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College grads work in countryside
August 10, 2010, Tuesday
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COLLEGE graduates traditionally want city jobs but high unemployment has sent quite a few into rural Hangzhou to work as village officials. The city recently honored their contributions. Xu Wenwen reports.
More and more young people are going to college but there are far from enough "good" jobs for educated youth. Given fierce job competition, some graduates are heading to remote rural areas and helping villagers.
Once, such a scenario would have been a nightmare for young people with expectations of working in highly paid positions in foreign-invested companies.
Today, rural life has its appeal, and the national and local governments are encouraging and giving incentives to young people who put their degrees to work in the countryside.
Since 2007, more than 1,800 college graduates have gone to Hangzhou's rural suburbs to work as village officials and assistants to promote economic development.
They have made a big difference, some have even started rural businesses that employ locals.
To honor the contribution of college graduates, the Hangzhou government on July 20 honored 12 young people as "Excellent Village Officials" and 10 as "Good Village Officials."
On the same day, those young people set up their own organization, a club of more than 120 college-educated village officials to discuss building the local economy and running business. More than 110 of them run businesses that provide around 600 jobs for locals.
Mostly these young people function as assistants to leaders of village committees, effectively low-level officials.
In the past few years they have made contributions in properly utilizing local resources, running plantations, breeding livestock, selling agricultural products and offering rural tourism.
Those who have started businesses also have improved the economy and shown farms how to run successful businesses.
But these fresh-faced officials are not immediately accepted, since officials are traditionally elected from residents who are older than the students. So they have to earn respect through the results of their work.
"There was a lot of confusion and skepticism about us," says Huangfu Xinliang, assistant to the director of Qinxi Village, Tonglu County, Hangzhou. He's also a member of the young businessmen's club.
Economy boost
Locals did not understand what these educated officials were supposed to do or how they could possibly be of use.
Qinxi Village where Huangfu works is mountainous and underdeveloped. To help raise revenue, Huangfu investigated the situation and decided to start a business of planting and selling local specialties.
He started with 11 hectares of camellia tea to produce healthy camellia tea oil from the seeds.
In less than a year he expanded to more than 30 hectares that also include bamboo, fruits and vegetables. He estimates that in three years annual production can reach 300,000 yuan (US$44,282) in value.
His next plan is to turn the scenic area into a destination for rural tourism.
Examples of start-ups benefiting the economy abound.
Another college-educated village official and businessman is 26-year-old Huang Zhechao from Longfu Village, Tonglu County. He is director of a fashion company and was approved as a village official last year, when he was already in business.
Huang, who graduated from college three years ago, hails from Tonglu County but decided to give up his city life to run a business in his hometown. Inspired by local textiles, corn and bamboo crops, he wondered if he could combine them. With only 2,000 yuan to start, he connected with a postgraduate student from Shanghai as the partner. After more than 2,500 frustrating experiments they invented fabric made from corn fiber and bamboo fiber - they look like regular clothes, but they are eco-friendly and easy to wash.
At the club's opening on July 20, Huang demonstrated the benefits of his fabric. He poured oil and soy sauce on a piece of fabric, placed it and water and rubbed; soon the stains were gone. The fabric is mostly exported to Singapore and western Europe.
So far, his company has employed 23 locals and another eight college-educated village officials.
Young officials who studied tourism are developing rural areas into destinations. Those who studied computer science have set up Internet stores for farmers and those who studied law offer free legal advice.
It's not only happening around Hangzhou.
More than 60 percent of China's population is rural and many areas are underdeveloped. Since the 1990s, the central government has realized that good village governance is vital and has dispatched students, with incentives, to help out.
Putting their degrees to use in the countryside and getting real-world experience also helps the graduates who build a resume. They become more attractive to employers who are not enamored of graduates with high grades and a sense of entitlement but no experience.
More and more young people are going to college but there are far from enough "good" jobs for educated youth. Given fierce job competition, some graduates are heading to remote rural areas and helping villagers.
Once, such a scenario would have been a nightmare for young people with expectations of working in highly paid positions in foreign-invested companies.
Today, rural life has its appeal, and the national and local governments are encouraging and giving incentives to young people who put their degrees to work in the countryside.
Since 2007, more than 1,800 college graduates have gone to Hangzhou's rural suburbs to work as village officials and assistants to promote economic development.
They have made a big difference, some have even started rural businesses that employ locals.
To honor the contribution of college graduates, the Hangzhou government on July 20 honored 12 young people as "Excellent Village Officials" and 10 as "Good Village Officials."
On the same day, those young people set up their own organization, a club of more than 120 college-educated village officials to discuss building the local economy and running business. More than 110 of them run businesses that provide around 600 jobs for locals.
Mostly these young people function as assistants to leaders of village committees, effectively low-level officials.
In the past few years they have made contributions in properly utilizing local resources, running plantations, breeding livestock, selling agricultural products and offering rural tourism.
Those who have started businesses also have improved the economy and shown farms how to run successful businesses.
But these fresh-faced officials are not immediately accepted, since officials are traditionally elected from residents who are older than the students. So they have to earn respect through the results of their work.
"There was a lot of confusion and skepticism about us," says Huangfu Xinliang, assistant to the director of Qinxi Village, Tonglu County, Hangzhou. He's also a member of the young businessmen's club.
Economy boost
Locals did not understand what these educated officials were supposed to do or how they could possibly be of use.
Qinxi Village where Huangfu works is mountainous and underdeveloped. To help raise revenue, Huangfu investigated the situation and decided to start a business of planting and selling local specialties.
He started with 11 hectares of camellia tea to produce healthy camellia tea oil from the seeds.
In less than a year he expanded to more than 30 hectares that also include bamboo, fruits and vegetables. He estimates that in three years annual production can reach 300,000 yuan (US$44,282) in value.
His next plan is to turn the scenic area into a destination for rural tourism.
Examples of start-ups benefiting the economy abound.
Another college-educated village official and businessman is 26-year-old Huang Zhechao from Longfu Village, Tonglu County. He is director of a fashion company and was approved as a village official last year, when he was already in business.
Huang, who graduated from college three years ago, hails from Tonglu County but decided to give up his city life to run a business in his hometown. Inspired by local textiles, corn and bamboo crops, he wondered if he could combine them. With only 2,000 yuan to start, he connected with a postgraduate student from Shanghai as the partner. After more than 2,500 frustrating experiments they invented fabric made from corn fiber and bamboo fiber - they look like regular clothes, but they are eco-friendly and easy to wash.
At the club's opening on July 20, Huang demonstrated the benefits of his fabric. He poured oil and soy sauce on a piece of fabric, placed it and water and rubbed; soon the stains were gone. The fabric is mostly exported to Singapore and western Europe.
So far, his company has employed 23 locals and another eight college-educated village officials.
Young officials who studied tourism are developing rural areas into destinations. Those who studied computer science have set up Internet stores for farmers and those who studied law offer free legal advice.
It's not only happening around Hangzhou.
More than 60 percent of China's population is rural and many areas are underdeveloped. Since the 1990s, the central government has realized that good village governance is vital and has dispatched students, with incentives, to help out.
Putting their degrees to use in the countryside and getting real-world experience also helps the graduates who build a resume. They become more attractive to employers who are not enamored of graduates with high grades and a sense of entitlement but no experience.
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