‘Little emperors’ come of age without silver spoons
Print Edition
Editor’s Note:
When Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the nation to pursue the “Chinese Dream,” he triggered a public dialogue about people’s expectations and how they are fulfilled. In this week’s installment of Shanghai Daily’s weekly series exploring this topic, we look at the dreams of the 1980s generation.
The generation born in the 1980s has drawn plenty of attention. They were the first born under China’s one-child policy, the first to be influenced by economic reforms that opened the nation to the world and the first to be dubbed spoiled “little emperors.”
Their upbringing in a time of dramatic transition has been a mixed blessing. This was the generation of the new modern China, where the travails of the past gave way to optimism about the future, freedom to pursue dreams and the unleashing of energetic creativity.
On the other hand, maintaining indulgent lifestyles has placed a burden on their shoulders now that they are becoming 30-somethings and raising their own families.
“The dreams of this generation are more diversified due to their circumstances,” says Zhang Letian, a sociologist at Fudan University.
That generation was exposed to wider access to information and was influenced by globalization that introduced concepts from around the world. They have been called “rebellious, spoiled, irresponsible and egocentric.” Sometimes they were referred to as the “beat generation.”
Having no siblings, they grew up pampered, with heavy expectations placed on their shoulders by parents who wanted them to get good education and career.
They were the generation that first indulged in mass consumerism, ate at McDonald’s, embraced Western pop trends and tried to emulate global styles in hair, clothes and cosmetics. They embraced computers, MP3 players and mobile phones at a young age. Everything seemed possible, from owning a car to taking a holiday on a Thai beach.
It is a misunderstanding to label the 1980s generation with words like “beat generation,” says Zhang. They might have been hip to modern culture, but they weren’t hippies who retreated from the mainstream. They defined the mainstream.
At the same time, despite all their material possessions, this was a generation that grew up caring about the environment and about the social welfare of others.
The disastrous 8.0-magnitude Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 in Sichuan Province was a shining hour for this generation, when many of them volunteered to assist disaster relief. There was also the bravery of Jin Jing, a Paralympics fencer, who became a national heroine after protecting the Olympic torch from protestors who tried to seize it from her during the Paris leg of the Olympics torch relay.
The generation produced a new wave of writers like Guo Jingming and Han Han, who brought passion to literature in a way not expressed before.
It is also a generation that excelled in sports, producing former NBA superstar Yao Ming, diving queen Wu Minxia and former Olympic hurdling champion Liu Xiang, all from Shanghai.
The generation is well-educated, with many holding master’s and doctoral degrees. It is also a generation of young people whose rural families sought a better life by migrating to cities. Though the plight of migrants has not been easy, doors were opened. And many city dwellers from the 1980s generation unselfishly went to the countryside to devote themselves to assisting the less fortunate.
Qin Yuefei, a graduate of Yale University with a double major in economics and political science, chose to become a village official in impoverished Hengshan County in Hunan Province after graduation in 2011. Born in 1985, Qin won the hearts of local villagers by helping complete the installation of streetlights, improving irrigation facilities and constructing a home for the elderly. He was elected as a deputy to the Hengshan People’s Congress last October.
“I feel satisfied that I could help them realize their Chinese dream,” Qin says. “At the same time, I helped myself realize my own dreams.”
Dai Tiantian, 31, a graduate of Shanghai Jiao Tong University with a master’s degree in electronic engineering, started up his own business. His Friendess Electronics Co, now its sixth year, provides laser numerical control systems and other technology services. He still recalls his first year after the company started, when he and colleagues ate lettuce for lunch in a cramped apartment to save money. Today the company has 10 employees and nationwide clients.
Different dreams
“I had the dream of creating China’s version of Siemens,” he says. “There is a saying in China that start-up companies cannot survive more than three years. We have proven that wrong.”
Migrant construction worker Wu Wei, who was born in 1989 in Suixi County in Anhui Province, says his dream is to make enough money in Shanghai to allow his parents to move here.
“They always tell me they are fine and there is no need to worry,” he says. “They just want me to save enough money to build a house in my hometown and get married.”
Many born in the 1980s are now married with children. “A large number of people (of this generation) are bitter spiritually and suffer from big pressures,” Zhang says.
High home prices, the rising cost of living, the problems of children’s education and the pressure of holding down more than one job to keep up their lifestyles have taken their toll, leaving many to feel like “emperors” no more. Now they have to worry about the well-being of their own children and the health problems of their aging parents and grandparents.
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