The number of college graduates in China is growing far faster than the number of white-collar jobs in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai. Young people who thought higher education would lead to high-paying jobs and chic apartments are instead cramming by the tens-of-thousands into slums near the IT districts where they seek jobs in computing and programming. The new aspiring professionals are known as "ants" because of both their eagerness to work and a willingness to cram together in poor living conditions. China's new white-collar underclass is developing an intimate connections as they share struggles and seek to adapt to their nation's changing society.
look at the country's white-collar underclass
22-year old Zhao Xingchang (right) is from Chaoyang, Niaoning province and graduated from Beida Qingniao Training School last July. He wants to find a job that pays at least 3,000 RBM per month (about $440). His friend Yue Chunyang, 21,(left) from Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, is looking for a job in programming.
Every weekday morning, the ants emerge from their rooms to get on the bus for Beijing's Shangdi and Zhongguancun IT zones where most will search for work or spend the day selling low-end electronic gear.
he walls in Tangjialing are covered with a rapid turnover of ads. A posting for a technical school to learn Java programming is masked by fliers for cheap housing and air conditioning repair.
In the morning ant workers walk past the headquarters of Baidu, China's most popular search engine, on their way to work in the Shangdi IT area.
， An Internet bar where ants and locals go to play video games, watch movies, and video chat.
From rural Jiangxi province, Zhang Zuliang (center), 30, came to Beijing in 2001 and is now working at a subsidiary of computing giant Lenovo. His 25-year old brother, Zhang Qi (right) joined him last year and is now in a four-month training program at Beijing Software Education training school. Their cousin, Zhang Jingliang (left), 27, is studying at China University of Geosciences and working at a printing service store at the same time.
Ant workers return from Shangdi's hi-tech zone in the Zhongguancun IT district.
Bundles of power and data cables crowd above the village market where the ants buy fresh food. Though most of their apartments are wired for broadband, many don't have refrigerators.
angjialing was once a rural village but has now grown into an unsightly collection of unpainted concrete block structures. Inside the gray masses are cramped 16-by-20 square foot apartments that the villagers have built on the land whose main value is proximity to Beijing's IT industry areas.
look at the country's white-collar underclass
22-year old Zhao Xingchang (right) is from Chaoyang, Niaoning province and graduated from Beida Qingniao Training School last July. He wants to find a job that pays at least 3,000 RBM per month (about $440). His friend Yue Chunyang, 21,(left) from Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, is looking for a job in programming.
Every weekday morning, the ants emerge from their rooms to get on the bus for Beijing's Shangdi and Zhongguancun IT zones where most will search for work or spend the day selling low-end electronic gear.
he walls in Tangjialing are covered with a rapid turnover of ads. A posting for a technical school to learn Java programming is masked by fliers for cheap housing and air conditioning repair.
In the morning ant workers walk past the headquarters of Baidu, China's most popular search engine, on their way to work in the Shangdi IT area.
， An Internet bar where ants and locals go to play video games, watch movies, and video chat.
From rural Jiangxi province, Zhang Zuliang (center), 30, came to Beijing in 2001 and is now working at a subsidiary of computing giant Lenovo. His 25-year old brother, Zhang Qi (right) joined him last year and is now in a four-month training program at Beijing Software Education training school. Their cousin, Zhang Jingliang (left), 27, is studying at China University of Geosciences and working at a printing service store at the same time.
Ant workers return from Shangdi's hi-tech zone in the Zhongguancun IT district.
Bundles of power and data cables crowd above the village market where the ants buy fresh food. Though most of their apartments are wired for broadband, many don't have refrigerators.
angjialing was once a rural village but has now grown into an unsightly collection of unpainted concrete block structures. Inside the gray masses are cramped 16-by-20 square foot apartments that the villagers have built on the land whose main value is proximity to Beijing's IT industry areas.
