A total of 1.5 million people registered for the national civil servant examination in China this year, marking another impressive record in the number of young people competing for government jobs, often with odds of hundreds to one. In the northeastern city of Harbin, for example, 440 openings for drivers, *mechanics and cleaners in the *municipal public *sanitation service drew more than 7,000 applications from young people under 30. Almost half of them were college graduates.