Wave of suicide sweeps China's graduate class

Wave of suicide sweeps China's graduate class

www.telegraph.co.uk

Millions of students will graduate in China this year, but with up to a third unable to get a job the number of suicides is soaring.

...with one in three of this year's graduates unable to get a job..anxiety about finding work is shared by most students.

...Now, the authorities face the prospect of the harmonious society which the ruling Chinese Communist Party hails as its greatest achievement being destabilised by protests from millions of China's brightest young people.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is a sad story I first would like to offer my condolences to the berieved family.

However, it bears noting because all is far from perfect in "The Middle Kingdom." This year's graduates are also facing tough competition from last year's graduates, and despite rumors of "decoupling," China is very much impacted by the global meltdown, like everyone else.

www.telegraph.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

I wouldn't call between 7/8% growth being impacted upon..i wish we had such growth figures.Very sad though that such young smart folks are choosing suicide because they cannot envision their future in the world..

I feel no sympathy for them over this. You spend, say 4 years in college then you go out with unrealistic expectations of finding a job instantly, then suicide when things don't go exactly according to plan? Exactly what kind of weak minded people are being bred over there? I thought it was bad here.

[edit on 26-7-2009 by Raverous]

Originally posted by Solomons
I wouldn't call between 7/8% growth being impacted upon..i wish we had such growth figures.Very sad though that such young smart folks are choosing suicide because they cannot envision their future in the world..

They say antything less than 7-8% growth in China would be the equivalent of what the West calls a "recession" for them...I don't quite know why that is, but it is a factoid I read a while ago. Perhaps it has something to do with the raw volume of humans there and poverty of most of them.

The headline doesn't match the article.

Not the OP's fault, but there really isn't any information in the article about the supposed "wave of suicides".

What it does allude to is a report by the Shanghai Education Commission - which documented an increase in suicides in Shanghai in 2008. Please note that Shanghai is a city, not the nation as a whole.

So what's really going on here?

Nineteen local college students took their own lives last year, beating out acute diseases, traffic accidents and fires as the chief killer of these young people, according to the Shanghai Education Commission.

...

The city reported 63 "safety incidents" among its 598,400 registered college students last year, including 55 deaths and 18 injuries.

Suicide Tops Student Death List

19 suicide deaths out of 598,400 students. That's 0.003% That's lower than the national average in any country that reports data. That's not a wave, by any stretch of the imagination.

I should be surprised by the blatant manipulation of the headlines, and by the obvious attempt to paint the Chinese as being on the verge of collapse. But I'm not. This kind of reporting is extremely common when the Western media looks at Asia.

This is a problem in the UK as well, not the suicide bit but that work is hard to find, my brother who just finished school was looking for work but couldn't even find a low pay job and its the same with all his friends. Most of them are joining the army because of this. Currently young people are being hit worst by unemployment as companies have plenty of unemployed experienced people they could hire.

The worry is that all these young people will get used to being on benefits and become the next benefit generation.

It's a sad state of affairs.

reply to post by vox2442

Indeed I noticed the same myself.

Originally posted by Raverous
I feel no sympathy for them over this. You spend, say 4 years in college then you go out with unrealistic expectations of finding a job instantly, then suicide when things don't go exactly according to plan? Exactly what kind of weak minded people are being bred over there? I thought it was bad here.

[edit on 26-7-2009 by Raverous]

While my condolences go out to the families of these kids I agree. Too much high expectations are put on these kids and seriously, who in their right mind things they will get a job straight outta college? University?? This young generation, this gimme generation should get a clue. Its more than just that degree to get you that job.... experience is necessary and unfortunatly it means starting at the bottom. Maybe its a different story for A+ students, maybe it was a different story 10 years ago, but these are different times... different demands. At the end of the day these kids and their parents should get a reality check. You can do anything if you put your mind to it, but at the same time the world doesnt swing according to your expectations.

SG