Have you heard of the “full-time children” job? No? Then I recommend our analysis today on the difficult situation of young people in the Chinese job market. Employment contract extensions are abused to cut wages. While the youngest job seekers have problems finding a job at all.
Gregor Koppenburg shows what grotesque phenomena this leads to – for instance, the aforementioned “full-time children.” A small consolation for the millions of jobseekers: German companies will at least still have a slight wage increase this year.
EU top diplomat Gunnar Wiegand looks at China from a completely different angle. In the second part of the interview by Amelie Richter, he praises Germany’s China strategy as an important implementation of the EU’s approach. The Managing Director for Asia at the European External Action Service looks at the still hesitant way of dealing with disinformation from China and the upcoming European elections.
In addition, the longstanding top official looks back at his personal highlights, but also negative high points in his diplomatic dealings with China.
The situation in the Chinese job market has been tense since the Covid crisis. The major problems are well known: The country’s slowing economic recovery, the political crackdown on the tech sector and the real estate crisis. Yet the official figures do not look so bad. Unemployment in the country is at a largely stable 5.2 percent.
However, many of the changes are happening below the surface. For instance, salaries are often cut when employment contracts are renewed. This does not change the employment status, but leads to significant wage cuts for the employee.
Zhang Jie (name changed) is affected by exactly that. He used to have a fairly decent income as a project manager. 6,000 yuan (about 800 euros) a month as basic pay. In addition, he received a bonus payment for each project. For a job in his profession in a second-tier city, this is an average salary.
Then Zhang’s contract ended, a new one had to be signed – and the rude awakening followed. “The bonus payments are canceled with immediate effect,” he says. “That means I earn a third less than before.”
Like Zhang, many employees who sign new contracts have to put up with significant cuts. Many employments, especially in the project-oriented sector, are based on this model. The loss of bonus payments can account for up to 50 percent of pay. Still, Zhang is essentially one of the winners: He has several years of work experience and is not sitting on the street like many others.
Above all, the country’s very young jobseekers have no work experience at all. They are thus affected disproportionately hard by unemployment. The unemployment rate among 16-24-year-olds is now 21.3 percent. This includes untrained job starters on the one hand, but also several million university graduates who flood the job market every year. Their prospects have been dimmed mainly by the crackdown on the tech and private education sectors.
For many Chinese, a job with a German company is still considered a stroke of luck. In view of the difficult economic situation, employees of German companies do not yet have to cope with wage cuts. Nevertheless, according to a job market report published on Monday by the German Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, their income is growing at an increasingly slower rate. According to it, effective wages increased by 4.76 percent in 2023. Effective wages have been below expectations for the first time in three years.
“German companies have offered lower salary increases than forecast this year, reflecting the cautious approach to the Chinese market,” says Ulf Reinhardt, Chairman of the German Chamber of Commerce in China for South and Southwest China.
There is no improvement in sight for 2024 either: German companies in China only expect wage growth of 4.49 percent. It would be the fourth consecutive year with wage growth below five percent. “The prospect of even lower wage increases in 2024 is a cause for concern and points to continuing difficulties in the market,” Reinhardt concludes.
These are bleak – albeit comparatively good prospects. Because things could be far worse. Those who now enter the job market are often faced with extreme demands. 70-hour work weeks for about 400 euros a month are not uncommon.
Betty Chen (name changed) holds a degree in English and has already gained some experience in the sales sector. She had to go to three job interviews in the same company on the same day for the assistant job she applied for. And that – the Beijing company signaled to her afterward – was only the first round. At least two more would follow.
But unemployment bears even more grotesque fruit. Some parents unceremoniously hire their children as “full-time children.” They then receive a regular paycheck from their parents corresponding to the average wage level. In return, they do housework, go shopping or care for their sick grandmother.
According to a Caixin opinion column by researcher Zhang Dandan, the phenomenon will likely significantly distort the statistics. This is because, according to Zhang, “professional children” are no longer listed as jobseekers, which means that the actual ratio of people looking for work is likely to be significantly higher than officially stated. She estimates that the actual unemployment rate in the age segment could be as high as 45 percent.
