Students in China opt for career over communism

BEIJING: Students in one northern Chinese province vastly favour pragmatism over communism, a survey found, 40 years after gangs of rampaging students rebelled in the name of Chairman Mao Zedong during the Cultural Revolution.

Over 66 per cent of students in Hebei province chose pragmatism when asked to choose their preferred ideology in a university survey testing students’ attitudes to life, morality, politics, love and employment, state media reported on Monday.

Although ranking as second most popular ideology, communism trailed with only 13 per cent of the vote, just ahead of “hedonism’’ with 11 per cent, the China Youth Daily reported.

“The result indicates that university students’ mentality has undergone fundamental changes — namely, from idealism to realism,’’ the paper quoted Li Weiyi, a professor at the university, as saying.

Asked to choose their ideals and aspirations, 64.5 per cent of students at 11 universities opted for “successful career and satisfying life’’, and only 1 per cent chose “striving for the Communist Party’’, the weakest of a field including “fame and fortune’’, “self perfection’’ and a ‘’fulfiling family life.’’ Students’ hard-bitten practicality was indicated by their consciousness of salary and their personal worth in the job market.

Now there are ‘three new go’s — go to work at a joint venture or a foreign company, overseas or places with the most earning potential,’’ the paper said.