Everyone has a 'China Dream'

One's family background has an increasingly bigger impact on his later life, and it's becoming more difficult for people to move upward on the socioeconomic ladder, the People's Daily reported on September 16.

"Recently, the lower classes-farmers and migrant workers' children-have been less motivated to change their destinies through education as costs rose," said Su Hainan, vice chairman of the China Association for Labor Studies, told the paper. "In general, the up-flowing channel is narrowing." The article attributes the reason to tuition increases and unemployment after graduation, which have challenged the common idea that "knowledge changes destiny."

Family connections have once again become the best opportunity for obtaining employment. People whose parents have little money and power will find it difficult to get noticed, while children from wealthy families with powerful social resources have an easier time obtaining decent jobs and building better careers.

Su said that China is still in an era when great social changes will happen and that social classes will change, too. The key point is the direction these changes are heading. "We should create a social environment that encourages people to live for change, or to have a 'Chinese dream,' which means, as long as he is a Chinese citizen and works hard, no matter where, remote or urban area, he comes from, he will have the same opportunity to change his destiny through his talents and efforts. In that way will it be possible for China to have a sustainable developmental future," Su said.

(China.org.cn September 19, 2010)