Paper short abstract:

The paper portrays early career professional building a working life in the discriminatory job market of Neo-Socialist China, enduring unbearable conditions, disrespect and precariousness. I describe episodes of distress and analyse strategies to cope with sense of loss, anxiety and abandonment.

Paper long abstract:

Based on an ethnographic account of real life happenings, I explore the outcome of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) neoliberal politics in the daily lives of my informants' and their attempt to come to terms with exploitation, betrayal, dissatisfaction in the context of an overwhelming urban environment. Moreover, I want to interrogate the persistent faith and visions of the future of these young women living in such difficult circumstances. Work injuries, disloyalty, envy, loneliness don't lead my informants to lose their hope, but out of a sort of survival instinct, surprisingly reinforce their optimism. In the intimacy of the domestic space at the end of a working day, when loneliness, distress and despair grip these "Neo-Socialist subjects", I try to ask a simple question: How can women living in such a difficult condition still believe in their fantasies? My tentative answer brings into the discussion the "Chinese Dream". My informants cope with sense of lost and abandonment also by drawing on that powerful cultural artefact and the emotional resources it provides. "The Chinese Dream" penetrating their private lives offers reassuring answers and allows to resolve the contradiction of their day-to-day existence and imagine a future.