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Premier encourages students to find work in western China

Premier Li Keqiang told new graduates to be enterprising and innovative in hunting for jobs in what some say is the toughest time for them to find work in recent years.

At Lanzhou University in Gansu province on Sunday, Li assured students that the government will spare no effort in helping them succeed in the difficult job market.

“Young people should be resolute and brave to start their own businesses. By doing so, you create jobs not only for yourselves but also for many others,” Li said when he met a crowd of students. “Confidence and enterprising spirit are your biggest assets.”

Li said he’s been inspired to know that some graduates from the university have taken the initiative in shouldering social responsibility by setting up their own businesses.

Huang Zheng, a 25-year-old graduate, told the premier he has just given up a job offer in administrative management in Guangzhou to set up an Internet company in Lanzhou that will help local students find jobs.

Huang said by doing so he could follow his passion and hone his skills in the real business world.

“You’ve made a good choice,” Li told Huang. “Don’t be afraid of failure.”

However, Huang told China Daily that he now lacks capital and resources and he hopes the government can help.

Under the incentive policy for new graduates who are setting up enterprises, entrepreneurs can receive a two-year tax waiver.

“But we still need about 300,000 yuan ($49,000) start-up capital,” Huang said. “We’re applying to set up our company in the local venture industrial park so that we can have a free office site.”

Venture capital and social resources are harder to come by in a western city, he said, than in big cities like Beijing or Shanghai.

During his visit to the university, Li urged students to be confident in the job market.

This year might be the toughest time for college graduates to enter the workforce in recent years. A record 6.99 million students are leaving universities in summer, a 2.8 percent increase, to hunt for jobs at a time when employers are cutting back on recruitment due to a slowing economy, according to the Ministry of Education.

“Though the number of graduates is huge, the unemployment rate (in China) is still low compared with some developed economies,” Li said.

“Young talent is the future of the nation, and the government will try every way possible to help them.”

The premier also encouraged students to work in western and remote areas of China, as the western region has become a growth engine for the country, but it still lacks innovation and talent.

In 2012, the region’s GDP increased by 12.5 percent year-on-year, much faster than in the eastern and central parts of the country.

To help graduates find jobs, the State Council has called for the implementation of existing policies favorable to graduates’ employment.

The central government has also encouraged graduates to turn toward self-employment and start their own businesses, promising to provide training subsidies, small loans, tax breaks and other incentives.

However, setting up businesses might not be easy. “Starting up a company is challenging for fresh graduates as they have no social experience or capital,” said Chen Yu, deputy director of China Association of Employment Promotion.

Entrepreneurs on average are between 35 and 44 years old when they launch their companies, according to a report on entrepreneurship released by the management committee of Zhongguancun, China’s Silicon Valley. It said lack of access to capital and experience are strong barriers for young entrepreneurs.

“When jobs are unavailable, new graduates may have to create opportunities by themselves,” Chen said. “But this is difficult for many because it is not what they have been trained to do.”

He said traditional education teaches students how to perform a job that already exists, but fails to encourage broad and creative thinking.

Market open for bilingual job seekers

Zhang Daojian, vice-president of the Confucius Institute in Islamabad, said he has had numerous requests over the past year from Chinese businesses that want to hire local Mandarin-speaking students.

“Studying Chinese is a great help to Pakistani students because many Chinese companies here want to hire people who can speak English, Urdu and Mandarin,” Zhang said.

Urdu is the national language of Pakistan, and both Urdu and English are the official languages.

“Last year a Chinese company asked me to recruit such talent, and I apologized because we had no students available,” said Zhang, a former teacher at Beijing Language and Culture University. The university established the Confucius Institute in Islamabad in 2007.

Zhang said some of the students who are fluent in Mandarin went to China for further studies, and the rest were hired in Pakistan.

“Generally, their jobs are really good, and most of them are working in banking or for leading Chinese enterprises,” he said.

