From NetEase:
Summary: Around noon on November 23rd, mummies suddenly appeared on the Jianghan pedestrian street in Wuhan city, and what more, they were mummies who knew how to “space dance.” Lei! After finishing their “space dance,” the two mummies handed out a stack of white paper with “resume” printed on them to the surrounding audience. Asking the two mummies later, they said it was performance art, an appeal for society’s attention to the employment situation of university graduates. Sigh~~~it is hard for university students to find work!
The video:
Video also on Youku.
Two pictures of a crowded job fair:
Comments on NetEase:
Performance art!
Talented!
There are many different reasons for why university students cannot find work, and the element of society is just one small part. Having high ambitions but little talent is actually the main reason. Not a few university students play around for four years and do not know how to do anything, but come out and complain about finding a good job.
What can you do, work really is hard to find!
Mentally disabled.
I was thinking of changing “rice bowls” [jobs], but looking at the situation now, protecting “rice bowl” [my job] has become the top priority.
Work is hard to find, those who wanted to change jobs now do not dare to. Many companies are making reductions/layoffs, so how does one find work?
Sigh, I thought I would slowly forget the past [when he was a recent graduate], who would have thought that I would accidentally see my past [by seeing this video].
They dance pretty well! The entire SB audience did not know to applaud….even if they did not like it, they should at least have a reaction, right? People these days…everything is numbed. People without character only know how to watch on the sides and laugh…and boast. Sigh, people these days, what can you do? Not even a little concern or a little character at all!!
University students find it difficult to find work? I do not know what to say. What about our elementary students and junior high students? It is not that it is hard for you university students to find work, it is that you guys think too highly of yourselves. Why do you think you university students deserve high salaries and relaxing jobs? You do not have much experience in society, so if you lower your expectations, and are willing to work your way way up, there is no way you cannot find work. At the time, I took worked from a low-level job to the high level job I have now. Right now, I have not a few university students under me, all who just recently graduated, all working as staff on an assembly line.
A bit interesting, like today’s young people.
Sigh, finding work these days is not easy. The two job fair pictures at the bottom are too frightening.
If you have the ability to do performance art, why not think about what you should do [for a job]? Today’s university students are not pragmatic, oneself only having a bit more culture than the average person, and perhaps not even that much more. All day blaming everyone but oneself, only thinking about big things but not knowing how to do anything. No matter what kind of environment society is, you guys will never find jobs. To be more realistic, society’s choice for you is to see if you are able to adapt. If you cannot adapt, it is useless no matter what you are. If you can adapt, even if you are nothing, you can still live very well!
Wake up! After four years of university, ask yourselves, how much time did you devote to your “future?”
Always saying that university education has problems, yes, there are some problems, but you are 20-some years old now and you still do not know what you should do [in life]? If you do not have self-discipline, it does not matter what kind of education you have, you will never learn. Lower your perception of your self-worth, and there is nothing that is beneath you.
Right now supply exceeds demand, and finding a job is not easy, especially university students without experience!
Whoever can think of a way [to find a job], must be smart, or at least they have courage, have creativity.
Right now is a time where there is not enough to go around. Being original is very good, and is good for promoting oneself~jia you~
Pretty novel/creative.
Actually, ultimately it is still China’s education system fault.
I am also in the middle of looking for work, just graduated, and very discouraged.
Comments on Youku:
You two must be freezing to death…
It is rare in China to have people with this kind of advanced/creative thinking. In Korea and japan, there are so many street performances. I do not know why there are so many people criticizing them here. Actually, the ignorant and outdated people are you guys. Likewise born in the same new era, yet you guys are really narrow and shallow.
Why does “city management” not manage this?
Even if I was a boss, I would not give an opportunity to this kind of university students, they do not take work seriously. They are less dependable than the workers in a bar.
Is this funny? Are you distressed?
This is our future, and when we graduate, we will also have to do this.
But there are still SB who are clamoring to extend the retirement age, then what about us?
The ones who deserve our hate are not those who sit on the toilet but do not shit [people who hold a position but do not work and not let anyone else take the job], but those who have shit but still sit on the toilet.
Not bad not bad~~very creative!! China needs creative young people! Especially university students!
Facing today’s society, there are various reasons why employment has become the university student’s biggest difficulty: 1. Have education but not ability, 2. Have ability but no education, 3. Have both but still no job. The sudden economic crisis is also one main reason why one cannot find work. Two mummies appearing may not make people understand, but try to look at it from a different angle. It is to tell everyone to have the mindset of a mummy, willing to face [the difficulty] and not be afraid of failure. We will get through the crisis, and the problems will be resolved. As long as everyone maintains belief in themselves, we will definitely find our own livelihoods [careers/work]. Here I want to encourage all the students who have been frustrated by finding jobs to jia you!
We have dreams, have passion, have the ability to work together and endure hardships. To find work, my schoolmates and I attended one job fair after another from the south to the north of the Yangtze River, often riding trains for over 10 hours and immediately going to a job fair after getting off, spending an entire day there hungry, even waiting 3-4 hours just to submit a resume. After a day of wearing high heels, my feet will have blisters and in extreme cases, even bleed. I know the hardships of finding work, and understand that I am nothing, but my classmates and I have cared and encouraged each other to continue up to now.
It is not difficult to find work!! The difficult thing is thinking too highly of yourself! And, just exactly what do yu know how to do! Just graduated university students only demand high salaries and high pay! There are no companies in the world that want this kind of people! If you want high salary and high pay in the future, try starting from zero!!!
