When our son learned his exam marks weren't high enough to enter a top university, the 18-year-old got a part time job at a ceramics shop, delivering bowls and plates to restaurants.

Throughout the summer vacation, he toiled between 7:30 am and 6 pm. Aside from a free lunch - a few pieces of fat and plenty of spice - he earned 10 yuan ($1.46) a day.

But we all believe the experience has been priceless.

On the first day, he politely asked: "What can I do here?"

"You must find things to do on your own," he was told.

The young man didn't want to loaf around, so he dusted the piles of ceramics displayed outside the shop. When a customer remarked the ceramics looked shinier than usual, my son was very happy.

It is a half-hour trip from the shop to our home. When he didn't come back by 7:30 pm on the first day, my wife began to worry and asked me to look for him.

As I walked along the dimly lit road, I saw a lanky man dragging his feet who I barely recognized as my own son. He was covered in sweat and mud. He said his boss had been playing cards and he carried all the ceramics into the shop on his own.

He told us he was given a shabby bike without brakes to deliver goods to two restaurants. Nobody heeded him as he made his way precariously through the traffic. He had to stop suddenly to avoid an accident and if he had not managed to stabilize the bike quickly, he said, the piles of bowls strapped to the seat would have crashed to the floor.

But he didn't want to give up. He took a shower and went to bed early. In the past, he would watch TV and read his favorite books till very late.

The second day of work was hotter and he transported bowls to three restaurants, the farthest 10 km away. Between deliveries he also helped out with sales and caught glimpses of the real world.

"The boss has a black heart," he remarked once.

Some farmers arrived to buy special bowls for a funeral banquet. There weren't enough of the bowls but the boss served tea and cigarettes, telling them his was the only shop in the neighborhood with such bowls. He suggested the farmers could buy other things while they packed the bowls.

Once they left, the boss told my son to mix bowls of other colors and lower quality into the bundles. When the customers came back, they didn't bother to check.

Another day, my son kept an eye on business while the boss took a nap. A man came in and asked about the prices. Whatever my son said the price was, the man replied: "OK, but add 2 yuan for each piece, following the old rules."

Seeing that my son didn't understand, the man became angry and said: "Where are you from? Have you just been imported from abroad? Don't you understand the rules?"

The boss hurried out. He blamed my son and served the man tea and cigarettes. When the man left, the boss said he was a major customer. He wanted the prices raised so he could pocket the extra money himself.

Then he found out there were similar customers. It was a revelation for my son.

My son lost a few kg and got a deep tan in the hot summer, but the boss liked him and said he would make a fine assistant. On the 31st day, my son got his pay: 300 yuan. He bought us a bottle of wine.

When an acceptance letter from a college came, my son was very happy he could continue with his studies.

On the eve of his departure, we invited him to a restaurant. "I once transported bowls here," he said smiling, happy to have learned something about the ways of the world.

(China Daily 01/07/2009 page20)