Is it hypocritical to say one job is better than another?

I don't think so. An executive obviously earns more than a secretary. Even when a factory worker makes less than a farmer, the job - traditionally for urbanites - carries perks such as medical insurance and pension whereas a farmer is basically self-employed.

Then money is not everything, is it?

To see how jobs are ranked in our society, one needs only watch where college graduates swarm. For example, last year about a million of them applied for government jobs. In some cases, one had to edge out 1,000 competitors to get a position. That shows how "lofty" being a public servant is in the eyes of the nation's college students.

Gao Jian aims at the other end of the job spectrum when he openly sought a job as "a talking companion" (peiliao), an occupation somewhat like a counsellor crossed with an au pair, but often appearing in the same sentence with hair salon girls and escorts. Adding further to the irony, Gao is fresh from the esteemed management programme of Peking University, one of the nation's most prestigious "mansions of higher learning."

A popular television host couldn't help taking a swipe at him for his monumental display of underachievement. Unexpectedly, Gao fought back. "I've been hunting for a job for the past six months, but no offer came. I'm helpless," he says in his blog. "Besides, to be a peiliao is to provide psychological aid."

Gao admits he is not a straight-A student, but he passed all the courses and got the degree. Ma Bin, the CCTV2 host, quickly explained that it was not Gao's career goal he was picking apart, but his performance in school. One needs special training to be a counsellor, added Ma, who hinted Gao was advertising the peiliao search as a gesture.

Whatever his intention, Gao Jian's attitude, as well as his action, is an antidote to the centuries-old practice of classifying people by their work environment. You may be a paper shuffler in a government office, and people will still kowtow to you; but if you operate a food stand on a street corner, even your children will feel humiliated. Gao was basically saying: "I'm from the most elitist school in China, but I cannot get a decent job, so I want to be a peiliao, maybe just for its shock or titillating value. So what?"

Our culture attaches prestige to positions that are closer to power centres and offer stable income. We discourage risk-taking endeavours such as entrepreneurship and innovation. The reason some of the nouveaux riches flaunt their wealth is to compensate for all the years of prejudice they suffered while they were still struggling as small-business owners.

When Lu Buxuan was found to be operating a butcher shop, the public was aghast: What a waste of talent! They heaved a collective sigh of disappointment. With the media avalanche, local authorities were compelled to employ the Peking University graduate as an archivist.

Then, another voice emerged from the public: What's so wrong with being a butcher? An educated person can make it more efficient and maybe turn it into a chain of supermarkets. So, instead of closing shop, he opened another one. Now Lu, the ultimate failure, has two butcher shops and a government job, straddling the world of free-market competition and coziness of government welfare. The last time the press checked on him, he had bought two apartments.

It is hard to disentangle what one does for a living from how much respect he or she commands. Even when people say: "I don't care what you do; everyone is equal," it has such an overtone of sanctimoniousness as if they were saying: "I know you're a pathetic loser, but I'll save your face by pretending a butcher is as highly regarded as a bureaucrat."

Only when a sizable middle class takes shape will people develop concepts such as the freedom to choose a career. Society should make sure that everyone has an equal chance to give play to his or her potential. But the career track selected by each individual should be based on the marriage of one's dreams and market needs.

Even then not everyone will respect another's choice of career. Those into writing novels or performing in the arts will probably be encouraged to get a day job while those who make millions a day from betting on the right stock will be ogled with envy.

That's the nature of this snobbish world. But at least more people - legions of happy rather than hapless Gao Jians - will snap back: "I like what I do. I don't break the law. I work for my money. And I don't care what you think about me."

(China Daily 12/02/2006 page4)