VZCZCXRO3692
RR RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHCN #1253/01 3470957
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 130957Z DEC 06
FM AMCONSUL CHENGDU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2328
INFO RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 2800
RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CHENGDU 001253 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/CM AND S/STC 
DEPT ALSO FOR DRL/IRF AND TIBET COORDINATOR 
BANGKOK FOR USAID/MSTIEVATER 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  12/13/2026 
TAGS: SOCI PHUM PGOV SCUL CH
SUBJECT: NO MORE "IRON RICE BOWL" FOR TIBETAN GRADUATES 
 
REF: A) 05 BEIJING 2560; B) 04 CHENGDU 597; C) 04 CHENGDU 576 
 
CHENGDU 00001253  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: James A. Boughner, Consul General, United States 
Consulate, Chengdu. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  The Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) recently 
announced it would be the last region in China to eliminate the 
"iron rice bowl" system of guaranteed lifetime employment in 
governmental organs and state enterprises.  The announcement, as 
well as the results of recent civil service exams in the TAR in 
which very few ethnic Tibetans were offered positions, ignited 
tensions among several hundred Tibetan graduates in Lhasa and 
mirrored protests that took place in Qinghai Province in 2004 
and 2005.  The TAR Government, through job fairs and improved 
personnel training, expects ethnic Tibetans to adapt to the 
needs of the local job market.  Recent Tibetan graduates 
expressed dismay at the fierce competition with non-Tibetan 
students and the inability to secure employment in the absence 
of strong Mandarin Chinese skills and government connections. 
Tibetan students' perception that government policies encourage 
the movement of Chinese-speaking non-Tibetan graduates to 
Tibetan areas, thus increasing competition, fuels resentment and 
possible unrest.  End Summary. 
 
Background 
------------------ 
¶2.  (U) According to China's Ministry of Education, 4.13 million 
students graduated from universities in inland China in 2006, 
three quarters of a million more than in 2005.  The number of 
college graduates in 2007 will be close to five million, and it 
is predicted that approximately 1.24 million of those graduates 
will not have immediate job offers. The Tibet Daily reported 
that approximately 6000 students from the Tibetan Autonomous 
Region (TAR) graduated from colleges and other higher 
educational institution in China in 2005.  In 2006, there were 
approximately 7500 Tibetan graduates. 
 
¶3.  (U) China's "Iron Rice Bowl," the system of guaranteed 
lifetime employment in governmental organs and state 
enterprises, has gradually been phased out over the last six 
years.  Tibetan areas outside of the Tibetan Autonomous Region 
(TAR) still assigned jobs to Tibetan students until the late 
1990s.  Now, the TAR is the last area in China to discontinue 
such employment benefits for Tibetan graduates. 
 
¶4. (U) Due to relatively high salaries and hardship incentives, 
the TAR and Tibetan areas of China have become new targets for 
Chinese job seekers.  Some official Chinese policies also 
support the movement of job seekers to the TAR.  The Ministry of 
Education and Communist Youth League in 2003 implemented a 
national program called "College Graduates Aid the West Plan" 
(daxuesheng zhiyuang xibu jihua).  According to that program's 
official website vweb.cycnet.com, the TAR received 346 college 
graduates from Beijing, Shanghai, Sichuan and Yunnan from 2003 
to 2005 to work in the TAR for "short term assignments." 
Eighty-two of those graduates decided to remain in the TAR. 
There are currently 161 graduates working in the TAR, and 50 of 
them have decided to remain permanently in the TAR. 
 
¶5.  (U) For the past three years the international press has 
reported on demonstrations led by young Tibetan job hunters 
protesting the assignment of jobs and limited opportunities for 
Tibetan graduates.  Three relatively large protests took place 
in 2004, 2005 and 2006, in Golok Prefecture and Xining in 
Qinghai Province, and Lhasa in the TAR, respectively. 
 
Tibetan Students in Lhasa Protest 
Award of Jobs to Han Chinese 
------------------------------------ 
¶6.  (U) According to a November 8 report from Radio Free Asia 
(RFA), young Tibetans in Lhasa staged a rare public protest at 
the end of October over alleged discrimination by Chinese 
authorities in hiring for civil service jobs.  RFA reported that 
hundreds of Tibetan graduates who had completed their studies in 
vocational institutions and universities in China protested the 
results of a civil service examination conducted on September 30 
by the TAR Government.  One thousand Tibetan and Chinese 
candidates sat for the exam, aimed at filling 100 open 
positions, and jobs were reportedly offered to 98 Han Chinese 
and two Tibetan applicants.  RFA also reported that Chinese 
authorities threatened to fire any government employees 
participating in the protest, to deny jobs to involved students, 
and to arrest community members.  No violence or arrests were 
reported. 
 
