The Success of Young Chinese People

2006-02-17

Bartłomiej Magierowski

Young Chinese people. Ambitious, dynamic, and hungry for success. Thanks to them, the Chinese economy is currently developing faster than anywhere else in the world. Bartłomiej Magierowski writes about the human potential of the Middle Kingdom in his report from China.

There are only a few cities in China that are developing so successfully and attract young people (often from poor villages and smaller towns) who come there to achieve success. One of them is Shenzhen – a special economic zone, one of five in China. Young people are also looking for their opportunities in other large and small cities across China. The most important thing is that these cities are industrialized and located close to the coast.

Increasingly, even simple rural families understand how important education is and try to support their children in this area. They know that, in a sense, it is an investment that will pay off after a dozen or so years. People with higher education and knowledge of foreign languages: English, Japanese, and sometimes German or French, leave their hometowns in search of a better life.

Education, knowledge of foreign languages, computer skills, and basic knowledge of trade and transportation – these are guarantees of employment in Shenzhen or another industrial city in China. The first job is not always ideal, and the salary may be 2,000 yuan, which is about 800 PLN. Chinese people are very ambitious; they quickly learn how to apply their knowledge in practice, gain experience, acquire customers, and learn the secrets of a particular product or service. After only a few months, they expect better pay. If their employer offers nothing, they quickly find a second, third, and subsequent job.

People arriving from other provinces of China often have great hopes connected with their stay in Shenzhen. This six-million-person metropolis has a lot to offer. Young people quickly advance here, achieve professional success, and often before the age of 30 buy apartments and cars on credit, or even start their own businesses. There is no shortage of work for them in millions of trading companies, thousands of factories, hundreds of joint ventures, and dozens of Japanese corporations. Work is booming.

For example, a girl who started with a simple office job can become a manager after just a few years and earn between 10,000 and 20,000 yuan. In Shenzhen, probably nobody works for a mere bowl of rice anymore, and the wages of ordinary workers are often higher than those offered to employees in Poland who work under poor conditions in supermarkets or fast-food restaurants.

Of course, not everyone in China has such a successful life. China's large metropolises attract not only people with higher education. There is also no shortage of jobs for doormen, cooks, security guards, waitresses, cashiers... Their earnings are comparable to those in Poland, while the cost of living in the Middle Kingdom is practically half as low. In Poland, a security guard or factory worker usually does not receive meals as part of their employment, whereas in China factories and companies often provide lunch and accommodation. These are by no means beautiful apartments with sea views; rather, they are modest, often unattractive rooms where 4 to 8 people live together.

Chinese people are accustomed to a modest lifestyle. People earning large sums of money quickly save their income in one or several bank accounts, and buy large apartments worth 200,000 or 300,000 Polish zlotys. People with lower incomes are generally not aware that they are being exploited; quite the opposite – they appreciate every job and every opportunity, and the money they earn allows them to survive in Shenzhen and support their families who remain in the countryside.

Many people manage to achieve success, but there are also those like the young engineer I met on a train to Changsha. He spent several days in Shenzhen, visiting a popular job market (employment center) every day. Eventually, he returned to his hometown because he no longer had enough money to continue staying away from home. Shenzhen attracts people, but it can also discourage them or lead them down the wrong path.