See more Chinese people trying to find employment:
- 150,000 Recent Graduates At Shenzhen Job Fair
- Peasant Girl: My Life Is Miserable Because I Am Poor
- Young Shanghainese Shocked by Low Wages and Probation Period
Related Posts:
- Over a thousand Chinese graduate students with master's degrees apply to sell pork for a Guangzhou company. Many Chinese ask who should be ashamed by this. » 25 comments
- 150,000 recent university graduates in China pack the Shenzhen Convention Center's Job Fair looking for jobs. Chinese netizens discuss difficulty of employment. » 87 comments
- A reporter investigates child labor in Wuhan, China, taking pictures of young boys & girls as young as 11-12 years old. Chinese netizens argue what can be done. » 83 comments
- A Chinese university girl posts her (Chinese) new year goals outside her dorm room. First find a good job, then find a good husband, and finally, "oh yeah!" » 21 comments
- Pictures of how the Chinese students in one of China's high schools relieved their stress as they prepare to take the annual "gaokao" university entrance exam. » 49 comments
1,300 Graduate Students Compete to Sell Pork 
150,000 Recent Graduates At Shenzhen Job Fair 
Child Labor In Wuhan, Chinese Argue Good or Bad 
New Year Goals: Find Job, Find Husband, Oh Yeah! 
Gaokao University Entrance Exam Stress Relief In China 
Ha – that ‘employment fair’ could be a picture of Shanghai railway station last Chinese New Year :-)
Unfortunately, given the current economic climate, all those students who are due to graduate soon have little hope of finding meaningful employment. Companies are struggling to find ways to keep the workforce they have now employed and busy without hiring more. It’s going to be a long year for a lot of grads – and then as the next years class comes along it makes competition even fiercer.
this is a solid sign that chinese society is getting more diverse and open.
I mean you woundn’t see shit like this even 5 years ago, post 80 and 90 generation is taking over, a new era is on the horizon, china’s capitalism is progressing at lighting speed, which by all means its good, however one down side is that it creates conflicting ideologies so overwhelming that conservatives and liberals may start a civil war at some point, middle age folks might worship mao as god but kids as little as 10 years younger only watch prison break or eat fatdonald’s.
Feel sorry for those students who need to make noise in the town square to get attention to their plight.
China has millions of graduates each year. There are only a limited pool of jobs created each year. With the slowing economic conditions, graduates will need to expect the unemployment situation will get worse before it gets better.
Most of them if they do find a job will accept a job even though it is not what they want, the salary, working conditions, career path or transport convenience.
Sometimes it takes novelty and innovative approaches to succeed. Congratulations to these guys for taking the initiative.
Robin
PS: I’ve posted a link to this here: http://www.e1jobs-blog.com
Of course, sometimes it takes more than dressing up in a mummy outfit and dancing in the middle of the street, concealing your identity, and handing out your ‘resumé’ to a stranger. Harsh, harsh world…
(They should have put a bowl out infront of themselves and urged people to ‘donate’: instant ‘job’)
The saddest thing in all of this is that in China sometimes the truly talented ones gets pushed out of the pool due to lack of family background (guanxi). In a society were guanxi plays a vital role it continues a cycle of ‘hand me downs’ from family members and relatives and most of these well off kids aren’t that hard working to begin with. This is simply because they don’t need to strive for much everything is already planned out for them (kind of like the development of China) everything is paved. I know a uni kid who told me he doesn’t have to worry about getting a job because his father can make a few calls pull a few strings and he’ll be employed in no time. Ain’t that a bitch…for those with no ‘connections’.
@chinasmackdat (great name, btw)
I teach those kids every day. There is definitely a segment of society that in a sense doesn’t have to worry about finding a job. Their rich parents own companies, hotels, businesses etc. so the kids can definitely get a job. The thing is, a few of these kids are so f-ing lazy and useless that all they’re going to do is run their parents’ companies into the ground with their astonishingly bad work ethic and low ability!
On the other hand, we have a lot of kids that are still really driven to succeed and do well, despite the fact that they come from rich families. Sure, they know they’ll have a job anyway, but they still want to learn and have a good work ethic. They’ll succeed no matter what.
I think these two mummies are showing that same work ethic. Sure, you can be committed and go to one of those job fairs and fight with tens of thousands of other people, and fight tens of thousands of other resumes and that’s fine; good luck. Lots of grads have no experience in the real world, so most of them are fighting on a level playing field. Whether you get hired or not relies on maybe guangxi, maybe just dumb luck. These two mummies are doing something completely different, they’re showing some imagination. I’m sure that if I had a company where imaginative thinking was encouraged or even required for the job, I’d be all for getting their resumes and hiring them.
Even if I didn’t need imaginative thinking, I’d look at those guys and say “They’re so desperate for work that they’re going to essentially make fools of themselves to get a job; they’ll be so thankful to have a job that they’ll probably work their asses off for me – I’ll hire ‘em!”
Great link and video!! I would definitely consider hiring them as they are so creative and willing to step out of the box. Can’t add more to all the excellent comments before.
What’s wrong is not the people.
whats wrong is their resume.
all their goddam resumes look the same.
We want to hire the best not randomly select frm the same.
Now we now secret of mummies in subway… http://www.chinasmack.com/pictures/mummy-on-shanghai-metro-waves-to-passengers/
Yeh id hire the tards acting as dummies in public, so original, not like they copied it from the subway post
y didnt people flick matches at them??
I think this is ngenious… Times maybe bad but it is also a time for opportunities and reflections. Keep going China.