lowest levels of government in towns and villages.

Applicants recommended by their university and their locality Communist Party branch before sitting interview and writing exam. After a few years as political cadres, some graduates are quickly appointed to more senior roles with central and provincial governments.

Shang hopes to work for the Hunan provincial government after living in the countryside. “We [xuan diao students] can advance quickly. I just want to do something for the society, for the whole country,” she said.

Staff members on duty at the west gate of Tsinghua University in Haidian District, Beijing
Tsinghua University in Beijing. A record 10.76 million students who received their diplomas in China this summer are now facing a youth unemployment rate of 18.4% © Costfoto / Future Publishing / Getty Images

Victor Shih, professor of Chinese political economy at the University of California, San Diego, said that new year is the birthplace of Communist Party leaders, especially now when Marxism Studies and ideology is becoming increasingly important in China.

“There is a fairly high percentage of college students at elite universities who become party members in China. If the party mobilizes people, there will be quite a bit of pressure to answer the party’s call,” he said.

A recruitment document for new year Shanxi province stipulates that applicants must have “good political qualities, a sense of political mission, and lofty aspirations. [and be] ready to serve the country and the people”.

While some students become village cadres out of a sense of responsibility and faith, many others have chosen to embrace the “iron rice bowl” of safe work for the state as China’s economy stagnates under its burden. strict zero-Covid mission and growth slowed.

The job market is especially tough for young people, with the youth unemployment rate reaching 18.4%, according to data from Japanese investment bank Nomura released in April.

“We see a larger number of students interested in these go to work Shih said. “You wouldn’t see the numbers we see this year if the job market was that bad.”

Katherine, another recent masters graduate who didn’t want to give her last name, struggled to find work in the private sector and was relieved when she was introduced to new year program.

“I felt so excited that I cried when I was accepted,” she said. “We are from Tsinghua University, but when we apply to internet or media companies, there are a lot of students competing for just one spot.”

According to data analytics firm MyCOS, this summer, 10.76 million students received diplomas, the highest number in modern Chinese history and a record 2 million graduate students submitted. applications to take government entrance exams, according to data analytics firm MyCOS.

The officers are a bit like “Peace Corps volunteers with executive power,” said Shih of the University of California.

Katherine, who admits that her new job is both repetitive and sometimes stressful, will eventually be sent to a rural area outside Beijing, where she hopes to help farmers with e-commerce initiative. According to MyCOS, her salary of around Rmb 10,000 ($1,500) per month is significantly higher than the average starting salary of Rmb5,833 for fresh graduates.

Some analysts say the plan echoes the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, when many young people from urban areas were “sent down” to live among rural communities. They include Xi Jinping, President of China.

“This party-state program aimed at attracting top students focuses more on the ideological correctness of the students,” said Mary Gallagher, a professor of political science at the University of Michigan.

“It also places an emphasis on the accumulation of experience and hard work that Xi Jinping has tried to encourage in the bureaucracy.”

A PhD graduate in public policy from a top university has started new year training before being deployed to a rural district outside Shanghai next month.

The 27-year-old, who did not want to be named, said he feels lucky to be accepted into the program in the current fierce competition. “The Chinese think that joining the government is a good job. Stable income, nice location”, he said.

“But if I had majored in economics, I would have worked in the private sector. That’s where they really make money.”

Source link

news7h

News7h: Update the world's latest breaking news online of the day, breaking news, politics, society today, international mainstream news .Updated news 24/7: Entertainment, Sports...at the World everyday world. Hot news, images, video clips that are updated quickly and reliably

Related Articles

Back to top button
Immediate Peak