The Confucius Institute gave Mandarin lessons to 6,000 students in 2012 amid the nationwide drive to learn the language.
“Mandarin lessons are compulsory in the leading elementary schools here,” Zhang said.

The Confucius Institute also co-hosted a series of cultural events to boost public diplomacy. One such event last year impressed Zhang with the Pakistani public’s enthusiasm for Chinese culture.

Local enthusiasm

“We participated in a cuisine festival last year, and China’s booth attracted many people.

The traditional friendship between the two neighbors is one of the reasons Pakistanis want to learn Chinese, he said.

“Economic, political and cultural exchanges are frequent between the two countries, which naturally provides a major boost to the demand for learning Mandarin.”

Traditional Chinese culture also appeals a lot to the local people, Zhang added.

Although Pakistanis have a strong desire to learn Chinese, Zhang said maintaining that enthusiasm is difficult.

“Some students have been brought up in well-off families, and they went to Britain or the United States for further studies after abruptly ending their Mandarin lessons,” he said.

Others who get posts at branches of Chinese companies in Pakistan are not interested in furthering their studies, Zhang added.

Security concerns

The security situation in Pakistan also is a concern, Zhang said. The media seldom reports good news about Pakistan, and the country has been depicted as being overwhelmed by bombings and earthquakes, he added.

One recent explosion several kilometers from the institute killed more than 20 people.

One of the institute’s teachers was giving lessons near the site of the bombing, but no one with the institute was hurt.

The security issue is a concern for some teachers from Beijing before they leave for Islamabad, Zhang said.

But the situation in Islamabad is relatively safe compared with elsewhere in the country, and one will be all right if he or she takes precautions, he said.

No Chinese teacher may leave Islamabad without Zhang’s permission, and he suggests that they finish their shopping early in the morning.

“I told them to leave at 7:30 am to buy fruits and vegetables and ensure they return before 8:30 am. The fewer people there are on the streets, the safer it is.”

Apple’s China Unit Hiring Across Environmental Affairs, Security, Retail

Apple is reported to be hiring over 200 people in China and the hiring will be across environmental affairs, security and in its retail segment.

On its LinkedIn page for China the iDevice giant is ramping up its employee base, writes Wall Street Journal’s Digits Blog. In past few years the iPhone and iPad maker has been hit hard. Environmental activists have filed complaints frequently claiming its China-based manufacturing facility harms the environment. Foxconn is the largest manufacturing partner of Apple in the country and has suffered such complaints too.

Apple has lately come forward in improving the environmental-friendliness at its manufacturing partners including Foxconn and has regularly updated them of the efforts taken in those areas.

Digits blog writes further the environmental affairs program manager of Apple would be working out in Beijing to “ensure that Apple’s products and processes meet and surpass regional and national environmental regulatory requirements.”

The iDevice giant wants to recruit reliable and perfect employees in those positions to the earliest. About the other disciplines there are no words from either Apple or its manufacturing partners as of now.

China manufacturing weak in July – surveys

Chinese manufacturing remained weak last month with SME businesses suffering a bigger share of the pain, two surveys showed today.

The official China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing’s manufacturing index strengthened slightly to 50.3 from June’s 50.1.

Separately, the private HSBC purchasing managers’ index fell to an 11-month low of 47.7 from 48.2 in June.

Any reading over 50 signals expansion in a sector, while a figure under 50 signals contraction.

The unexpected rebound in the official survey offered a glimmer of hope that China’s slowdown is stabilising. But analysts warned that it was still too early to conclude a decisive growth rebound because the pickup “is still far too modest.

The results also reflect how China’s small and medium-sized private enterprises, which analysts say make up a bigger share of HSBC’s survey, are more vulnerable to efforts to tighten up lending as well as to slumping global export demand for toys, clothing, electronics and other manufactured goods.

China’s big state-owned companies have easier access to bank loans and hardly compete in export markets.

The HSBC report, covering 420 companies, said output at Chinese manufacturers fell as total new orders dropped at the sharpest rate in 11 months because of a decline in new business in both China and overseas. Export orders fell for the fourth month in a row, though at a slower pace.