¶7.  (C) Following the report, a government employee and a worker 
 
CHENGDU 00001253  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
in a government-run enterprise in Lhasa separately confirmed to 
the Consulate that there were approximately 200 Tibetan 
graduates protesting in Lhasa, and that all governmental 
agencies were officially informed to be on the alert.  One 
contact said for unknown reasons, the protest ended abruptly. 
The contact also indicated that Tibetan students in Shigatse and 
Chamdo Prefectures were also planning to protest, but suddenly 
decided not to carry through with their plans.  A worker in a 
government-run enterprise told the Consulate that because the 
TAR has stopped assigning jobs to Tibetan graduates, they must 
now compete with Chinese students who have connections with 
officials.  He complained, "the winners are always Chinese 
students." 
 
2004 and 2005 Protests in Qinghai 
--------------------------------- 
¶8.  (U) RFA reported similar protests in Qinghai Province in 
2004 and 2005 (Reftels A, B and C).  In October 2004, more than 
200 young people, mostly Tibetan students, reportedly protested 
outside the Golok Prefecture Government office building for more 
than two weeks.  The prefecture government responded to the 
students by saying, "It is difficult to resolve this issue 
because there are not enough jobs for all the protesters."  In 
July 2005, approximately 70 young Tibetans from Xunhua Salar 
Autonomous County reportedly protested in front of the Qinghai 
Provincial Government office in Xining, accusing authorities of 
favoritism and discrimination in filling a limited number of 
available jobs.  According to the report, police arrested and 
beat some Tibetan students. 
 
¶9.  (C) Recently, the Consulate contacted a middle school 
teacher from Xunhua Salar Autonomous County who confirmed the 
2005 protest and said it was "a useless endeavor, because it was 
becoming more and more difficult for Tibetans to find jobs."  A 
government official in Golok Prefecture, commenting on the 2004 
protest, said Tibetan students demanded equal job distribution 
and an end to hiring of students from outside the prefecture.  A 
teacher from Qinghai Minority University commented to us that, 
"having difficulties in finding a job is not news anymore for us 
-- our students have been suffering since the late 1990s." 
 
TAR Government:  Changes Needed in Tibet Job Market 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
¶10. (SBU) Following the announcement of the end to guaranteed 
government jobs for students in Tibet, China's Xinhua News 
Agency on November 27, said "a university degree is no longer a 
passport to a steady job in Tibet, and that the move will 
ultimately improve personnel training in Tibet and adapt it to 
the needs of the local job market.  In the report, an official 
from the TAR Personnel Department said the government promotes 
"market guidance, government coordination, school 
recommendation, and employer and student mutual selection," and 
encourages graduates to attend job fairs.  The TAR staged its 
first ever recruitment fair for college students in November in 
Lhasa, with 53 companies offering more than 700 openings for 
sales representatives, secretaries, IT engineers, tour guides 
and hotel staff. 
 
Tibetan Graduates: Difficult Job Prospects 
------------------------------------------ 
¶11.  (C) The Consulate conducted phone interviews with several 
recent Tibetan graduates in the TAR and other Tibetan areas to 
assess their outlooks on the job market.  A graduate from Ngaba 
(Ch: Aba) Prefecture in Sichuan Province who has a Master's 
degree in Tibetan language said that what he studied in school 
has no market in today's society.  He added he would like to 
work for the government, but that his Chinese was not very good 
and he didn't have good connections with any government 
officials.  A Tibetan graduate of China's Central University for 
Nationalities currently living in Lhasa told the Consulate that 
in the past, Tibetan students liked to come back to Tibet after 
graduation to assigned jobs, but now they worry about 
competition with job hunters from outside of the TAR, and "most 
lose to their competitors."  She added that there were 200 posts 
available in Lhasa for business planners, computer engineers, 
secretaries and many other professions, but none of them 
 
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required Tibetan language. "One must have very good Chinese and 
other advanced skills, so most Tibetans lose," she lamented 
 
¶12.  (C) A recent Tibetan graduate of Tibet University admitted 
many Tibetan students were not ready to adapt to the changes. 
He emphasized that job seekers in Tibetan areas must have both 
strong Chinese language skills and close connections, and if 
they hope to work for private companies, professional knowledge. 
 A Tibetan graduate of Qinghai Minority University said all 
civil service exams are in Chinese and "most of us cannot 
pass... We are still looking for jobs two to three years after 
graduation.  We feel sorry for our parents and embarrassed when 
 
CHENGDU 00001253  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
we see our neighbors back home." 
 
¶13.  (C) Comment:  Frustration with a competitive job market for 
recent college graduates is not a phenomenon unique to Tibetan 
areas.  What is unique about the unrest in Tibetan areas in 
recent years is students' perception that government policies 
support and encourage the movement of Chinese-speaking 
non-Tibetan graduates to Tibetan areas, adding to competition 
for jobs for ethnic Tibetans.  They may view the government's 
"Go West" policy as in direct conflict with the "Tibetan 
Autonomous Policy" that stipulates governmental agencies should 
employ ethnic minorities first in hiring civil servants, and 
support the development of the region's minorities for other 
skilled professions.  The TAR Government likely quashed the 
recent protests for fear that such public indignation among 
students would ignite more widespread social unrest. 
BOUGHNER