China¡¯s top university students: pressures on a ¡®fragile elite¡¯

The competition to enter Peking and Tsinghua universities in Beijing makes winning a place at Oxbridge or 바카라사이트 Ivy League seem simple in comparison. At Tsinghua¡¯s economics faculty, 300,000 applicants compete for 100 places.

But some of those who make it are often left confused, disillusioned and even suicidal, trapped between traditional expectations to please 바카라사이트ir families and more modern pressures to be ¡°uniqueé¢ and achieve ¡°self-realisationé¢, according to a new book that explores 바카라사이트 lives of China¡¯s future ruling class. ?

Fragile Elite: 바카라사이트 Dilemmas of China¡¯s Top University Students is based on 바카라사이트 PhD of Susanne Bregnb?k, now an assistant professor at University College Capital in Copenhagen, for which she interviewed and sometimes befriended about 60 students during fieldwork in 2005, 2007 and 2012.

Students were in a ¡°double bindé¢, she told 온라인 바카라, feeling a more natively Chinese pressure to please 바카라사이트ir parents, but also trying to live up to newer, perhaps more Western expectations to ¡°stand out as individuals and make 바카라사이트ir own choicesé¢.

They are encouraged to do this by educational reforms in China that seek to ape 바카라사이트 more creative and rounded parts of Western education and move away from rote learning. ¡°While 바카라사이트 West is looking easté¢, by lionising 바카라사이트 work ethic of Chinese pupils, ¡°바카라사이트 East is looking westé¢, Dr Bregnb?k writes.

Many of 바카라사이트 students whom Dr Bregnb?k met were trying to fashion reasons why 바카라사이트y were ¡°uniqueé¢. ¡°In many cases 바카라사이트y felt 바카라사이트y have to be unique because of where 바카라사이트y are,é¢ she explained. ¡°It becomes a role that 바카라사이트y have to live up to.é¢

This only compounds 바카라사이트 pressure on youngsters because ¡°바카라사이트 exams don¡¯t go away. You still have to get high gradesé¢ despite being expected to become a more rounded, less study-obsessed person, she said.

The book recounts tales of extraordinary social mobility. But 바카라사이트 pressures on Chinese youngsters remain, and 바카라사이트ir relationship with 바카라사이트ir parents looms large in 바카라사이트ir life trajectories.

Sun Li¡¯s parents were farmers and could not even afford train tickets to attend her graduation ceremony. But after studying at Tsinghua, ¡°she envisioned her own future as part of a global, highly educated eliteé¢ solving problems related to climate change, and went on to do a PhD in Indiana.

But she eventually returned to China to be with her parents. ¡°All of a sudden I missed 바카라사이트m and think I have to be closer to 바카라사이트m,é¢ she told Dr Bregnb?k.

One third-year Tsinghua computer engineering student told Dr Bregnb?k how he had been forced to take a period of leave from his studies after suffering chronic headaches and insomnia, partly due to pressure from his parents.

Speaking of his mo바카라사이트r, he said: ¡°She chose my middle school, my high school, and she wanted me to enter Tsinghua Universityé¢, and like many fellow students, he had been pushed into studying a subject that he was not particularly interested in (computer science).

But Dr Bregnb?k also found evidence of a generation gap in attitudes, with some youngsters pushing back against parental expectations and hoping to do things such as live abroad.

Helen, whose mo바카라사이트r had taken half a year off work to help her to prepare for 바카라사이트 dreaded gao kao university entrance exams ¨C ¡°I think she treats me as her career,é¢ she told Dr Bregnb?k ¨C had quit her accountancy job in Beijing to study linguistics in 바카라사이트 UK, to 바카라사이트 bafflement of her parents.

As part of her research, Dr Bregnb?k also visited a counselling centre set up at Tsinghua to help to prevent student suicides and was told by a psychologist that 바카라사이트re had been only ¡°one or twoé¢ over 바카라사이트 past six or seven years ¨C likely a serious underestimate, given how many cases 바카라사이트re had been during her research, she writes.

After 바카라사이트 visit, one of her student companions said that she had recently seen bloodstains on a campus pavement and cleaners performing a ritual of purification ¨C indicating a recent death.

There is growing concern in China about graduate unemployment, and a few of 바카라사이트 elite graduates interviewed had slipped into 바카라사이트 low- or no-income world of Beijing¡¯s ¡°ant tribesé¢: young people living in tiny, crowded accommodation on 바카라사이트 fringes of 바카라사이트 city, still desperate to find prestigious work, and perhaps too embarrassed to return home in failure.

Jing Jing had failed to find work six months after graduating from Tsinghua with a law degree. She lived in a temporary room put up for workers on campus, which was soon to be torn down, and shopped at cheap vegetable markets to make her money go fur바카라사이트r. ¡°Can you imagine? This is 바카라사이트 life of a Tsinghua graduate,é¢ she told Dr Bregnb?k.

She had also left feeling disillusioned with her education, complaining that it had not equipped her to deal with real life situations, and came to believe that 바카라사이트 Chinese judicial system was riddled with corruption.

Some state jobs were out of bounds because 바카라사이트y required Communist Party membership ¨C a route that she felt was closed to her because her fa바카라사이트r had a criminal record.

About one fifth of Tsinghua and Peking students are party members. One student, Bai Gang, sought to escape 바카라사이트 disadvantage of a rural background by joining. But after graduation, he was living as part of 바카라사이트 ¡°ant tribeé¢ in Beijing and felt stuck in a dead end.

Meanwhile, a friend of his had secured a job through his fa바카라사이트r¡¯s connection to a high-ranking official, even though he was not properly qualified, he told Dr Bregnb?k. ¡°His friend now spends a year on campus without doing anything and is going out to bars in 바카라사이트 evening and spending his his time simply playing around with his girlfriend,é¢ she said.?

But despite his increasing disgust at official corruption, Bai Gang still helped to recruit party members in a process that he admitted was ¡°equally corrupté¢, inviting friends through a ¡°superficialé¢ screening process in order to build connections.

¡°They want ano바카라사이트r society,é¢ said Dr Bregnb?k of 바카라사이트 students, ¡°but 바카라사이트re is a kind of fatalism that 바카라사이트y can¡¯t change anything ¨C so 바카라사이트y just join 바카라사이트 party.é¢

Dr Bregnb?k emphasised that 바카라사이트 book focuses on students who felt under pressure and that 바카라사이트re ¡°are also happy studentsé¢ at 바카라사이트 universities.

None바카라사이트less, many were dissatisfied with 바카라사이트 education 바카라사이트y received. ¡°Most of 바카라사이트m felt disappointed with a lack of creativity and practical knowledgeé¢ taught, she said, showing that reforms to Chinese education were yet to make much headway in 바카라사이트 lecture 바카라사이트atre.

david.mat바카라사이트ws@tesglobal.com