By, Gloria Liu
On Thanksgiving Day, when we drove to a friend’s home, I noticed the number 2.38. Yes, oil price has fallen again. Crude Oil (NYMEX) prices have plummeted below USD70 partly due to stable supply from OPEC. When consumers around world are enjoying the benefits of lower oil prices, Chinese people can only swallow the bitter reality: the government has decided to raise taxes so as to keep oil prices constant. My friend, a first year MS Global Management student, said, “That’s why I am not going back to China.”
As the world’s 2nd largest economy’s GDP continues to grow at an annual rate of over 7.5%, more and more multinational companies give strategic significance to the Chinese market. In recent years, for companies like Amway and Delphi, over half of their revenues are generated from China. Job opportunities increase rapidly as a consequence, attracting even more international job seekers. However, when it comes to settle down in China, then it is a different case altogether. Many overseas students including myself possess a complicated feeling towards going back to China. On the one hand, we love to stay near our family and friends. We also love the diversified food back home. On the other hand, we have our own profound reasons for staying in other countries.
For a young twenty something like me, I find it kind of difficult to land on a decent job without a powerful family background. The state-owned-enterprises hardly recruit graduates with an average family background, and the big transnational companies, particularly in the financial sector, also favor candidates with political ties. Class solidification has gotten in the way of discouraging young people from fulfilling dreams through their own efforts. Last week when Obama passed the new Immigration Laws, my friends and I got really cheered up because we felt we have got more chances to stay in America, a country where ambitions are free to grow and can be achieved through hard work.
I can make a list of all the common reasons for not going back to China: better education for the next generation, higher salaries, healthy food and environment, etc. But do not get me wrong and think that China is good for nothing. Even though I am eager to stay in the US, I watch closely for China’s development. I love my country deeply and hope someday she will love me back in the way I deserve.