At the same time they want to spend a “nice” life, and the meaning of “beautiful” they grasp from daily television and more often and in more detail from the web. Here, in countless forums, experiences are exchanged that Chinese students and expatriates have made abroad. Full of envy (and the envy is not covered up) they present to each other detailed photos revealing what kind of houses, with large and beautiful gardens, are there to be acquired in the U.S. or Canada or Australia for what pittance, compared to the premium prices for an apartment in the 20th floor of a skyscraper in ShangHai, and this arouses envy.
Programmer Wang learns from Chinese residing abroad that the pressure to compete and perform is incomparably lower in schools and universities in the United States, Canada or Australia. “Why would my son go to school and later to university under such pressure as there is here in China, why wouldn’t he have it easy, as easy as, for example, children in Australia, Canada, who are constantly praised for how great they were doing this or that, no matter how great it really was?”
About this some critical comments might be uttered. But programmer Wang is no educational politician comparing education levels of various countries, and he does not intend to become such. He does not mind that a terribly high percentage (probably between 25 and 30%) of the American students, acclaimed to the skies, will later stumble through life as so-called “functional illiterates”, read: more than a quarter of young people and adults in the U.S. cannot grasp simple messages when reading nor write in simple words. Australia does not look much different, even in Germany, we have according to estimates four million functional illiterates (some sources claim twice as much). So much for the success of learning without pressure. That’s of course not what programmer Wang would like, but he does not want to know about it, either.
Like many millions of well educated and active young Chinese people, he is comparing information picked out from the internet, forums, blogs and other sources, written by overseas Chinese. They tell of amazing six weeks of annual holiday, as well as many public festive days, no overtime, little or no pressure to perform, the family has two cars, you drive at least once a year on holidays for three or four weeks, anyone who wants to can attend University essentially for free, except for some subjects, there is no selection by school performance, no ranking, if you are unemployed, the social network is supporting you, you do not have to go begging – who would not like China to be like that? Work less and earn more, work less, yet have more – who wouldn’t?
So programmer Wang and his wife dream of Australia, and the dream turns more vivid as, months before the birth of their son, a befriended couple plans to emigrate from ShenZhen with their then five year old daughter to Australia. For one year the debate is raging while the little one has been living for years with her grandparents in BeiJing, connected with the parents only through almost daily phone calls and visits every few weeks, in one direction or another.
One day, the decision is made, the friends will go to Australia. And within a few weeks the decision is turned into reality. The husband, research manager of the Chinese subsidiary of a Japanese company, quits his job, without having another in Australia. His boss, a Japanese, cannot hold him back, he is very saddened by the loss of this powerful young man.
Even during the pre-move they learn this: The Japanese boss of the Chinese subsidiary company has himself been agitating with the top man in Japan, to achieve that his former research manager in China would now get a job with the Australian subsidiary of the Japanese group. And that’s what happens – for the friends of programmer Wang things have gradually worked out in a way they could not have dreamt of any better. With a “small” caveat: the former research manager who is now, in Australia, only product manager, complains after a few weeks already about the lack of requirements, it was dead boring, whether he came or not came, was working or not working, did not make any difference.
Programmer Wang now dreams even more sincerely of Australia, for he is still working under stress.