Meanwhile, a portion of the well-educated workers, who are actually trained for the tech or media sector, are putting up with what party leader Xi Jinping called “swallowing bitterness” in order to earn an income at all. They work in fields for which they are completely overqualified. They work in commercial cleaning and make their money by scrubbing. Here, too, the wages for graduates are naturally low.
The Communist Party is not openly worried about this. Many officials compare it to the time of the Cultural Revolution, when Xi Jinping also spent time as a farmhand living in a cave.
But other voices are also becoming loud. Because both the professional children and the overqualified cleaners have one thing in common: They do not gain any work experience in their fields. Experts predict that this will make them unemployable in the long term. The training, for which their parents have in part sacrificed a lot of money, is thus effectively wasted. Collaboration: Joern Petring
Berlin published its China strategy just a few weeks ago. What impetus did this give Brussels?
The colleagues in Germany have developed a very comprehensive strategy. An important contribution was made here by one of the most important European partners as part of the European positioning on China. It is part of the common EU position towards China and supports and strengthens it by translating the EU strategy into the imperatives and capabilities of a member state. Namely, for the national, state and municipal level, for the official institutions, as well as for universities or companies. For me, this is an essential contribution to strengthening the EU and its policy towards Beijing. It is not a deviation or a new impetus, but the implementation of the European framework. I’m glad that Germany has now done the same, as other member states have done so before.
The European elections are coming up next year. Do you think China will play a role in this and the election campaigns?
Traditionally, foreign and security policy issues are very seldom of decisive importance in elections. I think China plays a more indirect role in this, especially when it comes to the economic links and dependencies between both sides.
Is there an approach for the European elections, and also in general, to do more against Chinese disinformation? Especially on platforms like X, better known as Twitter, these are sprouting without any context or explanations.
In the most recent EEAS report on disinformation, there was a chapter on Chinese support for Russian information manipulation. We deliberately included Chinese publications and actions in social media, given their ever-growing importance. And especially in countries where China is often an efficient amplifier of Russian disinformation. It is important not only to address this diplomatically whenever possible, but also to concretely refute it, including with reactions on social media. We have to actively clarify things here.
You can only clarify when there are facts. This is not possible, for example, in the case of the disappeared Foreign Minister Qin Gang, because his whereabouts are still unclear. The rumor mill is churning. Have you been given more information about this? EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell’s visit to China had to be postponed because of this.
I have to disappoint you. We were informed at relatively short notice that the visit was no longer feasible. Then the impression was given that it was due to a health-related problem. Which still cannot be entirely ruled out. But we will not comment on this, only the relevant Chinese authorities can do that.
Has a date already been set for the EU-China summit?
The summit is planned to be held this year, but the date has not yet been set.
Do you have a personal highlight of your time as Asia Director of the EEAS?
There are quite a few. But one was certainly: to see how strongly the Union is now willing to expand and proactively engage in a part of the world that is both far away, but more and more closely connected to us. One highlight is that we developed a new EU Indo-Pacific strategy with all member states in 2021, which we then began to fully implement in 2022 despite the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine. This was nowhere as apparent as with the first Ministerial Forum on Indo-Pacific Cooperation in Paris on February 22, just before the start of the Russian invasion. Europe managed to act globally, despite the threat of war in its immediate vicinity.
What other developments do you consider important?
That we have now slowly set the Global Gateway Initiative in the right direction and there are a number of concrete flagship projects driving the green and digital transition and contributing to infrastructure development and connectivity. I could name a lot more, but I think these are pretty good highlights. However, there were also a number of highly negative experiences, such as the military coup in Myanmar or the developments in Afghanistan. What is also concerning is that there are more and more ICBMs from North Korea, but no dialogue anymore.
What advice would you give your successor?
