China: Farewell, my student days

graduates1

Qin Yi Sina Photo Production

This year almost 8 million college graduates will pour into China’s job market, the highest number ever recorded in the People’s Republic’s history. But rising joblessness among new university graduates in China is creating an army of educated unemployed that some fear could destabilise this huge economy. The high unemployment rate among college graduates has several causes.

graduates2

Qin Yi Sina Photo Production

In 1999, the Chinese government decided to expand the country’s higher-education system, in part to stimulate a weak economy still feeling the effects of the Asian financial crisis two years earlier. In 2003, China had 2.12 million university graduates; a decade later, the government estimates the number will reach 6.99 million, the highest in the country’s history. (source: TIME)

graduates3

Qin Yi Sina Photo Production

Chinese photographer Qin Yi documented the student life and graduation process pressure at Qingdao University in China. After four years of study, it is time to say good-bye and each of them will follow their own dreams, hoping to be prepared for the future. See the whole reportage on Photo Sina (only in Chinese):

http://slide.news.sina.com.cn/x/slide_1_64237_85203.html#p=1