Young Chinese Rethink U.S.-Style Capitalism

Sun Junshan, who works in sales for Shenzhen Jiao Technology, said that when she was growing up she thought America was "heavenly -- everyone is living well and there are good benefits for Social Security and medical care."

"Now I feel like China is number one, not the U.S., because China has money," Sun said.

The U.S. economic problems have shaken the foundation of what many Chinese have been taught in the 30 years of Communist leader Deng Xiaoping's "reform and opening up" campaign, which was built around the idea, as Deng famously said, that "to get rich is glorious." The U.S. system that was once held up as a model now seems full of weaknesses.

China's leaders say their country can still learn from the United States -- from its mistakes, that is.

Ever since Shenzhen, just north of Hong Kong, was honored with becoming the country's first special economic zone in 1979, residents of the area have been China's keepers of the American dream. Today the landscape around the city, with its big houses and big cars, is the closest thing China has to U.S.-style suburbs.

Xiong Ming, 28, who works at a shipping company focused on the port of Yantian, is part of a generation that grew up with the gospel of American capitalism.

Raised on Hollywood movies, Xiong built his career on close business relationships with the United States.

When he graduated from college six years ago with an economics degree, Xiong took a marketing job with Cosco, China's premier shipping company. With his strong English skills, he did so well that a former colleague soon offered him a management position at a competitor that sent goods to California's ports in Long Beach and Oakland.

For a while, Xiong prospered. Like other employees, he often made $4,400 to $5,800 a month with commissions -- a fortune in a country where the average annual urban salary is $2,000.

But today most workers are making $750 to $1,500.

If the U.S. economy doesn't pick up, his current employer will probably have to lay off some of its 20 employees in Shenzhen or even shut down. "Right now we haven't hit bottom yet. We see things getting worse and worse," he said.

Xiong, a marketing manager at Dragontrade Logistics, said that if he had it to do over, he would choose to work more with Europe, or emerging economies in areas such as the Middle East, or even with Chinese companies that he once thought were old-fashioned.

The U.S. troubles have made him reconsider the benefits of communist, state-run support, he said.

"In the U.S., the workers at the gold-chip companies are carrying out their desks in boxes," Xiong said. "But in China, the jobs are still here because they are more protected."

Researchers Crissie Ding and Wu Meng contributed to this report.