Returning home to pursue dreams from childhood
Print Edition
Growing up in a family of ordinary workers in the northeast China, Song Xiaolei had a wild dream in her childhood.
“I wanted to be an attorney like the ones I saw in movies from Hong Kong and overseas,” she recalled. At that time, during school holidays, she would watch movies in a small flat after her parents left for work on bicycles.
While childhood dreams are dismissed by many as mere fantasy, Song managed to work step by step toward her own.
She chose to attend Jilin University for legal studies, before going to the UK to pursue her master’s and doctorate.
Four years ago, Song turned down offers from several British companies and returned to China. She is now working in the Legal and Compliance Department of China Resources, a state-owned conglomerate that owns a variety of businesses across the country.
Although she is not an attorney, the 32-year-old is living the life she envisaged: in her big apartment of 120 square meters in the financial hub of Shenzhen, with a car and a decent job just as she once saw in the movies.
Song is among the young generation of Chinese who, after studying overseas, are seeing their dreams come true in their mother country.
A bright future ahead
In 2014, a major Ipsos MORI survey across 20 countries found that Chinese people are the most optimistic about the future.
According to the survey, 78 percent of young people polled in China felt their lives would be better than those of their parents, compared with 46 percent in India, 27 percent in South Korea, 26 percent in the United States and 22 percent in Britain.
Five years have passed but the trend has not changed.
Xinhuanet conducted a similar survey in April in 2019. Of nearly 2,000 Chinese college students polled, more than 90 percent had confidence in China’s future.
Yu Shasha, 29, received three job offers during her five-year stay in South Korea but she turned them all down and came back to China.
“China is developing fast and a lot of industries are taking shape, providing many opportunities for people like me to realize dreams,” she said.
“I have liked entertainment since when I was young. I felt like I seized a valuable opportunity in a rapidly developing industry and my career prospect is more promising in China,” said Yu, who now works in an entertainment firm.
“Our generation is different from our parents,” said Pan Xiangyue, who studied at the Australian National University before coming back to China earlier this year.
“Our parents lived in a period when our country was poor and it was their efforts and dedication that helped create the economic miracle,” he said.
Living in a better-off environment, Pan said young people like him see things differently from their parents. “We grew up after the reform and opening-up,” said the 25-year-old. “We witnessed the takeoff of China’s economy. The rapid development of our country gave us the confidence to have dreams and to realize them.”
Simon Mander, senior partner from a firm providing Australian immigration advice AMVS Legal said that young Chinese tend to be more reluctant to immigrate than people who are older.
Echoing Pan’s view, he said social development was definitely an important factor. “In the 1990s when I was in Nanjing, I think the train ran about five hours into Shanghai. Whereas now you can live in Nanjing and work in Shanghai, and come back in the evening.”
China’s connection with the rest of the world has also been strengthened in the decades after opening-up, which has facilitated international business.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
