Apparently China's population control method (one child per family) has had some unintended consequences:
Recently, China Daily reports, the Sinohydro Engineering Bureau No. 1 in the central province of Henan held a job fair for students majoring in hydro-electricity. But when Chen Fengxin expectantly handed over his resume, it was not murmurs of approval he heard but these questions: "Are you from a village? Do you have any brothers and sisters?" If he was from a city, and especially if he was an only child (as city children are more likely to be), the recruiter was not interested. Chen was stunned.
Used to be if you were from the city you were considered better educated and modern - desirable traits right? Not in China:
A female representative of the hydro scheme explained to a local paper: "Students from cities and only children cannot endure the hardships incurred in the process of geological exploration. Brain drain is rife," she said, adding that parents of only children hope their offspring can stay close to them and not work too far away.
Workers from the Investigation Design Institute of Water Conservation and Electric Power in Cangzhou city, Hebei Province, were of the same opinion: "Experience proves that lots of only children are prone to be effeminate [soft?] and overconfident," said an anonymous spokesman. "Sixty per cent of staff who are only children will hop from job to job. My company attaches more importance to strong will and vitality to conquer hardships."
And no one seems bothered by this "discrimination":
Stamina and loyalty are what employers the world over want, of course, but in America or Australia, for example, they have to find far more subtle methods of selection. Ask an applicant if he is an only child or how many Playstations he had before he was 12, and you are likely to be reported to the equal opportunity commissioner. But when China Daily asked an academic if the questions Chen encountered violated employment regulations, he replied: "Preferring to choose employees based on whether or not they are only children cannot be labelled as a discriminatory policy. It's a natural consequence of being only children." Read more here. Via Relapsed Catholic
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