Exporters said that new sales to Europe, Southeast Asia and the US fell from June. Chinese manufacturers also shed jobs at the fastest pace in four years.

The federation’s survey of 3,000 businesses, meanwhile, found production, new orders and most other sub-indicators moved higher. New export orders improved but remained below an index reading of 50 last month.

Fallout from China’s manufacturing slump may be felt globally, as declining orders result in less demand for commodities from countries such as Australia and Brazil and for industrial components from Southeast Asia, Taiwan and South Korea.

China has recorded five quarters of growth below 8% in a row – a substantial economic cooling for a country that previously grew at double-digit rates. Analysts said the survey results indicate smaller private companies may still be feeling the effects of a credit shortage that began in June as Chinese regulators try to rein in a lending boom over fears it could race out of control.

The credit crunch caused interest rates on loans between banks to spike to a record high. China’s central bank wants to tighten lending standards, which should reduce risk but is likely to reduce financing for private businesses that generate China’s new jobs and wealth.

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security Seeks Comments on Regulating Labor Dispatch

China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued provisions that align closely with recent changes to the PRC Labor Contract Law in order to help standardize labor dispatch in the country. The draft calls for a clearer definition of auxiliary positions, which will affect employers that historically employ a large amount of dispatched employees. However, a grace period is also provided so that employers can adjust their employment models in China.

On 7 August 2013, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of the People’s Republic of China promulgated “Several Provisions on Labor Dispatch (Draft for Comments)” (the Draft) to solicit public opinion on how to regulate the labor dispatch in the country. This effort is intended to echo the Decision of Amendment of the Labor Contract Law (the Decision), effective from 1 July 2013, for the purpose of detailing the rules for labor dispatch and providing implementation guidance.

Highlights

Union Involvement

The Draft echoes the Decision’s recommendation that labor dispatch shall only apply to positions of temporary, auxiliary and substitutive nature (Three Characters). In addition to the established definitions that a temporary position applies only to a position lasting no longer than six months, and a substitutive position applies to a position vacated for off-work studies, time off, etc., the Draft specifies that an employer shall propose the list of auxiliary positions in line with industry features and business operation needs, and confirm the list upon consultation with a labor union or employee representative meeting before making it public.

The Draft further reinforces the supervisory function of the labor union in that if an employer violates the provisions—especially regarding Three Characters—or the maximum ratio of dispatched employees, the labor union is entitled to raise concerns and ask for corrective actions.

Maximum Ratio of Dispatched Employees

The Draft mandates 10 per cent as the maximum ratio for dispatched employees among the total employee pool of an employer. That said, an employer cannot unlimitedly set auxiliary positions and should be limited to the ratio ceiling at 10 per cent. Such limitation would have a great impact on companies that have a large amount of dispatched employees, and certain adjustments would be accommodated in order to comply with the law, as well as optimize the benefits for the business.

Expanded Coverage of Labor Dispatch Services

According to the Draft, if an employer subcontracts certain business operations to a third-party contractor but still takes direct control and management of the employees of the said contractor, such subcontracting behavior shall be regarded as labor dispatch, and therefore subject to the regulations on labor dispatch.

This expanded definition of labor dispatch is meant to prevent an employer from taking advantage of the subcontract to circumvent the restrictions and limitations for labor dispatch, including, but without limitation to, the maximum ratio of dispatched employees. Therefore, it requires special attention and due consideration when an employer intends to adopt the subcontracting model for certain parts of its business operations.

Liability

The penalty for violating the rules on labor dispatch is RMB 5,000 to RMB 10,000 per person. It is worth noting, however, that if an employer violates the relevant rules on labor dispatch, especially those of “Three Characters” and the ratio ceiling of auxiliary positions, and makes no rectification within one month of being given administrative penalty, the dispatched employees will be deemed to have established an employment relationship with the employer, and the employment contract will be deemed to take effect one day after the end of the one-month period after receiving the penalty.

