Raking in The Dough: The Part-Time Jobs of Beijing’s Teens

In the US, it’s common to see teens pick up all sorts of jobs; lawn mowing, babysitting, working at a restaurant, and so much more. But here in Beijing, China, things tend to work a little differently. There are classic part-time jobs that teens pick up here, like babysitting and tutoring, but ever since elementary school, I’ve noticed the kids find many other ways to make money on the side.

Babysitting, Tutoring, and Internships

Everyone’s heard about the stereotypical part-time jobs: babysitting, lawn mowing, raking the lawn, tutoring. But in Beijing, a giant metropolitan area where a large chunk of residents have ayis and live in apartment buildings with no yard, many of the job opportunities don't exist for teens. Not to say that all of the job opportunities are taken away – babysitting and tutoring are still popular in Beijing. One of my closest friends babysits her neighbors all the time, and I’ve even gotten opportunities to tutor some of my mom’s friends’ kids. It’s hard to find these sorts of jobs from their listings, but it's easy to pick up a job like this if you have good connections with friends and neighbors!

HongBao and Gift Savings

Even though saving isn’t a source of income for teens, I’ve noticed that kids pay a lot of attention to it in the world of finance. I’ve saved up every hongbao that I’ve gotten since I was old enough to keep them for myself, so much so that now whenever my mom needs cash, she turns to me and borrows the money that I’ve saved from each Chinese New Year. And I’ve noticed this tendency to save in many others my age, in different forms. Something super common in my school is asking for cash directly every time there is an opportunity to get a gift. During the Secret Santa exchange this year, at least a good half of our class asked directly for cash, in hopes of saving up as much as possible.

WeChat Businesses

WeChat is the most common way of communication in China, with over 1.15 billion active users worldwide, and is the main social media that many teenagers like me use. And teens have used that to their advantage. Now when scrolling down moments, it isn’t uncommon to see one or two posts marketing something that a kid may be selling. And some people may even go full out and start an entire store worth of that product. In our grade, many even go as far as to create group chats to promote what they are selling: whether it’s selling second-hand items or food, or sometimes even hand-crafted objects that might catch one’s interest.

Overall, even though part-time jobs aren’t something commonly seen in Beijing, many kids still find resourceful ways to make money. With the way technology has been introduced to the current generation, it isn’t surprising that many kids make money online, and I won’t be surprised if I start noticing this even more in the future.