In the days of heavy-duty communism, the dream job was called “tie fan wan,” meaning an iron rice bowl. This was the kind of job that offered lifetime security with full benefits. It did not necessarily provide a great salary, but on the other hand, it rarely required particularly hard work. However, with the change to a market economy, iron rice bowls have become much less common and many former ones have proved to be breakable.
Academia was once one of the strongholds of the iron rice bowl, but even here, things are changing. Working in a university has never been a way to get rich. However, it’s also highly unlikely that they will ever get fired. Never mind the lackluster teachers who stay on year after year, even a neighbor jailed for practicing falun gong has returned to his job. There are other benefits as well, particularly an extremely generous housing subsidy.
When we were here in 2000-2001, I used to think the academic workload, at least at this college, was laughably light. It’s true that classes are huge (70 students is not uncommon, even for a speaking class), but most of my colleagues taught only 10 hours a week. If you consider that at this college an “hour” is actually only 40 minutes, you have to admit that this is not exactly a backbreaking burden. My workload of 14 hours was viewed as arduous, but offset by a notably higher salary than anyone else made.
Things have really changed! Now I teach 16 hours a week while my colleagues teach not fewer than 20 hours a week, and often quite a bit more. While they complain about how busy they are, they don’t wail too loudly because, in fact, their income has skyrocketed. Not only have base salaries risen dramatically, but except for foreign teachers, faculty also get paid for each class taught. On top of that, this year the provincial government decided to pay all government employees, including teachers, an extra 400 yuan a month as compensation for the physical hardships caused by Kunming’s high altitude. (John and I look at each other in wonder. Hardship? This is a San Diego climate lacking only the ocean breezes!) 400 yuan is still a lot of money here. It represents the average monthly salary for a market vendor and less than that of the young women in our local facial salon. These rising academic salaries are especially notable given that there has been almost no inflation since 2000. My colleagues are visibly richer and believe me, this keeps them from whining about the government. Never mind freedom of speech or the right to vote; they can buy things and travel to places they never dreamed of.
The increased workload has altered the culture here however. Before, we were always amazed how office workers made absolutely no effort to appear busy. If you walked unannounced into an office, no one hurriedly put down his newspaper, stashed her novel, or interrupted a lively conversation. Now, people’s lives are notably more hectic, largely because the student enrollment has nearly tripled--and will continue to expand.
The waiban (foreign affairs office) formerly had a staff of four staff to take care of four foreign teachers, arrange infrequent international travel for college staff, and manage the occasional international delegation. Now the waiban--which for much of this semester had only one employee--also oversees about a dozen Southeast Asian students and much more frequent international exchanges in both directions. Our visits to the waiban used to be welcome diversions for the very bored staff. It was simply impossible to tear ourselves away without a cup of tea and a leisurely conversation. Now, a meeting is invariably in progress, phones are ringing, and business with us is conducted as swiftly as possible.
Although the workload has undeniably increased here, the threat of “publish or perish” is not as strong as in American universities, especially because in an iron rice bowl no one ever seems to perish. However, publishing is considered essential for moving from assistant professor to associate professor, and on up to full professor. Full professors lead extremely cushy lives. While first-year teachers here typically teach considerably more than 20 hours per week, the full professors rarely teach at all, which allows them plenty of time for lucrative consulting jobs or other entrepreneurial endeavors. They oversee a few graduate students, who, at least from what I see, are mostly used as unpaid research assistants or translators, and sometimes personal slaves. At least one full professor regularly uses his grad students with the best command of English as unpaid tutors for his children, nieces, and nephews. The real goal of moving up the academic ladder is not even the benefits full professorship confers. The real aspiration here is to go abroad, and the higher one’s status, the more likely that is to happen. Attending an international conference is a plum, but living in the west for a year or more--that’s the equivalent of an endowed chair at Harvard.
The iron rice bowl guarantees staff jobs, but not necessarily the ones they desire. Career mobility is quixotic. Sometimes people get yanked right off one ladder and find themselves on on another. Just recently, the foreign languages department chair went on a business trip to our sister school in Vietnam for a week. When she returned, she discovered she had become the Communist Party secretary for the department and a new person from another university in town was running the day-to-day affairs of the department. She had not received even a hint that change was in the air, nor had she been asked if she wanted to change jobs. It’s a lateral move, so it’s hard to say whether she should be happy or not. We congratulated her as if it were a promotion, but in truth, many staff consider it a slap in the face. I have to agree. Her successor, though a decade younger, is better qualified with a PhD in educational management from an Australian university. It’s hard to feel happy about a more capable successor.
I will mention that both leaders of the foreign language department are women, as is most of the staff. I’m not surprised given that the status of Chinese women is by far the highest in Asia. This is not to say that things are perfect, and at the highest tier of power at the college there is only one female vice president among the half dozen power brokers. For me, the biggest gender equity gap has to do with sexual harassment. To our amazement, male professors regularly date and marry their female students. When John and I express surprise, our friends look at us quizzically. They have trouble even understanding why this might be suspect.
Worse however, is the Clarence Thomas-like behavior, not common, but also not controlled. One of the first few times I ever spoke with one of my 30-something male colleagues, he asked if I were free that night. I said yes, and he replied, “Then I guess I don’t have to pay for it.” I was so stunned that I wondered if I’d heard right. I said to him, “You certainly are a fresh little boy,” and turned away. Now I realize that I got off easily compared to my younger female colleagues. His behavior is regarded with a combination of titillation and embarrassment. When I point out that his comments humiliate women and would get him fired in America, my colleagues, who are quite prudish about things like homosexuality and virginity, ask, “Don’t you have freedom of speech in America?”
Of course he won’t be fired! His rice bowl is made of iron--at least for a few more years.
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