Variety of Chinese language working in group greater than doubles in previous 15 years
Zhang Wei, a graduate scholar finding out horticulture at Shanghai Jiao Tong College, is one among a rising variety of Chinese language younger individuals turning towards the United Nations, pushed by a mixture of idealism, skilled ambition and China’s increasing world position.
On the age of 24, Zhang made a alternative that defied conference. As an alternative of finishing the ultimate yr of her grasp’s research and heading straight into the job market after finishing graduate research in Shanghai, she took a one-year sabbatical and boarded a airplane to Rwanda in japanese Central Africa.
There, as an agribusiness intern on the Meals and Agriculture Group of the UN, she set herself on the trail towards a once-unthinkable profession.
“Agriculture wasn’t precisely a acutely aware alternative after the school entrance examination; I kind of ended up majoring in it. However as I studied and gained extra publicity, I got here to appreciate how very important agriculture is to human livelihoods. That consciousness led me to begin occupied with the profession potentialities, and the heights one might attain with an agriculture diploma,” Zhang stated of her journey to turning into an intern on the FAO’s Rwanda Illustration.
To appreciate her dream, Zhang centered on honing her English abilities and collaborating in worldwide group change packages. In September final yr, her perseverance lastly paid off. She secured an FAO internship in Rwanda by a collaborative program between her college and the UN company.
“I do not bear in mind exactly once I first heard concerning the FAO, however it struck me as a tremendous alternative. I really join with the UN’s core values. To me, the UN is all about constructing a greater future for humanity, transcending political methods and cultures, striving for a extra affluent, simply and sustainable world. That is the form of surroundings I needed to be part of.
“Serving on the FAO allows me to make use of my abilities and data in a multicultural, skilled setting, permitting me to contribute to one thing larger and extra impactful,” stated Zhang.
This yr marks the eightieth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations and the 54th yr for the reason that Individuals’s Republic of China resumed its lawful seat within the UN.
The UN is now not a faraway idea for a lot of younger individuals in China, however a well-recognized and aspirational place to construct a profession, turning a once-exclusive dream into a practical chance.
The numbers bear this out. Based on UN information, the variety of Chinese language residents working within the system has greater than doubled over the previous 15 years, from 794 in 2009 to 1,664 in 2024. This development additionally displays China’s deeper integration into multilateral governance.
New pathways
The pathway to a UN profession for Chinese language was fairly completely different not way back.
Li Wen, chief of mission in China for the Worldwide Group for Migration, recalled that within the late Nineties, linguistic roles have been the first entry level for many Chinese language employees.
“At the moment, the dominant channel was by language, translating and modifying Chinese language paperwork,” she stated.
Li’s reference to the UN dates again to her college days. In 1995, as a postgraduate scholar on the China International Affairs College, she participated in China’s first Mannequin United Nations convention, representing Afghanistan in a session on girls’s points. Although her understanding of the UN was nascent, it ignited a want to be concerned.
After commencement, Li joined the International Ministry’s Division of Worldwide Organizations and Conferences, experiencing life as a consultant of the Chinese language authorities on the UN. In 2014, she made historical past as the primary worker seconded by the Chinese language authorities to the Workplace of the President of the UN Common Meeting.
“The president of the Common Meeting typically has restricted funding, and the UN-provided employees might not be enough, so that they search personnel seconded from completely different nationwide governments. Beginning in 2014, the Chinese language authorities determined to ship employees to the UN Common Meeting President’s Workplace,” she stated.
“I bear in mind arriving on the UN not figuring out what was anticipated of me. The whole lot was discovered on the job. I labored in New York till the tip of 2016, after which had the chance to affix the IOM. As a result of I loved working within the UN system, I transitioned to IOM and have become a proper UN employees member,” Li stated.
She recalled that in 2017, when she joined the IOM headquarters in Geneva, she was the one Chinese language nationwide working there. Now, an increasing number of Chinese language professionals are becoming a member of the UN throughout varied fields.
Classroom for ambitions
This rising curiosity can be palpable on college campuses. Zhu Jiejin, deputy director of Fudan College’s Middle for the Research of the UN and Worldwide Organizations, has witnessed the surge firsthand.
He affords a preferred course that brings professionals from worldwide organizations into the classroom. When the course was launched in 2020, round 600 college students utilized for 200 spots. Final yr, greater than 1,500 college students sought admission, forcing him to cap attendance at 300.