Above all, I would advise my successor to also think in the medium and long term and prepare things accordingly and not just look at the current situation. I believe that is a significant flaw of our collective decision-making process, in which people keep trying to position themselves in detail on an issue, and then lose sight of the big picture once the member states attempt to find a compromise. This is not only the case when it comes to China.
Has a successor already been chosen?
I can only tell you that the best will be chosen and that the selection process is in full swing.
You can find the first part of the interview here.
Gunnar Wiegand was Head of the Asia Department at the European External Action Service (EEAS) from January 2016 to August 2023. Previously, he was Deputy Head for the Europe and Central Asia Division and Director of the Russia, Eastern Partnership, Central Asia and OSCE Division at EEAS. Prior to joining EEAS, Wiegand held various positions related to external relations and trade policy at the European Commission since 1990.
Wiegand will become Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, after the summer break. He will be part of the Department of EU International Relations and Diplomacy Studies.
The Hong Kong Court of Appeal has found media tycoon Jimmy Lai and six other pro-democracy opposition activists not guilty of organizing an unauthorized rally in 2019. The verdict, however, is only a formal victory for Lai and his companions, who have long since served their sentences. Four of them – including Lai – remain behind bars regardless, due to additional sentences as part of a political purge.
The court ruled on Monday that while the publisher, as well as lawyers Martin Lee and Margaret Ng, former MPs Cyd Ho and Albert Ho, and activists Lee Cheuk-yan and Leung Kwok-hung, had participated in a mass rally in August 2019 against the extradition law and should be punished for it, they were not responsible for organizing it. Lai himself had pleaded not guilty.
The court stated there was no evidence that the accused had any connection to the now-defunct Civil Human Rights Front, which was responsible for the protest of nearly two million people. Lai’s sentence for this offense was reduced from twelve to nine months.
The founder of the pro-democracy Apple Daily, which has since ceased publication, had previously been sentenced to five years and nine months in prison for fraud. He was accused of violating the rental contract for the Apple Daily’s publishing headquarters. More than a hundred journalists are calling for Lai’s release. The 75-year-old faces possible life in prison in other trials in which he is accused of four violations of the National Security Law. Along with Lai, 46 other opposition members are also on trial.
The National Security Law was imposed on Hong Kong by the Beijing central government in 2020. With this legislation, the city government has a powerful tool at its disposal to stifle political dissent across the board in Hong Kong. grz
China’s Vice Premier Liu Guozhong visited the northeastern province of Heilongjiang to assess the situation personally. Heilongjiang has experienced severe flooding in recent days, with thousands of hectares of farmland submerged. During his visit, Liu warned that China must act to prevent epidemics from breaking out in flood-affected areas in Heilongjiang. This was reported by the state news agency Xinhua on Monday.
Liu demanded that damaged farmland, local water protection and other infrastructure be repaired quickly. This way, a quick recovery of grain production can be ensured.
China has experienced an unusually wet and rainy summer season in recent weeks. The northern and northeastern provinces experienced massive flooding. In Hebei alone, more than 1.5 million people were brought to safety in early August. In early August, more than 1.5 million people were evacuated to safety in Hebei Alone. Liu went on to say that it was necessary to take relief measures so that the affected people would not fall into poverty. Some villages are still flooded, water quality is poor and the environment is polluted, posing the risk of infectious diseases, he said. rad
Foreign languages are Andreas Guder’s passion. The 56-year-old has been Professor of Chinese Didactics at the Free University of Berlin since 2019. He advocates Europeans to focus more on “distant foreign languages” such as Chinese. Up to now, they have played only a minor role in the German education system. He believes it is a shame if we in Europe fail to bring non-European languages closer to children and students. “Conversely, there are many Asians who have also successfully mastered a difficult European language that is foreign to them,” says Guder.
China competence is necessary when dealing with the People’s Republic of China in many areas. Especially in our global world. “Only through language can we understand the culture and people of a country and take the all-important extra-European perspective.”
