No home, no hope? Man flees as parents unable to buy him house

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Zhang, a college graduate from Yancheng, east China’s Jiangsu Province, recently disappeared from his home, leaving only a suicide note.

He blamed his parents for being unable to buy him a house in Nanjing, according to Jinling Evening News.

A week later, the police finally found him.

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Zhang became fixated on owning a home when he realized many of his classmates were buying apartments. Doing so helped with issues like “hukou” -- household registration -- jobs and marriage. The 28-year-old turned to his parents, who had always supported him.

Although not wealthy, they somehow managed to raise 400,000 yuan (almost 60,000 US dollars) including money they saved over many years. But this wasn’t enough to place a down-payment on a house.

Zhang’s response? To disappear, leaving a suicide note for his distraught parents.

The farce had a happy ending. After one week’s search by the local police, Zhang was contacted by phone and agreed to return home from Suzhou, a neighboring city. Police officer Yang, who spoke to the 28-year-old, said: “He just saw that parents of other students bought them houses in Nanjing, all settling down there, and didn’t understand why he couldn’t be like them. Now he’s fine."

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It might sound unlikely, but Zhang is definitely not the only NEET (person Not in Education, Employment, or Training) in China with this kind of mindset.

This group, making up around 30 percent of Chinese young adults according to China Research Center, tends to shoulder greater pressure socially and financially with probably most of them being the only child in the family.

They typically lack experience and the ability to solve problems independently, given the fact that they are taken care of throughout their lifetime. Fragile youngsters can easily get trapped in a sense of hopelessness and distress when running into trouble or when their demands are not satisfied.

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