Time to rethink China's 'civil servant fever'

This year's ten-day registration period for the national civil service examination will run until Friday with at least 22,200 government spots to be filled, a new historical high.

Nearly 340,000 people applied to take the exam as of Monday morning, about 100,000 fewer applicants than at the same time last year, according to Zhonggong Education, a test preparation company.

OBSESSION

Getting a government job has been an attainable dream for ordinary Chinese since 1994, when the country introduced the national civil service examination.

Millions of candidates have signed up to sit the cut-throat exam to join the country's team of more than seven million civil servants over the past few years. The job is seen as an opportunity for a stable life, good pension plan, handsome salary, and upward mobility.

After graduating from a well-known university in Beijing in 2010, Li Jia passed the civil service examination and became a civil servant at a community office in Wanpingcheng in the city's Fengtai District.

While many Chinese young people might envy her position, every morning and afternoon the 26-year-old struggles to get on an overcrowded train to go to a job she doesn't like.

"I didn't think deeply when I received the acceptance letter. For fresh graduates, getting a government job is popular," she said. "A Beijing hukou, or a registered permanent residence, and good welfare system are what attracted me to civil service."

But being a civil servant at the grassroots level has been quite different from her expectations.

Li's routine duties, which include collecting documents, writing reports, attending meetings and answering phone calls, have nothing to do with her English major.

Like many, she considered civil service a nine-to-five job with little pressure. Applicants like Li have chased this "easy" job with good welfare and high social status for decades.

Local media reported in 2012 that only 2 percent of college graduates in Singapore are willing to apply to be a civil servant. The figure is 3 percent and 5.3 percent in the U.S. and France respectively. In the UK, civil servant is one of the twenty least-favored jobs among university students. However, in China, 76.4 percent of college graduates want the job.

Official statistics show that an average of 57 candidates competed for each government post last year. In 2003, the figure was only 16 hopefuls competing for a post.

People stereotype civil servants, said Zhang Yan, a researcher with the Shaanxi Academy of Social Sciences.

"Most candidates are keen on the job for the good welfare and the 'power' it can bring about," said Zhang.