Quitting jobs to fulfill dreams no longer taboo in China

"The world is big, and I want to see it," wrote a teacher in her resignation letter from a middle school in Central China's Henan province. She had worked there for 11 years.

A photo of the letter, reportedly taken and posted online by one of her colleagues, instantly went viral on social media and attracted tens of thousands of comments and reposts, including on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo. Many more letters of resignation, each with its own characteristic charm, were posted online after the Henan teacher's letter became a hit.

Samples show some as succinct: "I resign, please sign." Some mock the air quality: "It's so smoggy that I can't find my way to office." Others' reasons for resigning vary: looking for better bosses, meeting more women at work, or returning to hometown to fulfill the dream of raising pigs.

Such resignation letters were unthinkable before China began its economic reform a few decades ago. Most people then worked for the same employer for years, if not their entire lives. Quitting a job was a serious issue both for employees and employers. More than three decades of economic growth, however, have gotten people used to the idea of changing jobs. Some have even become frequent job hoppers.

Not all letters posted online may be real. But Web users seem to love the content and tone. Some say the Henan teacher's letter has become popular because it ignited "the dream of resignation" among youths and middle-aged people. This means many people might have been mulling the question for long without being able to make a decision.

In the first quarter of the year, more than 70 percent of the people covered by a survey conducted by 51job.com, a major Chinese human resources website, and released on April 17, said that they were thinking of changing jobs. To gauge the power of the Internet, just consider this: the number of jobs available through online sites reached 3.62 million in March, an increase of more than 10 percent year-on-year.

The supply and demand chain also appears robust. But in reality, many people have to seriously consider the pros and cons before actually jumping ship. As some online users have said in a lighter vein, "the world is big, but my wallet is small". The idea of quitting one's jobs to travel around the world or have a mid-career break is still alien to many Chinese, who generally have families to support. Many young people in first-tier cities can barely make ends meet because of the high living costs and low starting salaries.

Money is indeed important when it comes to changing jobs. But it might not be the sole deciding factor.

According to a study by another Chinese website lietou.com, only 27 percent of the 8,000 people above 28 years surveyed said that they changed their jobs to earn better salaries. The others left their jobs because of different reasons: not feeling secure or getting enough respect, not being promoted despite working very hard, being unhappy with the corporate culture or unable to identify with the company any much more.

A job has two sides: financial and spiritual. We need a job to earn a living. But the job should also be fulfilling and provide us the respect we think we deserve. Not everyone is lucky enough to derive financial as well as spiritual satisfaction from his or her job. The teacher's letter and the hoopla around it prompt us to reflect on whether it's time to end the banality and embrace the new world.

Some might take swift action while others might just ignore the question and get back to routine living. But above all we have to balance reality and dreams in our fast-changing society. Things might improve if we start loving our jobs. If not, we have the option of quitting, because it is no longer taboo to do so.

The teacher is reported to have left the school and her city. Let us hope her dream of seeing the world comes true.