Comment: The future that Chinese young people want

Comment: The future that Chinese young people want Author: Zhang Guangzhao China is about to hold its 18th National Congress, and the leadership is about to change. At this time, the most populous country in the world...

>Author: Zhang Guangzhao

China is about to hold its 18th National Congress, and the leadership is about to change. At this time, the world's most populous country faces challenges on multiple fronts. Although these challenges have international factors, they are essentially China's internal problems.

Andrew Mertha, an expert on Chinese politics at Cornell University in the United States, recently published an article in the magazine "Asia Policy" and pointed out that China's new generation of leaders faces major challenges including the adjustment of political and economic relations between the central and local governments and the creation of multiple channels to meet social expectations (especially the expectations of the generation after 1989).

Chinese President Hu Jintao stated at the 20th Informal Leaders’ Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) on September 8 that China will work hard to promote inclusive growth in the future. It also promised that China will gradually establish a social equity guarantee system with fair rights, fair opportunities, and fair rules as its main content to promote equal access to development opportunities for everyone.

Since the reform and opening up, China's economy has been getting better and better, and people's lives have been greatly improved. But now China is facing perhaps the most important question, which is where China is going and what kind of life Chinese leaders want to lead the Chinese people to live. This is especially important for young people.

As a Chinese born in the 1980s, whether from my own feelings or from my observations of my peers, I strongly feel that one of the most urgent challenges facing the country is how to meet the social expectations of young people and eliminate their dissatisfaction.

For young people born in the 1980s and 1990s, they are extremely eager to have fair opportunities and change their destiny through their own efforts. For them, only if the channels for upward social mobility are open can the future be full of hope. However, the reality they faced was exactly the opposite. Young people of the author's generation were once considered the "Beat Generation": unable to endure hardship, lacking a sense of responsibility, etc. But it turns out, they are not. They can endure hardship and do not lack a sense of responsibility (the active participation of young people in recent group protests proves this). What they are most dissatisfied about is that when this country provides fewer and fewer opportunities, there are still so many unfairness and injustices.

For college students, especially grassroots college students, when they step out of school and enter the society, they find that many opportunities will not choose you because you are smarter and more diligent. Your competitors may not be as well-educated, capable, or diligent as you, but he or she has a rich or powerful parent or relative. If nothing else, he or she will fail the competition and be eliminated. At first, they would feel depressed and confused, but later they discovered that society was like this and stopped complaining. But the result is that deep in their hearts, dissatisfaction with society begins to accumulate bit by bit, and disappointment with the country continues to spread. Some people even feel that there is no hope. However, it would be extremely frightening when the country's most vibrant and dynamic group of people no longer have hope for the future.

There are two typical areas where they are dissatisfied. First, state-owned enterprises represented by central enterprises have formed the largest interest group in China. This group is seriously lacking in openness and has serious self-enclosed distribution of interests. Even those who graduate from China's top two universities are likely to be excluded. The other is the Civil Service Examination. First of all, it is abnormal for young people in a country to be so enthusiastic about civil servants. Let’s not discuss this issue for now. Another, perhaps more important, issue is that what was originally a fair opportunity to compete for scarce resources is now full of injustice. For some common people, good grades may not necessarily make it in, but for some people with special family backgrounds, they can still get in even if they do not do well in the exam.

The author's alumnus Huang Hong, who studied at the School of Finance at Renmin University of China, successfully passed the written test, interview and physical examination in this year's National Civil Service Examination. Both her interview score and overall score ranked first in the "Professional Supervision Position" of the Qinghai Insurance Regulatory Bureau for which she applied. She thought her hard work had finally paid off, but it turned out that the Bureau's Human Resources Department rejected her as an "introvert." Huang Hong's university teachers and colleagues at work complained about her, saying, "She is not introverted at all." However, what Huang Hong was left with was helplessness and disappointment: "I don't believe in the exam anymore, I don't trust it at all. This time, I am heartbroken."