Languages have fascinated Guder since his youth in Munich: As a 13-year-old, he took up his school’s offer and learned shorthand. Fascinated by Chinese characters, he asked for his first Chinese textbook as a graduation present. During his civilian service, he attended his first Chinese language courses. Later, he studied German as a foreign language with a minor in Sinology at the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU). After his studies, Guder went to China.
He taught German as a foreign language in Beijing for four years at the Beijing Institute of Technology. His academic career began in 2003. He is now a professor of Chinese didactics and Chinese language and culture at the Free University of Berlin. In this position, Guder is currently working on a didactic concept for Chinese in the classroom. Worldwide, there is little literature on the subject, and in Germany only a handful of schools offer the subject at all in class. In addition to methods, the focus should also be on the content and cultural goals of teaching the language.
Of his own Chinese classes at university in the 1990s, Guder has “catastrophic” memories. “It was neither communicative nor was there background knowledge on vocabulary or characters; the lessons focused on grammatical structures.” Since then, Chinese lessons at German schools and universities have changed.
But not enough, as far as Guder is concerned. Schools, in particular, should promote more Chinese skills. Often, however, even textbook publishers refuse to develop new Chinese textbooks. The market is simply too small for them, it would not pay off, says the professor. “Here, we would need funds to support the German publishers so that we can publish our own textbooks independently of the People’s Republic of China.”
China plays a big role in the sinologist’s life, even outside the university. During the pandemic, Guder found a new hobby on X (formerly Twitter). For about three years, he has been posting a new character there every day with various background information to help with learning. By now, he has pointedly explained more than 1,200 characters on the short message service, and the number is growing every day. In his free time, the father of three children also reads plenty of Chinese literature and last year translated even a novel by a Uyghur author. “My profession,” says Guder, “is simply my hobby.” Dayan Djajadisastra
Death and destruction: On Sunday, the city of Yancheng in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu was ravaged by a tornado. At least two people were killed and 15 others injured. Hundreds of homes and several greenhouses were destroyed.
Have you heard of the “full-time children” job? No? Then I recommend our analysis today on the difficult situation of young people in the Chinese job market. Employment contract extensions are abused to cut wages. While the youngest job seekers have problems finding a job at all.
Gregor Koppenburg shows what grotesque phenomena this leads to – for instance, the aforementioned “full-time children.” A small consolation for the millions of jobseekers: German companies will at least still have a slight wage increase this year.
EU top diplomat Gunnar Wiegand looks at China from a completely different angle. In the second part of the interview by Amelie Richter, he praises Germany’s China strategy as an important implementation of the EU’s approach. The Managing Director for Asia at the European External Action Service looks at the still hesitant way of dealing with disinformation from China and the upcoming European elections.
In addition, the longstanding top official looks back at his personal highlights, but also negative high points in his diplomatic dealings with China.
The situation in the Chinese job market has been tense since the Covid crisis. The major problems are well known: The country’s slowing economic recovery, the political crackdown on the tech sector and the real estate crisis. Yet the official figures do not look so bad. Unemployment in the country is at a largely stable 5.2 percent.
However, many of the changes are happening below the surface. For instance, salaries are often cut when employment contracts are renewed. This does not change the employment status, but leads to significant wage cuts for the employee.
Zhang Jie (name changed) is affected by exactly that. He used to have a fairly decent income as a project manager. 6,000 yuan (about 800 euros) a month as basic pay. In addition, he received a bonus payment for each project. For a job in his profession in a second-tier city, this is an average salary.
Then Zhang’s contract ended, a new one had to be signed – and the rude awakening followed. “The bonus payments are canceled with immediate effect,” he says. “That means I earn a third less than before.”
Like Zhang, many employees who sign new contracts have to put up with significant cuts. Many employments, especially in the project-oriented sector, are based on this model. The loss of bonus payments can account for up to 50 percent of pay. Still, Zhang is essentially one of the winners: He has several years of work experience and is not sitting on the street like many others.
