Students unwilling to step into career of old

People choosing to take up some of the older professions are considered to be "losing face", the director of Qinghuachi, Beijing's largest chiropodist [ki'r?p?dist;kai'r?p?dist] 足科醫(yī)生 center, told METRO after students from Beijing's top university gave a cold shoulder to its recent campus recruitment.(校園招聘)
"To be a chiropodist, is like most professions where people earn money based on their skills, it deserves respect," Wang Lihua, from the center, said on Thursday.
Qinghuachi, Beijing's oldest chiropodist center and bathhouse [?bɑ:θhaus](浴室), with over 100 years' history, went to Renmin University of China, one of China's top universities, during the three-day Dragon Boat Festival to look for some "promising disciples" who wanted to learn the old skills.
"We want to recruit college students as they are innovative [?in?uveitiv](創(chuàng)新的) and eager to learn," Wang said.
But it appears that the opportunity failed to appeal to students, as the center reportedly did not receive any resumes(簡歷) during the recruiting days.
"Actually, we did receive some resumes this time, from someone who learned medicine, as well as some other majors," Wang explained, without revealing [r??vi:l??](透露) the exact number. It is not the first time the center has recruited college students, she added.
One anonymous [??n?nim?s](匿名) Netizen(網(wǎng)名) left a comment on Sina.com claiming it was insulting [in?s?lti?](侮辱的) to college students, as he thought it was totally unnecessary [?n?nes??seri:](不必要地) to have a chiropodist with a college degree.
A fourth-year student told Beijing Daily: "It would be so humiliating [hju(:)?m?l?e?t??](侮辱的) if someone got to know I chose to work as a chiropodist after graduating from one of the country's best universities."
She said she would rather do junior [?d?u:nj?](較低級別) office work, even if the salary was less.
However, Du Wei, a 25-year-old student from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunication(北京郵電大學), told METRO: "I don't mind it at all. It is a skill. When you master it, it can guarantee you can support yourself,"
"Actually, as our society moves forward(向前發(fā)展), the students with better knowledge will contribute [k?n?tribjut，k?n?tr?bju?t，?k?ntr?bju?t](提供) more ideas to the inheritance [?n?her?t?ns](遺產) of the old skills," Wang explained. Nowadays, the center is no longer what it used to be, but it still receives around 1,000 customers a day.
And she hinted(暗示) their purpose is not only simply training the students to be chiropodists, but hoped, after they learned the whole picture of the industry, these apprentices(學徒) would shoulder the responsibility [ri?sp?ns??biliti](責任心)to manage the "100-year-old brand" in the future.
Chiropody [ki?r?p?di](手足病的治療)was listed as an intangible [?n?t?nd??b?l](接觸不到的) cultural heritage [?heritid?](遺產) by the Beijing municipal [mju?nisip?l](市政的) government in 2009.
Chiropody is not the only traditional craft facing a skill shortage(技能缺失). The Beijing Ivory Sculpture Plant(北京象牙雕刻廠) is another example.
Young college students nowadays are inclined to(傾向于) pursue dream jobs that look decent [?di:s?nt，?di?snt](體面的) or appealing [??pi:l??](吸引人的), according to Chen Chang, a Beijing-based career-planning expert.
"But it cannot be denied(否認) that each job has its interesting and meaningful parts. If you put your heart and soul into it, you will find it, "she said.
"Not everyone is fit to be a chiropodist, that usually requires someone who is meticulous [mi?tikjul?s](細致) and likes to serve other people," she told METRO.