Grace Period

The Draft provides a grace period for employers to be compliant. That said, any labor dispatch duly established prior to 1 July 2013, when the Decision took effect, shall continue to be in force until the expiration of the term period, which is up to two years. If the existing labor dispatch does not follow the “Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value” principle, it is further proposed that the amendment shall be made accordingly and immediately. Further, for any employer that has a large amount of dispatched employees exceeding the 10 per cent ratio ceiling, it shall not recruit any new dispatched employees, even for auxiliary positions.

Conclusion

To summarize, the Draft calls for clear identification of the auxiliary positions through participation in either a labor union or employee representative meeting followed by the strict 10 per cent ratio ceiling for all auxiliary positions in any event. This gives little room for an employer to maneuver if such employer historically has had a large amount of dispatched employees. However, the Draft also provides for a grace period so that an employer could take time to consider and adjust its employment model in China.

High-tech firms encouraged to recruit more graduates

Chinese high-tech enterprises have been encouraged to find more vacancies for graduates due to the country’s mounting employment pressure.

High-tech companies are working hard to recruit more than 950,000 of the record-high 6.99 million graduates this year, according to science and technology minister Wan Gang.

More than 3.62 million university graduates have been employed by the country’s 49,000 high-tech companies since a regulation dedicated to develop such firms was introduced in 2008, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

“High-tech enterprises should actively bear social responsibility and take the lead in terms of providing graduates with more suitable positions,” said Wan.

The number of Chinese graduates will rise 3 percent year on year during the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015), said Xin Changxing, vice minister of human resources and social security.

China’s high-tech enterprises are largely located in the country’s first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Influencing China’s healthcare industry

Allegations that British drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline has paid millions of dollars in bribes to increase its market share in China have thrown the spotlight on the country’s murky pharmaceutical industry.

China’s health spending is projected to soar from $357bn (£232bn) in 2011 to $1tn in 2020, according to a report by McKinsey, the global management consultancy group.

And with sales slowing in the West, the global drugs giants want a share of the booming profits in China.

But now the Chinese authorities say they are investigating up to 60 pharmaceutical firms in an effort to curb drugs prices.

Chinese doctors who spoke on condition of anonymity to the BBC – fearing they would lose their jobs for speaking out – say the healthcare system is awash with corruption.

They say that the pharmaceutical firms, both foreign and Chinese, have enormous influence.

‘Bribery chain’
That is because Chinese hospitals traditionally rely on pharmaceutical sales as a major source of income.

Government funding is often barely enough to cover basic operational costs at most hospitals.

So doctors rely on drug prescriptions – and the kickbacks that come with them – to bulk up their pay.

But the doctors we spoke to stressed that they were at the “very end of the bribery chain”.

“State and food administrators need to decide if the drugs are safe,” said one doctor.

“And then, when the drugs reach the hospital, the directors get involved. Everyone takes their cut. And by the time it reaches the doctors there is very little money to be made.”

While Chinese companies will offer incentives in the form of cash to prescribe certain drugs, foreign companies will offer lecture fees or conferences at hotels, the doctors claim.

The medical staff we spoke to say they depended upon the income. Despite China’s booming economy, they receive meagre salaries.

“My basic monthly salary is about $600,” said one surgeon with 30 years of experience. “Without bribery I could not live a decent life.”

But increasingly, doctors in China are bearing the brunt of public anger over bribery. Patients often complain of being given tests they do not need and being prescribed expensive drugs.

According to Chinese state media, there were more than 17,000 violent incidents in Chinese hospitals in 2010. Several hospitals in Beijing have also reportedly beefed up their security.

Market survival
Fixing the system is one of the priorities of China’s new leaders. The Chinese government has promised to rein in soaring health costs as the authorities roll out a national health insurance plan.

They plan to introduce national reforms to lower drugs prices and pay doctors more.

