Chinese youth turn to prayers, but Beijing wants them back on the pitch

Visiting temples to ask for a job is becoming a popular habit among Chinese youth. Although the economy is recovering from the pandemic, 1 in 5 are currently unemployed. The Beijing authorities are encouraging university graduates to take up manual jobs.

Beijing () – As the unemployment rate rises, temples are becoming the destination for young Chinese tourists. On weekends they flock to the most famous and the reason, apparently, is to pray to get a job. This is according to a report by trip.com Group, China’s largest online travel service provider, according to which orders for temple tickets increased by 310% and half of visitors were born after 1990. At the same time , the latest statistics released by the Chinese government in April showed that unemployment among young people between the ages of 16 and 24 reached 19.6%.

During the last few weekends, the phenomenon was observed, for example, in the Yonghe Lama temple in Beijing. When asked about their reasons, the young people declared that they were looking for inner peace in the face of pressure from society and the labor market. This was stigmatized by the official media: in the beijing dailya Communist Party spokesman commented that those who place their hopes in gods and Buddha “are going astray.”

By 2023, a record 11.58 million university graduates are expected to enter the Chinese labor market. The end of the zero Covid policy led to the recovery of the economy, but the occupation remains weak. Private companies provide more than 80% of jobs in China, yet the authorities have cracked down on some sectors, such as Internet technology and extracurricular activities, decreasing available jobs.

The Chinese government is encouraging state-owned companies to expand the number of hires. Authorities claim they will open up at least a million internships for recent graduates.

Analysts warn that mass unemployment could cause social unrest, as young people are realizing that a diploma does not guarantee well-being or social position. In November last year, protests broke out in some of the country’s big cities, with young protesters shouting political slogans regardless of the risks, forcing the authorities to abandon the zero-Covid policy.

Faced with low social mobility and uncertainty, young graduates – who have to face cybercensorship – choose to laugh at themselves to express their difficulty in finding work after years of training. The official media respond by accusing them of being too demanding and urging them to accept manual labor. They tell stories of young graduates who put aside the knowledge they acquired in college and became rich by becoming street vendors or farm workers. Propaganda phrases on which a reader ironically commented: “The Tax Agency should collect taxes based on the income that is counted in these articles.”

In the same southern province of Guangdong, which is considered the frontier of economic reform and one of the most dynamic regions, local authorities recently urged 300,000 young people and entrepreneurs to look for work in the countryside. A suggestion reminiscent of the measurements of Mao’s time.

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