How China’s youth job crisis is driving graduates to German vocational apprenticeships

Two years ago, Yuki Liu was a university student in the northern Chinese province of Hebei, studying traditional Chinese music and the pipa – a pear-shaped Chinese lute – weighing the usual paths considered by her peers: postgraduate degree or civil service exam. Today, her day begins at 1am in Germany. While many people sleep, she is already working as an apprentice at an industrial bakery in a small town outside Stuttgart in the country’s southwest, preparing the shop for the morning rush. The