Material from Zhang, our regional editor for China.
This video shows surging crowds at an employment fair organised by Nanchang University in southeast China. In 1999, China launched a scheme to increase university enrolments and to develop its tertiary - or service - sector. The endeavour seems to have worked: China has a growth rate of 9% per year and boasts unemployment levels of under 5%. But the vibrant Chinese labour market has nevertheless failed to absorb the huge influx of qualified workers being churned out by the country's universities. See below...
Material compiled by Zhang, our regional editor for China.
The Olympic Games will open in Beijing Aug. 8, 2008. For the Chinese authorities and the public, this is more than just a sporting event. In 2001, when the International Olympic Committee selected China to host the games, it was greeted by genuine and overwhelming jubilation across the country.
But six years later, there are subdued, but persistent rumblings of discontent. Beijing residents have faced evictions to make way for Olympic construction or by businesses intent on impressing
foreigners. The city's Olympic face-lift has left a lot of people homeless. Bloggers are wondering whether the games are
good for the people, or for the ‘People's Party,' as the Communist Party is called. Read more...
Post your questions to contributing bloggers: Wang Xiaofeng, Doubleleaf Chen and Zhebao Pavilion.
Material compiled by Zhang, our editor for the Chinese region
This photo was taken by ‘Ah yuan’, who posted this comment on his blog: “We respect this old woman for her courage and resistance, but we're sad to see the lack of social security in our country.” The woman pictured, who could be in her 80s, has to continue working to stay alive. She’s been selling newspapers in the Haidan district of Beijing for the last ten years.
Post your questions to Zhang on her profile page or our observer Wen Yunchao.