The Joy of Being an Average Joe

By Zhou Zhuben & Li Xiaojuan

Several days ago, I returned to my hometown and noticed something a bit odd: my neighbor’s live-in son-inlaw who had come back during the Tomb Sweeping Festival had gone out again for a job. It wasn’t just him; most of the villagers there had left after the festival for a jobsite somewhere else.

The silkworm industry in my hometown was much better than it had been for the past while, and more than a few of the peasants were making real money; they were purchasing refrigerators,motorcycles and the like in droves with their government subsidies.All of which showed that, to some extent, an economic thaw had taken place.

I had been waiting in line after line for several days trying to process my application for a mortgage, and standing there in the queue at the Housing Administration I noticed among all the hustle and bustle that, of the many kinds of people standing there in that giant hall lining up to get a license, most were elderly men and women, and middleagers. The number of young thirty-somethings like me was so miniscule it almost wasn’t worth mentioning.

If many of the people standing in line for a house in the sales office could just be hired hands there putting on a show, it wouldn’t be the case for the Housing Administration, for the clerks are virtually issuing property ownership certificates on the site.

To me it meant that, with such high housing prices, there were still tremendous demands for real estate, and the source of most sales revenues were still from the life savings of middle-agers or senior citizens, as young people just didn’t have the requisite financial wherewithal.

I have a niece who learned the art of cakery at a vocational school and is in Shanghai doing internship. Finding a job is not a problem, and when she goes fulltime her salary won’t be low. In contrast, her elder sister who is studying economic management at a university is going to graduate in a year but her job prospects are looking pretty bleak. Her younger brother is studying at an automotive school, and many a 4S car dealership is clamoring to hire the graduates from his school.

When I’m recruiting seasonal workers for my farm, I have to take into account how I will pay their salary. Ifipay by the hour,based on an eight hour workday,the minimum payment wouldn’t be lower than 50 yuan per day. Ificalculate it by their yield, then these temporary hires might clear 60 to 80 yuan per day. If it were anything less than this number, they would rather sit at home playing Mahjong and would be extremely reluctant to come out and break their back for starvation wages.

前几天回了一趟老家，我注意到一个事实：清明时分回到邻居家的浙江籍上门女婿，又出去打工了。而且不止他一家，大部分返回来的人，又都外出打工了。

在老家，今年养蚕的行市，比往年来得更好一些，很多农民都在赚钱，还有不少人用国家发给农民的补贴买了冰箱、摩托车等。这说明，经济确实在一定程度上有所回暖。

前几天办理房屋贷款手续，在房管局办证大厅排队等候的时候，我发现人头攒动，瞄了几眼，大致把大厅里办证的形形色色的人分成几等：老头老太太占了大半，中年人又占了很大一部分，年轻人很少，像我这样三十多岁的，少得可怜。

如果说在售楼处排队的人很大一部分可能是被雇来作秀的，那么在房管局实实在在地办证，应该没有什么人是被雇来唱戏的。

这起码说明房价虽然高，但交易还是很多，现在房地产的销售资金来源，很大一部分是中老年人用了自己大半辈子的积蓄，年轻人基本还不具备购房的条件。

我有个侄女在技校学蛋糕制作，现在正在上海实习，就业不是问题，转正以后，薪水也不会太低。相反，她的姐姐，正在高校学经济管理，明年毕业以后就业堪忧。她的弟弟，在汽车学校学习，很多汽车4S店都抢着要他们那里的毕业生。

我的农场，在找劳动力打零工的时候，如果按照每天工作8小时计算，最低工资不低于50元。如果按照计件来算，很多临时工每天都能拿到60元到80元。要是低于这个数字，人家宁可在家里打麻将，也懒得出来赚这份辛苦钱。

前几个月，陪家人还有朋友做了很多次旅游活动。顺便观察了一下，桂林的旅游状况并不萧条，到处都是人，火车站人山人海，飞机场也是人头攒动。下火车的时候，出租车司机对我这种短途的本市内的游客，还一副爱答不理的样子。

采购水管的时候，五金店的老板不停地接订货电话。很多我需要的东西都缺货，要几天以后才有货；工厂也在加班加点地生产。这位老板说，滴灌的设备前几天被另外一个种植西瓜的老板买走了，他当时拿了够50亩的用量。

想来，很多论坛里面的文章，描述的都是资本层面的事，可能很多文章，还是失落的白领写就的。实际上，小人物的民生生活，很多时候与资本游戏隔离得很远。实体经济和草根经济，无非就是你来我往的买卖而已，有赚有亏。闲生是非忙赚钱，有事情做就不会有太大的事。

在金融危机和经济危机中，到底谁受伤最重？我认为是刚刚毕业的大学生。毕业即失业，就业又高不成低不就，真的很难。从底层做起，很多人既无精神准备，也没有实干的一技之长。

In the past few months I happened to go sightseeing with my family and friends and found that tourism industry in Guilin is booming.There are people everywhere,the trains are jam-packed and the airports are bustling.When we got off the train and tried to hail a cab, our request for a short-distance drive within city limits was actually met with a look of cold indifference.

