Giving wings to dreams
As attitudes to work change, many young Chinese quit their jobs to enjoy freedom, self-fulfillment
Many workers, especially the young, are opting to leave the traditional job market to pursue more flexible employment opportunities.
The majority of them do so after working for five to 10 years, according to a report released last year by Maimai, a social networking app for office employees, and iXigua Video, an online video service provider.
Su Lan, a human resources director based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, said: “Young people nowadays have less financial pressure than those born in the 1970s and 1980s, as they grow up in a more open-minded society with more access to information. As a result, they have greater freedom to make their own decisions.”
Countless people decide to change their career paths on impulse.
After breaking up with her boyfriend, Tang Xue, 24, resigned from her job six months ago to buy a farm in Anji county, Zhejiang.
“I believe it is important to do things on impulse sometimes, as I did earlier this year. I chose to take control of my own destiny without worrying about becoming trapped in a meaningless job,” said Tang, who worked for shortvideo platforms at three companies in Hangzhou after graduating from a university in Hunan province in 2019.
Tang saw a farm in Jinhua, Zhejiang, advertised online, and was attracted by prospect of working in the open air, escaping stressful urban life, making new friends, and finding the ideal lifestyle.
“I thought that changing the course of my life might pose a risk, but I was willing to take it. It is never too late to restart my career, as I am a smart person with excellent abilities,” said Tang, who worked at the farm in Jinhua for a few months before buying her own in Anji earlier last year.
To realize her dream of buying a farm, she took an online training course on agricultural operations. Her small farm covers 1.3 hectares and boasts a 160-square-meter courtyard.
She plans to run the farm as a “shared vegetable field” project, with customers ordering the produce she grows.
“It’s good to see more people deciding to resign from their jobs, as this gives them increased freedom. Gradually transitioning from a stable job enables you to gain more experience and confidence, gradually find your real self, and take control of your life,” Tang said.
She added that she will not be returning to the traditional job market.
According to a survey on “naked resignations” released in 2021 by 51Job, one of the biggest human resource service companies in China, the two main reasons for such resignations are too much pressure and boring work. “Naked resignations” refer to people quitting their jobs without any backup plan, or without knowing where their next pay check is coming from.
Shen Yiming, 28, who left his job in 2020 after working in the tourism industry for more than three years, decided to take a break from the highpressure work and uncertain career prospects.
“Although I made more than 30,000 yuan ($4,254) a month if I performed well, I failed to see a future for myself, as I was swamped by work all day long. My income also fell sharply due to a slowdown in the industry,” said Shen, who worked as a travel consultant in Hangzhou after graduating from Jiaxing University in 2017.
Initially, he devoted himself fully to his work, becoming the leading consultant in his department due to his ability to draw up popular travel plans. However, the relentless highpressure work schedules forced Shen to rethink his career.
He decided to do something he enjoyed. As he was fond of traveling and writing travel blogs in his spare time, Shen spent 12 months journeying throughout China last year by dipping into his savings, while also continuing to earn money by working on cultural and tourism projects as a freelancer.
“I always bear in mind that if I run out of money, or if things don’t go as
planned, I still have the ability to find a job again,” he said.
Shen’s self-confidence was rewarded when he was contacted by several brands to promote products in his travel blogs of his nationwide travels, during which he was posting photos of his destinations online.
At the end of 2021, he created an account on Xiaohongshu, a lifesharing platform, and now has more than 300,000 followers for his travel blogs.
Shen, who aims to attract up to 800,000 followers within two years, is now focusing more on promoting brands for reliable clients, and is earning about 100,000 yuan per month.
“Although I am still busy with work all day, I enjoy the freedom and sense of fulfillment and achievement by being my own boss. I do whatever I like and also make money at the same time,” he said.
As employees’ attitudes toward work change, along with increasingly diversified employment methods in different industries, new forms of flexible employment are emerging.
Yu Hai, a sociology professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, said, “Traditional forms of employment have diversified in these fast-changing times, while society is showing greater tolerance for newly emerging occupations.”
According to latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics, by the
end of 2021, the number of workers in flexible employment in China reached 200 million — more than 1.6 million of them in livestreaming and other forms of new media.
Rather than joining a company and leaving after several years, some college graduates choose a different course of action — including Lu Sina, 28, who works and lives in Hangzhou.
Lu launched a travel agency with a friend after graduating from Sichuan Conservatory of Music in 2016 with a major in culture industry management.
Short of social experience and longrange planning, Lu found running the small business too difficult and exhausting. After leaving the agency in 2018, she took up various jobs including a stint as a voluntary teacher at a Chinese school in Thailand.
“Living in Thailand made me rethink my life and realize that I had to regain the passion for work,” she said.
During her time in Thailand, she took daytime online courses in business operations and gave Chinese lessons to children in the evening. Lu also earned 2,000 to 10,000 yuan a month from time to time as a freelance travel adviser.
However, she started to worry when she saw her former university classmates being promoted, earning high salaries, buying property, and getting married.
As a result, Lu obtained a professional certificate to operate new media — receiving 10 job offers after applying for 20 positions within two weeks.
Armed with what she learned from the courses and voluntary work, she returned to Hangzhou in 2019 to work as operations supervisor at a domestic maternal and infant products brand.
However, after working at the company for two years, she decided to pursue flexible employment again — this time making detailed plans and preparing about nine months in advance.
She started taking courses on operations consulting in September 2020, and resigned from the company in March last year with 300,000 yuan in her savings account.
Lu currently works three days a week as an independent operations consultant and career planner, earning 15,000 yuan a month on average.
Lin Xiaobai, 36, from Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, majored in business administration at Chengdu University, graduating in 2008. She then took up a series of jobs including at a bank in Nanchong, Sichuan, before finally deciding to quit in 2014.
“A few months after I started working at the bank, I realized it was not the life for me. I wanted to quit this boring and stressful work, even though I was earning a good salary,” said Lin.
She tried launching a creative design space selling collectibles in Suzhou in 2014, and also a studio in Sichuan for children to learn to draw, sew, and make handicrafts and clay figures. She also launched a creative talent education program with a partner. All these projects failed, as Lin kept losing money and incurring debts.
At the time, she described herself as a person full of ideological thoughts, but without any business plan or management experience.
“Working on your own requires an extremely strong mind. You have to break out of your comfort zone, challenge the limit of your potential, and have the strength to make many risky decisions,” said Lin, who has learned to be independent as a single mother and an entrepreneur.
She eventually drew inspiration from her interest in drawing, which she acquired a number of years ago.
Lin, who draws stick figures to express her feelings and views of daily life, has more than 400,000 followers on Xiaohongshu, and regularly cooperates with corporate brands.
In 2020, she launched online training courses to teach beginners to record their daily lives through drawing, attracting 1,000 participants.
Yu, the sociology professor, said: “People often decide to leave the traditional job market without planning their next move. This change in working patterns among the younger generation is irreversible and will have a profound impact on flexible employment in the future.”