Are Chinese the most hard-working people in the world? Recently an international career advisory firm conducted a survey on people from various countries. The survey showed that China ranked at the top of “the most diligent countries”. About 71% of the Americans surveyed agreed with the result. In their opinion, Chinese people are always working, hustling and bustling, just like small ants.

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Canada came after China, followed by Germany, UK, India, France and Netherland. Moreover, Canadians had the strongest confidence in their country's economic recovery, while only 35 percent of Americans had faith in the US recovery. People in UK and France were among the most pessimistic on this topic.

However, many Chinese people responded to the survey in a satirical tone. After all, working hard does not necessarily guarantee happiness. In November 2013, the magazine XiaoKang did a survey, Annual Mood of 2013, among 2013 Chinese participants dwelled around the world. It showed that in 2013, the strongest feeling of Chinese people was "tiredness": some were “physically tired”, and some other were "mentally tired"; some were "extremely tired", while some other were getting “more and more tired".

In fact, the so-called “diligence” of Chinese people is forced by substantial stress of making a living. In 2012, the world-renowned office accommodation provider Regus released their findings: China is the most stressed country in the world.

Judging from their ever-expanding waistline, anxious eyes and hasty pace, it is not hard to tell that Chinese people are really busy, hustling and tired.