Based on Zhu, graduates from his worldwide organizations course have already joined the ranks of the UN.
“There was one scholar whose alternative deeply moved me. A former scholar of mine now works on the United Nations Inhabitants Fund. Most of her work there includes humanitarian aid efforts, that are fairly harmful, as they typically happen in battle zones and war-torn areas. And not using a spirit of sacrifice or a deep sense of compassion, it will be very troublesome to hold out such work,” stated Zhu.
“For China, it is a optimistic improvement that extra younger Chinese language have the need and alternative to work in worldwide organizations just like the UN, because it higher displays China’s dedication to peaceable improvement, cooperation and win-win collaboration,” he stated.
Liu Tiewa, dean of the Nation and Space Research Academy at Beijing International Research College, sees the development as half of a bigger evolution. “As China turns into extra built-in into the worldwide neighborhood, a rising variety of younger persons are contemplating careers in worldwide organizations as a key skilled path,” she stated.
“The rising curiosity amongst Chinese language youth in pursuing careers on the United Nations indicators a shift of their skilled aspirations and a stronger sense of worldwide citizenship. Right this moment’s youthful era brings extra specialised experience and a broader worldwide perspective. In addition they have a deeper and extra private understanding of China’s improvement, its elevated world standing, and its increasing affect.”
She additionally pointed to China’s elevated monetary contributions to the UN, with China now the second-largest contributor to the common finances. “This displays China’s willingness to tackle better worldwide tasks and likewise objectively requires China to offer extra professionals to worldwide organizations,” Liu stated.
From studying to sharing
Past its monetary and personnel contributions, China is more and more providing coverage knowledge and sensible expertise to the UN rooted in its distinctive improvement path.
Through the “Shanghai Cooperation Group Plus” Assembly on Sept 1, China proposed the International Governance Initiative, calling on nations to uphold sovereign equality, abide by the worldwide rule of regulation, follow multilateralism, advocate a people-centered method and deal with taking concrete actions.
UN Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres, who was in China to attend the SCO Summit 2025, welcomed the initiative and the truth that it’s anchored in multilateralism.
He additionally spoke extremely of the position that China performs in supporting the work of the UN. In his assembly with President Xi Jinping on Aug 30, Guterres stated that China has made important contributions to safeguarding worldwide regulation and guaranteeing the worldwide rule of regulation, and has been a cornerstone of multilateralism.
“Within the early Nineteen Eighties, the position that the UN performed in China was fully completely different from what it’s as we speak. Many years in the past, China was largely a recipient of UN assist and experience. Right this moment, China has turn out to be extremely superior in lots of fields,” Li of the IOM stated, citing the instance of China’s superior expertise in immigration administration.
Li famous that in her visits to Shanghai and Guangzhou, Guangdong province, she was impressed by their wonderful work in integrating overseas immigrants.
Shanghai, as an example, has arrange one-stop service facilities the place foreigners can deal with all their paperwork in a single go to. In Guangzhou, native authorities have engaged African businesspeople as neighborhood volunteers, efficiently leveraging their cultural familiarity to mediate disputes throughout the African neighborhood.
“Many creating international locations additionally want China’s applied sciences like automated border management and e-visas at airports to deal with migration points,” Li stated.
Zhang stated that in her internship in Rwanda, she witnessed China’s rising position in worldwide cooperation. “China is engaged in agricultural South-South and triangular cooperation in lots of African international locations. For instance, China’s fish-rice symbiosis undertaking in Uganda helps to extend native agricultural output,” she stated.
“In Rwanda, there’s a Juncao know-how heart the place Chinese language specialists are instructing native farmers domesticate Juncao mushrooms. They then course of the mushrooms into varied merchandise, growing their added worth. It has been very useful to the native economic system,” Zhang stated.
Throughout her 11-month internship, Zhang has been proactively working to advertise a proposal that leverages Chinese language experience in Rwanda. To this point, she has additionally initiated a undertaking proposal that has already acquired endorsement from the Chinese language Embassy in Rwanda.
“The subsequent step is to formally submit the related paperwork. Little by little, I look ahead to the day when this proposal can carry tangible enhancements to the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Rwanda and strengthen the nation’s agricultural resilience,” she stated. “To me, that is what development means — my private journey of progress, echoing China’s broader path of improvement.”
Contact the author at yangran1@chinadaily.com.cn
