'Ant tribe' population in China to top 1 million

There will soon be more than 1 million members China's "ant tribe," a term used to refer to youth who work low-paying jobs and live in cramped housing, according to a survey in the Blue Book on China's talent development, released by the Social Sciences Academy Press recently.

It is conservatively estimated that the number of "ants" in Beijing alone has reached more than 10,000 and will exceed 1 million in all of China. They also exist in large scale in cities such as Shanghai, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Xi'an and Chongqing.

In their 20s, these college graduates have come to Beijing or other big cities to pursue their dreams. They were first dubbed the "ant tribe" by Lian Si, a post-doctoral fellow at Peking University, who has written a book of the same name based on interviews of these people.

The "ants" don't have a stable job and their average salary is below 2,000 yuan per month. They live in shabby houses with per capita living space of less than 10 square meters at urban-rural junctions.

The embarrassing living situation of the "ant tribe" has been a serious social issue and the government should develop "second and third-tier cities" to attract more graduates from big cities, according to the Blue Book.

By People's Daily Online