Tackling the powerful pharmaceutical industry also fits with President Xi Jinping’s pledges to do more to root out widespread corruption, which is a source of enormous public anger.

James McGregor, a businessman and author who has spent more than 20 years in China, said foreign companies make a convenient first target for the authorities.

“It’s all about market survival for foreign firms because there are local businesses that want their market share,” he said.

“At the same time there are political reforms that look like they are going to happen in the state sector. And I think the authorities are going to be going after some very tough players. So if you go after the foreigners first it may soften the way a little bit. ”

But the doctors we spoke to said the healthcare system needed a total overhaul. They said the key problem was that the government was not spending enough money to guarantee decent healthcare.

But they all agreed there was no easy fix.

“I’m a Communist Party member,” said one doctor. “I probably shouldn’t say this but the system is rotten to the core. It’s hard to cure a deeply ingrained disease.”

Boost for private capital in banking industry

Rules remove capital adequacy ratio requirements, limits of equity investment for financial institutions
The Chinese government is loosening its reins on private capital’s entry into the banking industry to encourage more lending to small businesses, according to a draft of new rules released by the China Banking Regulatory Commission.
In a statement dated Aug 9, the commission said it has revised rules regarding administrative licenses for Chinese lenders and is seeking feedback from the public until Sept 9.

According to the rules, it has removed the capital adequacy ratio requirements and upper limits of equity investment for domestic financial institutions that will initiate the establishment of a commercial bank.

Instead, it added a requirement that the initiator must possess a good social reputation, have no record of illegal behavior and have no big issues regarding improper internal management.

Zhou Dewen, the chairman of the Wenzhou Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Development Association, said the new rules will further open the door for private capital to enter the financial field because it lowers the threshold for private companies.

He said a large proportion of private capital is in the hands of individuals instead of with an organization that has registered at an administration for industry and commerce, therefore the removal of the previous requirements would facilitate such capital to enter the banking business.

“We noticed the new rules have also added some restrictions, such as private players only using their own capital to hold banking shares, instead of purchasing shares on behalf of others. This is necessary for containing the risks of private banks,” Zhou said.

The new rules also loosened the requirements for banks wanting to set up branches in China and overseas by removing the standards for banks’ allocated capital for their branch operations during the application.

Lower thresholds to establish a bank in China would encourage some large financial institutions to extend their footprint in small, medium-sized and regional banking services and thus promote financial support for small businesses, said Guo Tianyong, director of the Research Center of the Chinese Banking Industry at the Central University of Finance and Economics.

He said the commission has also increased the capital adequacy requirements for banks’ overseas institutions, to prevent overseas risks from spreading to domestic sectors.

On Monday, the State Council, China’s cabinet, vowed to improve financial support to small businesses, in a statement released on its website, while the economy continues to falter and the government is curbing over-rapid credit expansion.
The development of small financial institutions will be further encouraged to improve financial services to small businesses – and the threshold at which small companies can raise funds directly on the capital markets will be lowered, it said.

“We would encourage large and medium-sized banks to develop special institutions and outlets for lending to small businesses at a faster pace and improve the scale and standardization of such lending,” said the State Council.

The commission figures show that only 45 percent of the total shares of joint-stock commercial banks were in private hands at the end of 2012.

China is stepping up its efforts to get private enterprises into more businesses, said Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services in a report published on Monday.

“For the third time since the Asian financial crisis, the country is in the midst of another major push to get private enterprises into more businesses,” said Standard & Poor’s credit analyst KimEng Tan. “If the reformers prove to be third-time lucky then strong economic growth could continue to be a key sovereign-rating support for the foreseeable future.”

CEO of Recruitment Firm Zhaopin Sees Strong Job Market in China

Worried about China’s slowing economy? Evan Guo, chief executive officer of Zhaopin Ltd., has more than 2.5 million reasons not to. That’s the number of job opportunities posted on Zhaopin.com, one of China’s largest recruitment websites.

Despite sharply slower growth, the world’s second-largest economy continues to create jobs, he says.

