China's Millennials Analysis

China, throughout the years, has undergone a significant amount of change within its government. This drastic change in power has caused many noticeable changes within the functionality of China and has essentially thrown its citizens onto a teeter totter of balancing the old China with the new. One of the areas that has seen the most change is China’s overall economic growth. This continuously changing economic stance affects all citizens living under its domain, but the effects have had a more noticeable impact within the younger generations. In his book, China’s Millennials, Eric Fish eludes to the fact that although the economy in China may be improving from a monetary and world standpoint, it has not necessarily done any favors for the …show more content…
Fish says that the economic growth in China is acutely related to the individualistic and more foreign attitude of the younger generation. These differing attitudes between the generations, especially pertaining to the idea of modernization, has really put the younger generation in a deadlock. Within his book, Fish mentions that many of the students he interviewed, instead of trying to find a job with the most pay and security, are trying to find jobs that give them happiness and meaning. This modernistic approach to occupation is appalling to many of these students’ parents. One example of this is seen in Huan Cheng when he left a well-paying job, without having a second job secured, because he felt unappreciated. This kind of action would never have been acted upon in his parents’ generation. These differing opinions contribute to the fact that these students find themselves in meaningless factory jobs where wages are low, hours are long, and payments are sometimes unstable. Many millennials, though, still follow this path that stresses the importance of higher education and a well-paying job that is strongly idolized by the older generation because, during their time, it was standard and highly respected. …show more content…
The younger generations are supposed to be the tools of future reform in any country, however, in China, the younger generation is stuck in jobs moving boxes as opposed to entering in to resourceful enterprises to learn and improve business, politics, medicine, etc. China’s increasing preference of cheap labor over skilled, as Fish mentions, has become greatly detrimental to the esteem of the younger generation. With this lowered sense of self-worth after years of studying and hard work, the drive for pursuing economic growth has declined as it seems, by these students’ accounts, that they feel the economy has failed them or, as one student, Chuankai, put it, their “first contact with society was full of lies” (p.