China News: White Collar | China Digital Times (CDT)

China news tagged with: white collar (8)

RSS feed for this topic

Related tags

How Did False Information Circulated Online Become National News?

In China, the phrase “white collar” brings to mind a comfortable life and social status, while the country’s rapid development and urbanization process has created many regional, social and economic inequalities. That’s why the most recent hot news item in China was headlined “Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) Published the Standard Salary Level of a White Collar Worker in Main Cities.” According to today’s Liberation Daily, the official Party newspaper of Shanghai, more than 2,190,000 search results appeared for this story on Chinese search engine Baidu. (CDT just checked this search again and Baidu has already blocked most of these pages from the search results. But by varying the search a little, one can find at least tens of thousands of pages still containing this information.) Several hundred websites made special topic pages for this “investigative report.”

But CASS has now officially denied it ever published this “report.”

So how did this happen? Here is a timeline, from Harbin Daily, about how this false information became a major news story in China this week:
» Read more
- November 7, 2007 12:06 PM
Updated: Entry Level Salary of a White Collar Worker – Lola Xu’s blog

[UPDATE: Yesterday, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) denied that they published the list of entry level salaries for white collar workers. CASS said they would investigate this list and find who originally fabricated this news. Here is the CASS's official statement . The news spread very quickly online and raised heated discussion.]

Recently, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) published the living standards of so-called white collar workers, from Msn space translated by CDT:

Evaluating the consumer price index, living expenses, transportation costs, degree of modernization and other factors in different cities, CASS published the entry level salary standards for a white collar worker in China. For migrant workers from other cities, 1800 yuan should be added to the numbers. Here is the list (RMB):

First LevelÔºöHong Kong 18500, Macau: 8900;

Second Level: Shanghai 5350, Shenzhen 5280, Wenzhou 5020, Beijing 5000;
» Read more
- November 7, 2007 11:25 AM
Entry Level Salary of a White Collar Worker – Lola Xu’s blog (Updated)

Recently, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) published the living standards of so-called white collar workers [UPDATE Nov. 7: CASS is denying that they have published this report so it is now unclear where it originated.] From MSN Space translated by CDT:

Evaluating the consumer price index, living expenses, transportation costs, degree of modernization and other factors in different cities, CASS published the entry level salary standards for a white collar worker in China. For migrant workers from other cities, 1800 yuan should be added to the numbers. Here is the list (RMB):

First LevelÔºöHong Kong 18500 yuan, Macau: 8900;

Second Level: Shanghai 5350, Shenzhen 5280, Wenzhou 5020, Beijing 5000;

Third Level: Hangzhou 4980, Guangzhou 4750, Suzhou 4300, Xiamen 4100, Qingdao 4000;

Forth Level: Nanjing 3780, Fuzhou 3380, Wuxi 3200ÔºåTianjin 3150, Jinan 3120, Dalian 3000;

Fifth Level: Zhengzhou 2880, Kunming 2800, Wuhan 2680, Haikou 2600, Changsha 2480, Sanya 2360, Chongqing 2250, Shenyang 2100, Wulumuqi 2100, Xi’an 2080;

Sixth Level: Chengdu 1900, Ha’erbin 1700, Huhehaote 1700, Guizhou 1600, Changchun 1500, Lanzhou 1500, Yinchuan 1100, Xining 1000;

Seventh Level: Lhasa 900. [Full Text in Chinese]

To see netizens’ feedback on this news story, click here from bbs.sina.com (In Chinese) and here from Global Voices.
» Read more
- November 6, 2007 9:13 AM
Women at Forefront of Consumer Spending in China – Susan Fenton

“Yueguang Zu”/ÊúàÂÖâÊóè(empty monthly wage group) is used to describe the group of young Chinese white-collar workers who spend their total salary on luxury goods or to live expensive and comfortable lives. Here is an example. From Reuters:

Waiting for a friend in Shenzhen’s plush Kingglory Plaza, Chen Jing, 25, admired her new Nokia mobile phone. Complete with MP3 and third-generation network capability, the red phone cost just over 3,000 yuan – Chen’s entire monthly wage…

Their spending will help determine which foreign brands succeed in China. Analysts at Credit Suisse cite the luxury goods companies LVMH, Christian Dior and Valentino among its top picks, along with Swatch Group, Nokia and Coca-Cola.

Retail sales in China climbed 15.7 percent in the first eight months of this year from a year ago, reflecting rising incomes and urbanization. [Full Text]
» Read more
- September 17, 2007 12:14 PM
White Collars Going to Great Lengths for Stress Relief – Xinhua

Xinhua reports that Chinese white collars have the new way to relax from stressful work:

Stressed out white-collar workers are scaling skyscrapers, camping out on rooftops, smashing up restaurants, pretending to be children and even visiting cemeteries in a bid to relieve the pressure of modern life.

As the country’s economy continues to steam ahead, once popular forms of entertainment, such as karaoke, card games and even boxing bars, appear to be losing their appeal….[Full Text]

[Image from Xinhua]
» Read more
- August 21, 2007 9:30 AM
White Collars Feel Blue – Jeff Pan

From China Daily:

At the forefront of those benefiting from China’s rapid economic growth, the white collars are supposed to be happy. In fact, many are downright blue.

Their salaries are going up, but they aren’t getting promoted. They are feeling less happy, and their personal lives are deteriorating.

…”The so-called ‘white collars’ are nothing more than migrant workers with college degrees,” said Winnie Wang, a young employee working with a major PR company in Shanghai. The term “white collar” usually refers to people who spend most of their time facing computers in offices in China. Being a white collar usually means making a living with brainpower, not physical strength. They are not factory workers or farmers, yet they are not bosses, either. ….[Full Text]
» Read more
- February 10, 2007 4:54 PM
Firing provokes debate on maternity rights – China Daily

From China Daily:

Preserving the right to be a mother or pocketing a decent salary is the dilemma facing China’s white collar pregnant working women.

A 33-year-old woman surnamed Luo who was employed by a Hong Kong based company as a marketing director filed a lawsuit against her employers after she was fired because she was two months pregnant, writes ycwb.com on November 2.

Her boss, surnamed Zhang, said her pregnancy was detrimental to her career, says the web site….[Full Text]
» Read more
- November 4, 2006 8:25 PM
52% of Chinese office workers write Internet blogs, complaining and privacy top blog themes – Interfax

From Interfax:

Blogging has increasingly become more popular in China, with 52% of white-collar workers now keeping weblogs (blogs) according to CBP Career Consultants Co., Ltd., a leading career consulting firm in China.

Unlike western bloggers who often focus on news and politics, the Chinese white collar bloggers see complaining alongside office and personal gossip as their priorities, according to the survey.

According to the findings of a blogging survey conducted by CBP among white-collar workers in China’s four largest cities – Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen – 52% responded they already had a blog, while another 28% said they plan to begin a blog in the near future.
» Read more
- February 20, 2006 10:31 AM