Dodson reports, "Tsinghua University in Beijing reported in early 2010 that 90 percent of the country's white-collar workers were highly stressed. People interviewed in the study listed the escalating cost of owning a home in China as the primary cause of stress, followed by education costs and the competition for jobs. The new middle class also has the added burden of a relatively expensive and overstretched health-care system with which to contend" (Dodson, 27). Really, the middle class in China today have great anxiety over money: how they earn their money, and what they spend their money on.
Competition in the workplace creates much anxiety for those who have jobs because there are so many other people that could take their place if they are not working perfectly and efficiently 100 percent of the time. To get into these jobs, people must put themselves through rigorous studying and take a very difficult exam that could make or break their future. However, good scores on this exam doesn't guarantee anyone a spot in university or always provide job opportunities.
I think the competition in China is much greater and much more stressful than the competition in the United States. The problems the middle class in China faces seem very familiar, as many of the people here in the US face the same struggles. However, the population of China - the growing number of middle class citizens and qualified students and employees - is a much larger group than we have here. There isn't enough room for the people in China to have everything they want, nor is there enough power in the people to stop the government from taking things away from them. Americans struggle with the costs of health care and higher education, finding a job and owning a home, but the Chinese people have less freedom and stability in their government to change the way their system works, as the government consistently takes away from everyone but the rich and powerful. The Chinese people have many reasons to be anxious.
Chapter Three:
Migrant workers from China's countryside
travel to cities to find jobs and make money in order to pay for a better life
for their family: their loved ones back home in the country. The residents of
China’s cities need these migrant workers to do the jobs they’re not willing to
do. These “country-dwellers” aid in the process of modernizing China with
determination and little, or at the least, silent, complaint. The fact of the
matter is, these migrant workers need jobs and they will do whatever they need
to to receive an income and make a better life for their families, regardless
of whether they are reaping the benefits themselves.
While China is modernizing and expanding,
with city populations steadily growing, the Hùkǒu system in effect makes a change in residency more difficult. Workers
from the countryside are not allowed to move from their rural home to where
their work is in the city because their Hùkǒu is based in the countryside. Basically, this system prevents any
permanent relocation from country to city and vice versa. The Hùkǒu is just one more way for the government to have
control over its citizens. I think that the Chinese people should have the
option of relocation to whatever part of the country they desire. However, with
the growth in city population, I think those who live in the country have a
good thing going and may regret relocating to an urban area if they had the
chance.
When I first read of the migrant workers
and how people need these workers to do the less desirable jobs, I was reminded
of the immigrants in the United States. Much like the migrant workers in China,
it’s a sad fact that most immigrants here take the less desirable jobs. We look
down upon these kinds of jobs, thinking we’re too good to do them, but we don’t
even realize the importance of the workers who perform these tasks and how
utterly lost we’d be if they weren’t here. I feel like it’s the same situation
in China, as city dwellers would not choose to do these jobs, so they’re left
to citizens who have no other options. If no workers from the countryside came
to the city to work, what would the city-dweller do?
Chapter Four:
The most compelling piece of information
I read in chapter four was the discussion Dodson and three of his colleagues
had over lunch one day in 2008.
“Talk
turned to the dangerous levels of pollution generated by industry in China. I
was startled when the two managers who had lived and worked abroad
agreed wholeheartedly that China’s level of illnesses and fatalities due to
pollution from unregulated industries was necessary and well-worth the cost for
China to become a wealthy nation” (Dodson, 74).
This part of the chapter really made me stop and consider just how far China
and its industries are willing to go in this process of modernizing and "bettering" their country. How many illnesses and fatalities will it take to make the
Chinese government realize the danger they're causing? How much damage to the Earth and how
many complaints received will it take for the government to get a grip on the situation? While
other countries of the world don’t have such a clean track record either, at
least measures are being taken to improve the conditions of the Earth from the
pollution that was created. How can the Chinese people
believe these sorts of things are just something they have to deal with until a
new China is created? What if these factories, corporations, etc. never change?
What kind of message is it going to take to make China and its people realize
that the conditions they’re creating aren't good ones?
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