Above all, the country’s very young jobseekers have no work experience at all. They are thus affected disproportionately hard by unemployment. The unemployment rate among 16-24-year-olds is now 21.3 percent. This includes untrained job starters on the one hand, but also several million university graduates who flood the job market every year. Their prospects have been dimmed mainly by the crackdown on the tech and private education sectors.
For many Chinese, a job with a German company is still considered a stroke of luck. In view of the difficult economic situation, employees of German companies do not yet have to cope with wage cuts. Nevertheless, according to a job market report published on Monday by the German Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, their income is growing at an increasingly slower rate. According to it, effective wages increased by 4.76 percent in 2023. Effective wages have been below expectations for the first time in three years.
“German companies have offered lower salary increases than forecast this year, reflecting the cautious approach to the Chinese market,” says Ulf Reinhardt, Chairman of the German Chamber of Commerce in China for South and Southwest China.
There is no improvement in sight for 2024 either: German companies in China only expect wage growth of 4.49 percent. It would be the fourth consecutive year with wage growth below five percent. “The prospect of even lower wage increases in 2024 is a cause for concern and points to continuing difficulties in the market,” Reinhardt concludes.
These are bleak – albeit comparatively good prospects. Because things could be far worse. Those who now enter the job market are often faced with extreme demands. 70-hour work weeks for about 400 euros a month are not uncommon.
Betty Chen (name changed) holds a degree in English and has already gained some experience in the sales sector. She had to go to three job interviews in the same company on the same day for the assistant job she applied for. And that – the Beijing company signaled to her afterward – was only the first round. At least two more would follow.
But unemployment bears even more grotesque fruit. Some parents unceremoniously hire their children as “full-time children.” They then receive a regular paycheck from their parents corresponding to the average wage level. In return, they do housework, go shopping or care for their sick grandmother.
According to a Caixin opinion column by researcher Zhang Dandan, the phenomenon will likely significantly distort the statistics. This is because, according to Zhang, “professional children” are no longer listed as jobseekers, which means that the actual ratio of people looking for work is likely to be significantly higher than officially stated. She estimates that the actual unemployment rate in the age segment could be as high as 45 percent.
Meanwhile, a portion of the well-educated workers, who are actually trained for the tech or media sector, are putting up with what party leader Xi Jinping called “swallowing bitterness” in order to earn an income at all. They work in fields for which they are completely overqualified. They work in commercial cleaning and make their money by scrubbing. Here, too, the wages for graduates are naturally low.
The Communist Party is not openly worried about this. Many officials compare it to the time of the Cultural Revolution, when Xi Jinping also spent time as a farmhand living in a cave.
But other voices are also becoming loud. Because both the professional children and the overqualified cleaners have one thing in common: They do not gain any work experience in their fields. Experts predict that this will make them unemployable in the long term. The training, for which their parents have in part sacrificed a lot of money, is thus effectively wasted. Collaboration: Joern Petring
Berlin published its China strategy just a few weeks ago. What impetus did this give Brussels?
The colleagues in Germany have developed a very comprehensive strategy. An important contribution was made here by one of the most important European partners as part of the European positioning on China. It is part of the common EU position towards China and supports and strengthens it by translating the EU strategy into the imperatives and capabilities of a member state. Namely, for the national, state and municipal level, for the official institutions, as well as for universities or companies. For me, this is an essential contribution to strengthening the EU and its policy towards Beijing. It is not a deviation or a new impetus, but the implementation of the European framework. I’m glad that Germany has now done the same, as other member states have done so before.
The European elections are coming up next year. Do you think China will play a role in this and the election campaigns?
Traditionally, foreign and security policy issues are very seldom of decisive importance in elections. I think China plays a more indirect role in this, especially when it comes to the economic links and dependencies between both sides.
Is there an approach for the European elections, and also in general, to do more against Chinese disinformation? Especially on platforms like X, better known as Twitter, these are sprouting without any context or explanations.