When we were buying pipes at the hardware store the boss there kept receiving orders through the phone behind the counter. Many of the things I needed were sold out and I was told it would take several days to get them—the factories themselves were running extra shifts to keep up with demand. The shop owner told me that, just a few days prior, all the irrigation equipment in his shop had just been sold to the boss of a watermelon farm who had taken enough for 3 hectares.

Presumably, the content of a great many forums speaks of all things capitalism, and maybe just as many write about the drop in the middle class. Actually, the little life of a little guy most often bears little resemblance to that of the game of capitalism.The real economy and the grassroots economy are simply a matter of casual transactions—there is money to be made and lost. Things become messy often when people have too much leisure time, and when you have something to do and some money to make, there won’t be a fuss.

So who gets hurt the most in a financial crisis or a recession? I believe it’s the new graduates. They are unemployed as soon as they graduate. They are underqualified, yet refuse to lower themselves to take a position which they feel is beneath them. It’s really tough out there in the job market. Most people are spiritually and emotionally unprepared,and they also lack a practical specialization.

O u r C h i n e s e h i g h e r education doesn’t keep pace with the speed of the country’s development, and doesn’t provide the requisite skilled talent that is so hotly in demand in the country. Then at the same time, everybody wants to become a manager so they can join the whitecollar workforce and the middle class. But China’s place in the overall food chain determines the foundational characteristics of its industry and commerce, and there just aren’t enough managerial positions to go around for everybody.

Citing a simple example, for some of the current problems in agriculture in rural China,even a PhD student educated at an agricultural university may not necessarily find the right solutions.

So, anytime anyone seeking my advice about what subjects their children should study,I always recommend that he or she learn a professional skill, and that attending a junior college or a polytechnic would be the way to go. The tuition is not expensive and after you graduate, finding a job that puts bread on the table is not a problem. You will have the necessary skills to do the job and your income would be decent. Of course,this wouldn’t be for the hyperintelligent; those who have their hearts set on going to Tsinghua or Peking University should go.

Sometimes I think that people from the countryside attending university need to get their heads straight. Although it’s true that the Chinese idiom,“the dragon bears a dragon, the phoenix bears a phoenix, and a mouse’s son digs a nest” should be looked at with a critical eye,we should nevertheless examine its practical and sensible aspects.It doesn’t make any difference whether someone has been born into a family that has been wealthy for more than three generations. And no matter if it’s crony capitalism, American style capitalism, European style,or Japanese style capitalism, it’s all the same. If your forefathers weren’t loaded, then you need to start from the bottom rung of the ladder, and whether you get rich or not all depends on hard work and luck. If you can’t join the ranks of the wealthy,you’d best just resign yourself to being an average Joe. Study your specialization, raise a family,and do your best to protect your menial interests

我们的高等教育，没有和社会对接，没有培养出足够的社会需要的实用技术人才，每个人都想去做白领，去做管理人员。可是中国的产业链地位决定了实业为基础的特性，并没有那么多的白领和管理层的职位提供给人们。

往简单里说，现在很多农业农村的问题，就算是农业大学培养的博士，也未必有能力处理好。

所以，每当有人咨询孩子应该去读什么书的时候，我往往建议去学一技之长，读个大专或者技校即可。花钱不多，出来找碗饭吃没有问题，技术做得好的，收入也不会低。当然智力超一流的除外，爱读清华读清华，爱读北大读北大。

有时候想一想，农村的人读书心态要放正。虽然“龙生龙，凤生凤，老鼠的儿子会打洞”这句话要批判，但也要看它现实合理的一面。至于人家富得过三代富不过三代，那是别人的事情。权贵资本主义也好，美式资本主义也好，欧式、日式资本主义也好，其实道理基本相通。如果父辈没有积累，那就老老实实从底层做起，发得起来是努力和运气的结晶；发不起来，就安安分分做一介普通小老百姓，学一技之长，生儿育女，捍卫自己的家庭小利益。

这是一个多元化的时代，有权贵资本强势做主，也有草根经济挣扎求生。富有富的烦恼，穷有穷的乐子。大人物风光无限，小人物各有精彩。像我老爹，什么城市都不想去，图的就是农村生活的那份自得其乐和逍遥自在。◆（摘自《从写字楼到玉米地》江苏文艺出版社）

We live in an era of plurality,there’s the powerful central force of the crony’s and their capitalist system and there are those struggling for survival at the grassroots level. There are also the headaches of being wealthy,and the joys of being poor. The grandeur of being elite knows no bounds; while the brilliance of being a cipher yet resounds.I’m reminded of the story of my grandfather who never wanted to live in any big city; he just planned to spend his whole life in the countryside where he could live without a care in the world and enjoy all the simple pleasures of life, which to me sounds like a little slice of heaven.◆ (From From the Offices to the Cornfields,Jiangsu Art and Literature Press.Translation: Chase Coulson)