No return to the 'iron rice bowl'

When I graduated from university four years ago, a classmate got a job as a municipal civil servant and bragged that he could spend his days doing very little, but still enjoy a better-than-average salary and welfare package. I thought he didn't have goals in life and I pitied him.

But overnight such people have become an object of envy, as the job of a civil servant is now among the most wanted in China.

It is reported that a record 1 million people took the civil service exam this year, compared with about 700,000 last year. But only one in 66 candidates will land a job.