Liu Dan, a final year student at the Capital Normal University in Beijing , has been job hunting since October last year. As a female student without any relatives in Beijing, she is finding it difficult to get employed.

"It's really too difficult for me to find a job," said Liu, "some employers turned down my resume just because I'm from Henan Province, some rejected me because I'm a girl, or they did not need undergraduates.

Finally, I found an administrative job but one of the job requirements was that I must have relatives in Beijing as my guarantors -- so I failed again."

Liu's experience is widespread in China, most people encounter discrimination when they are trying to find jobs.

Gender, educational background, age and health conditions -- such as carriers of Hepatitis B or HIV -- all fall foul of discrimination on the part of prospective employers.

A questionnaire regarding job discrimination, which was made at the end of last year, revealed that 86 percent of interviewees thought discrimination exists in employment market, while 58 percent thought that this discrimination is of a severe nature.

However, this may all be set to change with the introduction of a new employment law by the Chinese government.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) -- China's top legislative body -- has recently examined a draft law on employment promotion for the first time.

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