For Zheng Ruifeng, the 25-year-old son of a wheat farmer from eastern China, acceptance at a technical school specializing in petrochemical engineering was a life-changing event. Zheng, who grew up expecting to spend a lifetime toiling on the family farm, instead works as a technician monitoring control panels for Chambroad Petrochemical, one of China’s largest independent refineries. Earning 5,000 yuan ($760) per month – roughly five times what he could have expected to make working the fields – he got married two years ago and bought an apartment in nearby Boxing. “At our company, employees are considered losers if they cannot save enough money to buy a home within five year of being hired,” Zheng said. Zheng’s story offers a vivid example of the new wealth created by China’s so-called “teapots” – […]