Zhaopin, which is majority-owned by Australian job site Seek Ltd., SEK.AU +2.16% chalked up revenue of $138 million in 2012 with a workforce of 3,200, benefiting from a growing economy and an increasingly Internet-savvy, job-hopping young workforce. But they also face challenges from rival Chinese job sites such as 51job Inc., JOBS -1.54% and from the rise of social networks. Mr. Guo, who previously worked at management consultancy McKinsey & Co. and helmed a state-owned enterprise in China’s logistics sector, sat down with The Wall Street Journal in his Beijing office to discuss the evolution of China’s Internet and why the models you learn at business school don’t work in China. Edited excerpts:

WSJ: What did you learn at McKinsey that has helped you in your current role?

Mr. Guo: At McKinsey you learn ways of thinking, analytic frameworks. But often they are not applicable to the entrepreneurial world in China. In the Western approach, you look at key performance indicators, you check the data. But in China you have to respond very quickly to changes in policy, what employees are thinking, often based on little data. You have to act based on gut feelings; if you act according to what the text books say, you will get it wrong.

WSJ: There is a lot of concern about the slowdown in China’s growth. How concerned are you?

Mr. Guo: We won’t see a return to 10% growth. Expectations now are for something around 7%. But that’s not a disaster. If I look at our own business, employment is still growing. High-tech, logistics, services, health care are all recruiting. We’re also seeing rapid growth in job opportunities in third- and fourth-tier cities. I’ve spoken to a lot of small firms and they are growing fast and adding workers.

WSJ: Do you see any sectors that are doing less well?

Mr. Guo: We see fewer job opportunities in manufacturing, and also in retail. Retail is worrying because the government wants to boost Chinese consumption. But when we look at how shopping malls are doing, they are not doing so well. E-commerce explains some of it, but not all of it.

WSJ: In the U.S., social networks like LinkedIn have been a major challenge to recruitment websites like Monster. How will that play out in China?

Mr. Guo: In the U.S., LinkedIn has overtaken Monster but so far it has not had much impact in China. Chinese are very practical when it comes to switching jobs. You can see that in how Chinese talk about salary. In the U.S. it’s considered rude to talk about how much you earn, but in China people are quite open about it.

Zhaopin tells Chinese job seekers what they want: “Can I get more money in this job?” LinkedIn is through social networks, so it’s very indirect.

We survey students about where they most want to work. A few years ago, they all wanted to work at multinational firms like Google and Microsoft. Now they see Chinese firms doing well and see them as more desirable, so I am not too worried about competition from overseas firms.

WSJ:Guanxi, or personal connections, is meant to be very important in China. But that’s not how Zhaopin works.

Mr. Guo: Job seekers always want the best opportunities. Guanxi can tell you about some of the opportunities, but recruitment websites can tell you about all the opportunities and give you salary comparisons. At the entry-level or the midlevel that’s important. For top executives, then it’s about personal connections again—they won’t be using the website.

WSJ: There is a wave of consolidation in China’s Internet. What does that mean for Zhaopin.com?

Mr. Guo: The Internet giants can drive big traffic, but traffic doesn’t resolve marketplace issues. In verticals like recruitment or real estate, you need deep knowledge of what customers are searching for to succeed, and that’s not easy to develop. I don’t worry too much about whether we have this business model or that business model—if I did that I would never sleep. It’s more important to think about what customers want and how to give it to them.

WSJ: How much space does Zhaopin.com still have to grow?

Mr. Guo: We are already covering 100 cities so that is already quite wide. But in terms of depth we are quite shallow, covering about 20% of the marketplace. The price employers pay to advertise with us is also quite low by international comparison, so in volume terms and in price terms we have room to grow.

WSJ: Is an initial public offering on the agenda?

Mr. Guo: We are considering an IPO in the future. That depends on capital-market conditions, our own strategy and execution, and what employees want—they see an IPO as a source of pride and a landmark for the firm.

