Chinese Students Want To Know: How Do I Get Rich?

Interesting insight into a small section of China's best and brightest.

I am certain though these people are the minority, just like the rest of the world I'm sure some students want to just make money and the others want to create wealth and products. And with the recession more people are wising up to it.

Chinese Students: 'We like how you guys were making money, and profiting immensely without benefit to others, how did you do that?'

Wharton Profs: 'Yeah, we've found that does not work so well.. at least for the last few months. I guess if you do not want to provide value to others you could figure out a good way to steal.. that has worked before'

Chinese students, to each other: 'Thanks for nothing..'

Wharton Profs, to each other: 'They seem to have the notion that because all of our students are making huge iBanking bonuses, we can tell them how to make a fortune without delivering any kind of value. Surely they could not have learned that from us?'

"I then suggested that perhaps they might work for companies that made things. Actual things."

Honestly, has anyone ever seen a better description of our problems right now?

This entrepreneurship attitude differs from country to country. In many socialist countries people like jobs in the government - it is cushy, extremely stable and offers excellent benefits.

In other societies risk taking are discouraged (through various means). You should also take into account the difficulty of starting a business when you do not have access to capital.

The USA is one of the few countries that almost seems to reward risk taking and is not over-regulated (thereby cancelling out small companies). This is fairly unique and is probably a part of what make the USA great.

I think you're right. I recently graduated from one of the nation's top universities and I can tell you first hand that only a couple years ago, you could ask almost any ambitious student what their aspirations were after college and the default answer for many of them would be banking or consulting. I think this default position can be partly explained by the large salaries attached to these jobs and partly explained by students not knowing what exactly they wanted to do with their lives. If they were going to do anything, they should be well-compensated for it...right?

It is surprising, however, that graduating students are still gunning for these i-banking jobs given current industry conditions. If you're bright, ambitious, and hard working, I would think the odds of procurring some measure of wealth from some form of entrepreneurship would be on par with i-banking. Students lack foresight if they don't see that the banking industry will be drastically changed given current events.