College students were frustrated repeatedly in job hunting and burned their graduation certificates in anger. The video of burning the certificate became popular.

Screenshots of the video found online by the reporter.

On the evening of March 3, Zheng Kefeng set up a small stall near Guilin Road.

After being repeatedly frustrated in his job search, Zheng Kefeng, a graduate from a certain university in Hubei and native of Huadian, angrily burned his diploma before the Spring Festival this year. He also filmed the scene of burning the certificate and uploaded it to the Internet, where it was followed and paid attention to by netizens for a period of time.

On April 2, we contacted Zheng Kefeng who is currently looking for work in Changchun. He said that he has been in Changchun for half a month but still has no clue about a job. Facing media and netizens' inquiries and questions about "burning the certificate", he frankly stated his inner thoughts, saying that on one hand he was a bit impulsive at the time, and on the other hand he also wanted to use this to draw society's attention to unemployed college graduates.

Self-filmed and self-transmitted video of burning the certificate

Recently, a video about an "unemployed college graduate burning his diploma" with a length of about 1 minute and 57 seconds has gone viral on the Internet. The video records the process of an unemployed college graduate burning his diploma. The college graduate himself does not appear in the video; instead, the camera focuses on the act of burning the diploma.

"Is it real? How can you burn your diploma? How will you find a job in the future?" Many people who have seen the video are very surprised. At the same time, some netizens questioned whether this was hype.

The reporter found that the uploader was "biyedefannao", and according to this clue, contacted him personally. "Biyedefannao" said he is currently in Changchun, his real name is Zheng Kefeng, and he is currently job hunting. He has already been in Changchun for more than half a month. Subsequently, Zheng Kefeng agreed to meet the reporter and talk about the incident of burning the diploma.

Wanting to use an abnormal action to attract attention

At around 17:00 on the 2nd, Zheng Kefeng met the reporter as scheduled. This is a boy with a refined and handsome appearance. When talking about his experience from school to graduation, he sometimes remained silent and sometimes furrowed his brows. Zheng Kefeng said that the online video was self-filmed by him, and the act of burning the diploma was indeed true. As he spoke, he also took out some of the few documents he had left, such as English qualification certificates and teacher qualification certificates. "It was also impulsive, and I also wanted to express the voice of unemployed college graduates like me." He said that he now regrets somewhat making the move to burn the certificate, but the harsh reality has made him feel powerless. He said that setbacks in employment have made him begin to feel inferior.

Looking through his remaining documents, many of them are envied by other college students, but now in Zheng Kefeng's view, their significance is not great.

Entrepreneurial setbacks led to setting up a barbecue stall

Zheng Kefeng said that since graduating in 2005, he has been working as a substitute teacher in Foshan, Guangdong, but it was just "filling in the gap", with a monthly salary of around 1000 yuan. He felt that in this expensive southern city, even buying a tomato costs 1-2 yuan, so little money almost cannot do anything. Without money, he could only live a life similar to living in a shell. During this period, he obtained teaching qualifications, rank certificates, teaching design awards, and was also awarded the title of "Advanced Individual in Provincial Theory Study" by the Hubei Provincial Government. Additionally, he served as a volunteer for the Wenchuan earthquake. However, during his time as a substitute teacher, the school never gave him a permanent position or opportunities, and he was dismissed in 2008.

"I dedicated my best years to the education cause, but later due to poor health, I returned to my hometown, but without capital for entrepreneurship, I could only do some small things," said Zheng Kefeng. To alleviate the burden on his family, after returning to his hometown in Huadian, he tutored students during the day and set up a small stall selling barbecues at night at the school gate, earning some pocket money to get by. Later, he thought about taking the public teacher examination and civil service exams, but none of them bore fruit.

"This time coming to Changchun, I also applied to several units, wanting to be a teacher at a foreign language school, but the salary was too low, and there was a half-month training period. I'm already struggling to get by now, I can't afford to wait that long," said Zheng Kefeng. Now he believes that his abilities are decent, and he just wants to find a stable job, with a monthly salary of 1000 yuan, including food and accommodation.

"I have work experience, and I majored in English education. I just want to be a teacher who educates and nurtures students," said Zheng Kefeng.

Excerpts from Zheng Kefeng's Blog

Slept under an overpass to save 50 yuan

I have been working in Guangdong for more than three years, and it has been seven years since I graduated from school. Time flies! In these years, I walked far away from home, came to the south, which is the most economically developed area in China - Guangdong. Why? Who doesn't know how good their own home is? For better development, most of my classmates who graduated together with me have gone far away, most of them are in Changchun, some are in Dalian and Beijing, some are in Shanghai in the east, and some are in Guangzhou in the south! Very few classmates went this far. For survival, for life, we left our hometown!

Still remember the delicious yellow rice dumplings from my hometown! I've endured a lot of hardships outside. When I first arrived in Guangdong and couldn't find a job, to save 50 yuan on accommodation fees, I slept under an overpass. I ate only one meal a day, and I didn't dare to tell my mother about these things when I went home. Now, every deep night, I think about my hometown! When will the wandering child return to his hometown?

Being a Wenchuan volunteer was an honor

In the summer of 2008, I was honored to be a volunteer for the Wenchuan earthquake, receiving a group of middle school students from the disaster area in Wenchuan and managing their daily lives, etc. Being a volunteer is an honor, it has been my wish for many years. Looking at the innocent smiles of the children from Wenchuan, it seems they don't feel the trauma inside, the government is indeed getting better.

I really envy them. Remember our small county in Northeast China, which suffered a once-in-a-century flood in the mid-1990s. Although I was young at the time, I still clearly remember the devastating flood that submerged the entire city. Since our house was a small bungalow, it disappeared completely. After the water receded a bit, my parents borrowed a small wooden boat to go back home and salvage things.

The flood took everything from our home, fortunately, the 30-square-meter house that accompanied me growing up did not collapse. The sudden flood made our already impoverished home even poorer. At the time, my parents were unemployed at home, and they washed the clothes and bedding soaked by the floodwater and continued to use them. After the disaster, we received two bags of mooncakes and two old clothes and a pair of pants distributed by the street committee, nothing else.

Until now, the cabinets at home are still the broken cabinets nailed together after the flood 15 years ago, and the quilts are also the old quilts from 15 years ago. Compared to the victims in Wenchuan, they are truly much happier, with the increasingly better policies of the Party and the country, they will definitely live a happier life, and I bless them!