WSJ: How receptive do you think foreign investors are to Chinese firms right now?

Mr. Guo: You have to distinguish between private and public markets. In the private markets, I see private equity and venture capital investors are hungry for deals. But there are less and less good deals and they become more and more expensive. On public markets, high-quality Chinese companies still get attention. Some big funds are interested in Zhaopin.com. But for individual investors, it’s more difficult to understand the opportunity when they can’t even pronounce the name of the firm.

Résumé
Education: Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, 1999, with a master’s in business administration.

Career: In 1994, Mr. Guo was one of the first analysts in China employed directly by McKinsey, a firm he left as a global partner. He started a software outsourcing firm and headed state-owned logistics operation Sinotrans Air Transportation Development Co., before joining Zhaopin as chief executive in 2010.

Corrections & Amplifications
In an earlier version of this story, the credit accompanying the photo of Zhaopin Ltd. Chief Executive Evan Guo misstated the source of the image as Zhaopin Ltd. The photo was taken by Lilian Lin, a Wall Street Journal researcher.

Employment pressures affect young Chinese love lives

For 22-year-old college graduate Han Xiaolei, the upcoming Qixi Festival, also known as Chinese Valentine’s Day, is doomed to be a heartbreaking one.

The native of central China’s city of Wuhan just broke up with his girlfriend, who had to go back to her hometown in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region after failing to find a job in Wuhan, as Han did.

“I cried a lot on the day we broke up and it still hurts. We were together for three years, but our love had to surrender to reality,” Han said.

Soaring living costs and the growing difficulty of finding a job have made it difficult for young Chinese to maintain healthy romantic relationships. Even those who are fortunate enough to find a job are often overworked and underpaid, leaving them with no time or money to sustain a relationship.

“The reality for graduates in China is that their relationships are directly affected by their employment status,” said Fan Xianzuo, a professor at Central China Normal University who has been studying the post-college lives of the school’s graduates.

According to a nationwide employment survey conducted by Wuhan University, about 43 percent of China’s graduates may be unemployed in 2013 as a result of the country’s weakening economy.

An employment report issued by the Beijing Youth Stress Management Service Center in May showed that the average monthly pay for this year’s new graduates is 2,000 to 2,500 yuan (327 to 408 U.S. dollars), accounting for 60 percent of the average monthly salary for new grads in 2012.

Although Beijing resident Yang Lijun managed to nail down a job in the same city as her boyfriend after graduating from Tsinghua University, she is still having difficulty in keeping their romance alive.

“We have no time to be as romantic as before, as my job’s night shifts basically deprive me of the opportunity to see him,” Yang said.

“We have no time or money for regular celebrations. Life has made us the most unromantic people in the world,” she said.
Yang now lives with three roommates in a 60-square-meter apartment and only sees boyfriend during weekends. Her monthly rent is 2,400 yuan, nearly two-thirds of her monthly pay.

It is customary for young Chinese couples to purchase a home before getting married. Many women even refuse to marry a man before he has obtained a home. However, growing housing prices have made it difficult for young men to do so.

The average transaction price for a single square meter of housing in Beijing in July was 25,292 yuan, as estimated by HomeLink, a property brokerage firm.

“When I think about the down payment on our future apartment, my mood for romance is immediately gone,” Yang said.

Fan said he believes new graduates like Han and Yang need the care and support of all of society, as young people will play a significant role in China’s future development.

“Unlike their parents, this generation was born and raised during an economic boom. Few of them have had difficult life experiences, so they need time and support to become strong and independent, both financially and mentally,”Fane said.

Li Tonggui, a social psychology professor at Peking University, said more social services should be offered in order to help graduates adapt to post-campus life.

Although things have been difficult so far, Yang said she is still confident in the future of her relationship.

“The days when we work hard together for our future can be a lifetime fortune for us. It doesn’t matter how we celebrate the Qixi Festival. A phone call or a text message could be the best gift, as long as we are together,” she said.