Why Is The Age Of 35 Called A Curse In China? An Explainer

All across the globe, when people are in their mid-30s, they develop a sense of stability with jobs, family and certain finances. People expect to have a good time both personally and professionally. However, this is not the case in China, as employees start fearing their employment status as soon as they near the age of 35. The phenomenon, famously called the 'Curse of 35' refers to a situation where many Chinese workers claim that the companies don't prefer to work with them when they turn 35 or above, as per a report in the New York Times (NYT). Age discrimination affects not only the worker's career growth but also big personal decisions of having a marriage, building a house and having children.

As per the outlet, the reason for the phenomenon is China's post-pandemic economic situation. It remains unclear how it started or how true it is, but with a weak job market, age discrimination is becoming prevalent in this country and is not regarded as against the law. Even though it affects all older employees, however, people in their mid-30s experience it "more acutely" as they are facing such a challenge for the first time. 

According to the financial filings of the three largest Chinese businesses, Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu, they employed approximately nine per cent fewer people in the first three months of 2023 than they did at the height of the pandemic, as per NYT. Not only this, the headcounts of several of China's largest real estate developers decreased in 2022 by 30, 50 to 70 per cent.  Further, the number of marriage registrations also fell 10.5 per cent in 2022 from 2021- the lowest number since China started publishing the data in 1986

Flynn Fan, one of the anxious employees who is 35, told the outlet that he feels like a "plague" to society. He started fearing the age when he was only 30 as he believed he might be "passed over for work in a few years". Then, in 2021, Mr Flynn recalled that he used to get out of office at 11 pm, a routine that continued for three months, promting him to take anti-anxiety drugs. In late 2022, he was laid off along with most of his colleagues from an artificial intelligence company in Shanghai. Mr Flynn said most of his co-workers were single or married without children.

In the past six months, he has sent his resume to more than 300 companies and landed 10 interviews with no offer. Now he is looking for jobs that pay 20 to 30 per cent less, said the NYT report.

Another worker, Cici Zhang, aged 32, has already been told by her company that she's too old. She displayed a copy of a job posting for a firm that provides pregnancy items which mentioned an age restriction of 32 for employment. After three months of training, one of her previous bosses told her that he could replace her with a fresh graduate. 

As per the outlet, a viral post online reads, "Too old to work at 35 and too young to retire at 60. Stay away from homeownership, marriage, children, car ownership, traffic and drugs, and you'll own happiness, freedom and time."