In the most recent EEAS report on disinformation, there was a chapter on Chinese support for Russian information manipulation. We deliberately included Chinese publications and actions in social media, given their ever-growing importance. And especially in countries where China is often an efficient amplifier of Russian disinformation. It is important not only to address this diplomatically whenever possible, but also to concretely refute it, including with reactions on social media. We have to actively clarify things here.
You can only clarify when there are facts. This is not possible, for example, in the case of the disappeared Foreign Minister Qin Gang, because his whereabouts are still unclear. The rumor mill is churning. Have you been given more information about this? EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell’s visit to China had to be postponed because of this.
I have to disappoint you. We were informed at relatively short notice that the visit was no longer feasible. Then the impression was given that it was due to a health-related problem. Which still cannot be entirely ruled out. But we will not comment on this, only the relevant Chinese authorities can do that.
Has a date already been set for the EU-China summit?
The summit is planned to be held this year, but the date has not yet been set.
Do you have a personal highlight of your time as Asia Director of the EEAS?
There are quite a few. But one was certainly: to see how strongly the Union is now willing to expand and proactively engage in a part of the world that is both far away, but more and more closely connected to us. One highlight is that we developed a new EU Indo-Pacific strategy with all member states in 2021, which we then began to fully implement in 2022 despite the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine. This was nowhere as apparent as with the first Ministerial Forum on Indo-Pacific Cooperation in Paris on February 22, just before the start of the Russian invasion. Europe managed to act globally, despite the threat of war in its immediate vicinity.
What other developments do you consider important?
That we have now slowly set the Global Gateway Initiative in the right direction and there are a number of concrete flagship projects driving the green and digital transition and contributing to infrastructure development and connectivity. I could name a lot more, but I think these are pretty good highlights. However, there were also a number of highly negative experiences, such as the military coup in Myanmar or the developments in Afghanistan. What is also concerning is that there are more and more ICBMs from North Korea, but no dialogue anymore.
What advice would you give your successor?
Above all, I would advise my successor to also think in the medium and long term and prepare things accordingly and not just look at the current situation. I believe that is a significant flaw of our collective decision-making process, in which people keep trying to position themselves in detail on an issue, and then lose sight of the big picture once the member states attempt to find a compromise. This is not only the case when it comes to China.
Has a successor already been chosen?
I can only tell you that the best will be chosen and that the selection process is in full swing.
You can find the first part of the interview here.
Gunnar Wiegand was Head of the Asia Department at the European External Action Service (EEAS) from January 2016 to August 2023. Previously, he was Deputy Head for the Europe and Central Asia Division and Director of the Russia, Eastern Partnership, Central Asia and OSCE Division at EEAS. Prior to joining EEAS, Wiegand held various positions related to external relations and trade policy at the European Commission since 1990.
Wiegand will become Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, after the summer break. He will be part of the Department of EU International Relations and Diplomacy Studies.
The Hong Kong Court of Appeal has found media tycoon Jimmy Lai and six other pro-democracy opposition activists not guilty of organizing an unauthorized rally in 2019. The verdict, however, is only a formal victory for Lai and his companions, who have long since served their sentences. Four of them – including Lai – remain behind bars regardless, due to additional sentences as part of a political purge.
The court ruled on Monday that while the publisher, as well as lawyers Martin Lee and Margaret Ng, former MPs Cyd Ho and Albert Ho, and activists Lee Cheuk-yan and Leung Kwok-hung, had participated in a mass rally in August 2019 against the extradition law and should be punished for it, they were not responsible for organizing it. Lai himself had pleaded not guilty.
The court stated there was no evidence that the accused had any connection to the now-defunct Civil Human Rights Front, which was responsible for the protest of nearly two million people. Lai’s sentence for this offense was reduced from twelve to nine months.
The founder of the pro-democracy Apple Daily, which has since ceased publication, had previously been sentenced to five years and nine months in prison for fraud. He was accused of violating the rental contract for the Apple Daily’s publishing headquarters. More than a hundred journalists are calling for Lai’s release. The 75-year-old faces possible life in prison in other trials in which he is accused of four violations of the National Security Law. Along with Lai, 46 other opposition members are also on trial.
