The making of ‘exam ronins’: young people’s desire for public service jobs in China

ABSTRACTABSTRACTPublic service positions are increasingly sought after by university graduates in China, especially in the post COVID-19 era. Drawing on Gramsci’s hegemonic power, this article analyses the ‘exam ronin’ phenomenon among young Chinese people, a term used to describe those who chronically remove themselves from the labour market to prepare for civil service exams. The findings reveal a more nuanced and complex picture than previous studies indicated regarding the reasons why young people choose civil service jobs. The study found that the participants’ decisions to work towards securing civil service jobs were the result of constrained career options and an absence of vocational guidance. In addition, their choice-making processes were shown to be influenced by heightened parental ambition and Confucian societal sentiment in relation to civil servants. The young people in this study perceived the exam-based recruitment system as fair and meritocratic, and viewed exam success as indicating ‘people of higher quality’. The participants’ ‘horizons for action’, i.e. the arena within which actions can be taken and decisions made, appear to have been shaped by their strong attachment to the party-state.KEYWORDS: Public service jobsyoung peopleConfucian heritageschool-to-work transitionChina Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.