The Chinese Dream in Peril: Economic Mobility Erodes

Amidst economic slowdown and rising unemployment, China's promise of prosperity fades for its working-class youth, with many feeling the dream is unattainable.

Since the sweeping economic reforms of the 1980s, more than 800 million people in China have lifted themselves out of poverty, catalyzing the rise of a burgeoning middle class of around 400 million individuals. Thousands migrated from rural villages to bustling city centers in search of better opportunities, and a remarkable number of them, for the first time, attended college. However, this era of dynamic growth is now giving way to stagnation. With job availability dwindling and wages stagnating, many working-class youths in China find the once-optimistic dream of upward social mobility slipping through their fingers.

One such young aspirant, Boris Gao, encapsulates this sentiment. After his parents lost their positions in state-owned enterprises, the family faced financial hardships, impacting Gao’s educational journey. To cut costs, his mother even eliminated their text messaging service, causing him to lose out on vital school communications. Despite these challenges, Gao's determination propelled him to graduate from college in 2016. His quest for a fulfilling job, however, has not been met with the success he anticipated.

Since 2024, his job search has turned into a series of obstacles and disappointments. One employer required him to work unpaid during a trial period, while another dismissed him after he had not received payment for two months. Adding to his woes, some companies expressed concerns regarding his educational background, deeming him politically unreliable because of his studies in Hong Kong rather than mainland China. In a particularly stark job interview experience, he confronted the harsh reality of societal status, with one interviewer attributing his family’s prior struggles to personal failure. "They told me, 'Your family has low social status,'" Gao recalled poignantly. "To them, perseverance is a defect; they view struggle as a signal of being insufficient."

This trend within the job market reveals a growing chasm between aspiration and reality for countless young Chinese, where the journey towards achieving the celebrated Chinese Dream has morphed into a pathway filled with frustrations and hindrances. As crackdowns on dissent and rising social stratifications continue, the once bright prospects of upward mobility are dimmed further for many hopefuls like Gao.