The National Security Law was imposed on Hong Kong by the Beijing central government in 2020. With this legislation, the city government has a powerful tool at its disposal to stifle political dissent across the board in Hong Kong. grz
China’s Vice Premier Liu Guozhong visited the northeastern province of Heilongjiang to assess the situation personally. Heilongjiang has experienced severe flooding in recent days, with thousands of hectares of farmland submerged. During his visit, Liu warned that China must act to prevent epidemics from breaking out in flood-affected areas in Heilongjiang. This was reported by the state news agency Xinhua on Monday.
Liu demanded that damaged farmland, local water protection and other infrastructure be repaired quickly. This way, a quick recovery of grain production can be ensured.
China has experienced an unusually wet and rainy summer season in recent weeks. The northern and northeastern provinces experienced massive flooding. In Hebei alone, more than 1.5 million people were brought to safety in early August. In early August, more than 1.5 million people were evacuated to safety in Hebei Alone. Liu went on to say that it was necessary to take relief measures so that the affected people would not fall into poverty. Some villages are still flooded, water quality is poor and the environment is polluted, posing the risk of infectious diseases, he said. rad
Foreign languages are Andreas Guder’s passion. The 56-year-old has been Professor of Chinese Didactics at the Free University of Berlin since 2019. He advocates Europeans to focus more on “distant foreign languages” such as Chinese. Up to now, they have played only a minor role in the German education system. He believes it is a shame if we in Europe fail to bring non-European languages closer to children and students. “Conversely, there are many Asians who have also successfully mastered a difficult European language that is foreign to them,” says Guder.
China competence is necessary when dealing with the People’s Republic of China in many areas. Especially in our global world. “Only through language can we understand the culture and people of a country and take the all-important extra-European perspective.”
Languages have fascinated Guder since his youth in Munich: As a 13-year-old, he took up his school’s offer and learned shorthand. Fascinated by Chinese characters, he asked for his first Chinese textbook as a graduation present. During his civilian service, he attended his first Chinese language courses. Later, he studied German as a foreign language with a minor in Sinology at the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU). After his studies, Guder went to China.
He taught German as a foreign language in Beijing for four years at the Beijing Institute of Technology. His academic career began in 2003. He is now a professor of Chinese didactics and Chinese language and culture at the Free University of Berlin. In this position, Guder is currently working on a didactic concept for Chinese in the classroom. Worldwide, there is little literature on the subject, and in Germany only a handful of schools offer the subject at all in class. In addition to methods, the focus should also be on the content and cultural goals of teaching the language.
Of his own Chinese classes at university in the 1990s, Guder has “catastrophic” memories. “It was neither communicative nor was there background knowledge on vocabulary or characters; the lessons focused on grammatical structures.” Since then, Chinese lessons at German schools and universities have changed.
But not enough, as far as Guder is concerned. Schools, in particular, should promote more Chinese skills. Often, however, even textbook publishers refuse to develop new Chinese textbooks. The market is simply too small for them, it would not pay off, says the professor. “Here, we would need funds to support the German publishers so that we can publish our own textbooks independently of the People’s Republic of China.”
China plays a big role in the sinologist’s life, even outside the university. During the pandemic, Guder found a new hobby on X (formerly Twitter). For about three years, he has been posting a new character there every day with various background information to help with learning. By now, he has pointedly explained more than 1,200 characters on the short message service, and the number is growing every day. In his free time, the father of three children also reads plenty of Chinese literature and last year translated even a novel by a Uyghur author. “My profession,” says Guder, “is simply my hobby.” Dayan Djajadisastra
Death and destruction: On Sunday, the city of Yancheng in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu was ravaged by a tornado. At least two people were killed and 15 others injured. Hundreds of homes and several greenhouses were destroyed.
