Since my uncle (my mother's younger brother) is in a quite important position in my hometown, which is a small county, he often help relatives and friends' children get a job. In recent year, this has come the main top in big family dinners.

 

I came back to my dormitory from one of these dinners with a really bad mood. When they first informed me with the dinner, they said they were here in Xiamen to visit their daughter, who, with the help of her father's network of contacts, successfully got a satisfying job in a state-owned company. I naturally assumed it was a family reunion. However, when I got there, I was told there were another family, which I don't recognize, joining us. During the eating, my uncle and the father and son of the "newly met" family began to talk about the son's job. My uncle said he just had dinner with a very high-positioned official of the prison system in Fujian. The official told him a new prison is under constuction in Xiamen and offered a position. My uncle has accepted and saved it for the son. Both sides were very happy now and went on to elaborate the event with vivid details.

 

This scene reminds me of an episode in "Dreams of Red Mansions" where Rong Mansion is going to build a grand garden (Daguanyuan) for the reception of their oldest daughter——Yuanchun, who has been escalated to imperial consort. Hearing this news, Jialian's nanny rushes to visit Wangxifeng, asking her to save two positions for her sons.

 

The whole world witnesses a magnificent development in China, whereas the essential structure of Chinese society remains the same. We can only look for an "American dream" in the book, in the media. There never be a Chinese version of an "American dream".