Also, Liang Guoying, secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau of Zhongshan City, Guangdong, "cooperated" with other officials to tamper with his son's grades to help him pass the civil service examination. In fact, publicized incidents like this only account for a small proportion of overall violations, and in fact there are a large number of unknown cases of injustice. Perhaps only those young people who have also suffered unfair treatment can understand their inner anger. As a result, an interesting phenomenon now is that everyone is "advising" each other to try to avoid positions that only recruit one person when applying for a job. This is not only because the competition may be fierce, but also because the position may have been "unofficially determined."

In fact, the preliminary test, which is mainly written, is basically fair. In this link, the role of personal background is almost zero. The unfairness often occurs in the interview process and the final admission process, because these two links have no quantifiable standards and are highly subjective. Therefore, in response to this, some more fair and open mechanisms can be adopted. For example, the interview and admission process are completely open to the public. In addition, a very important reason is the protection of territorial relatives. A large number of current injustices stem from the protection of relatives with backgrounds in the jurisdiction, so we can explore the establishment of a public examination avoidance system.

It can be said that China's "post-80s" and "post-90s" young people are experiencing the tremendous pain caused by China's great transformation. When facing unprecedented social and family pressures, they at least long for the country to give them a truly fair and just opportunity. How to meet their expectations is an issue that future leaders cannot avoid.

For older people like those born in the 1970s, they long to live with dignity, their rights will not be trampled on at will, and they can enjoy good social security when they retire. But what is the reality? A blog post titled "A Letter from a Teacher at China University of Political Science and Law to His Daughter" was widely circulated on the Internet. In the letter, the doctor from Peking University lamented his incompetence and how difficult it was to obtain a household registration for his newborn daughter. Apart from being sad, if such elites cannot live a dignified life, so can the general public.

All Chinese people, including young people, are deeply dissatisfied with the extremely unequal distribution of the country's wealth. China's income gap is largely institutional and artificially widened. This requires those in power to dare to break the pattern of interests, dare to challenge the existing distribution order, and make the distribution system more scientific and fair.

Along with the rapid economic development, an oligarchy is increasingly forming within China's ruling party: a powerful bureaucratic group controls most of the country's resources and wealth. The American business think tank "Stratfor" disclosed in a report in February this year that about 0.2% of China's political and economic elites control 70% of the country's wealth. According to the latest statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics, China's Gini coefficient was 0.47 in 2004; the Institute of Social Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences pointed out at the 2010-2011 Social Situation Analysis and Forecast Report that the Gini coefficient is currently around 0.5 (according to international standards, a Gini coefficient between 0.3 and 0.4 is a normal state, exceeding 0.4 is an alert state, and reaching 0.6 is a dangerous state).

This inequality leads to social conflicts and strengthens an already tight network of political and economic ties. The most significant consequence is that even if Chinese leaders sincerely want political reform, institutional obstacles have become the biggest obstacle to the reform process. However, allowing the majority of people to share the prosperity brought about by the country's development, rather than letting a few people seize most of the country's wealth, has become an unavoidable governance issue for those in power.

Starting from the 14th National Congress, the Communist Party of China has gradually formed an institutionalized leadership collective. But another fact is that when leaders are constrained by their power, the authority and effectiveness of decision-making gradually weakens. Past experience has proved that the ultimate effectiveness of many correct reform measures has been weakened by various forms of privilege, and even alienated these reforms.

However, slowing economic growth, widening income gaps and the abuse of public power are posing severe tests to the Chinese Communist Party's ability to govern. Today's party sentiment and people's sentiments cannot be underestimated by any leader who comes to power. This is an opportunity and a driving force for China's reform. What China needs most now is a leadership group that has the courage to rebuild an inclusive political and economic system. In this system, every citizen will not be forgotten and can live happily and with dignity.

Zhang Guangzhao is a master’s student at the School of International Relations, Renmin University of China.