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How post-90s grads shape our future
By Yao Yuan, Ni Yuanjin and Ren Liying |
July 7, 2012, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINESE adults have a wide variety of opinions on the jiulinghou or "post-1990s" generation, finding it difficult to understand the unintelligible slang, bizarre hairstyles and erratic behavior of children born after that year.
Photos showing the graduation celebrations engineered by the students, who are often described as being individualistic and tech-savvy, have triggered some controversy on the web.
Eyebrows were raised when graduates at Jinan University were photographed holding a banner bearing the statement "Jinan University Advertising Department, you f---ed my youth!" Some graduates also held printouts expressing their personal "wishes" to "become a mistress."
Displays of vulgarity
Cultural critic Liu Yang said the acts were displays of vulgarity, while others cheered the students' boldness. The debate on the graduation pictures was just a prelude to the generation's inevitable clash with conventional society. It is not yet known whether their strong personalities will help shape China into a more open country or simply result in painful scrapes with society.
The generation received more and more attention after flooding online forums with photos of their unconventional hairstyles and make-up, as well as their passionate defense of their conception of fashion.
"Some call us weirdos, but what's wrong with being a weirdo? Everyone has a unique existence and society should be inclusive," said Li Xuejiao, a recent university graduate and employee of a bank in the city of Wuhan.
Liu Xiaoying, who studies youth culture at the Communication University of China, said the post-1990s generation was raised in an environment different from that of their elders due to rapid social changes in China. Compared with their elders, children born after 1990 grew up in the "golden era" and "cyber epoch" in China, a period marked by an economic boom, material prosperity and the popularization of the Internet.
According to a report issued by the China Internet Network Information Center in 2011, about 60 percent of Chinese under the age 25 had access to the Internet as of the end of 2010.
"Unlike the older Chinese, the new generation enjoys wider access to information, so their culture is marked by pluralism, strong personalities and less belief in authority," Liu said.
Wang Chong, who teaches journalism at a Beijing-based university, said he supports this argument. Wang recently conducted an experiment on the role of media in the life of his post-1990s students.
"Their expectation of the media is mainly for entertainment purposes," Wang said. "When they write news reports for class, they focus on issues that directly affect their lives, such as housing prices and employment, while few care about other things that are important to the country."
Experts said that as the post-1990s generation integrates into society, their qualities, such as pragmatism, individualism and pluralism, will likely influence China's future trajectory. But experts also said the adaptation of a jilted generation to society could be painful, with the lackluster job market the first test.
The authors are Xinhua writers.
Photos showing the graduation celebrations engineered by the students, who are often described as being individualistic and tech-savvy, have triggered some controversy on the web.
Eyebrows were raised when graduates at Jinan University were photographed holding a banner bearing the statement "Jinan University Advertising Department, you f---ed my youth!" Some graduates also held printouts expressing their personal "wishes" to "become a mistress."
Displays of vulgarity
Cultural critic Liu Yang said the acts were displays of vulgarity, while others cheered the students' boldness. The debate on the graduation pictures was just a prelude to the generation's inevitable clash with conventional society. It is not yet known whether their strong personalities will help shape China into a more open country or simply result in painful scrapes with society.
The generation received more and more attention after flooding online forums with photos of their unconventional hairstyles and make-up, as well as their passionate defense of their conception of fashion.
"Some call us weirdos, but what's wrong with being a weirdo? Everyone has a unique existence and society should be inclusive," said Li Xuejiao, a recent university graduate and employee of a bank in the city of Wuhan.
Liu Xiaoying, who studies youth culture at the Communication University of China, said the post-1990s generation was raised in an environment different from that of their elders due to rapid social changes in China. Compared with their elders, children born after 1990 grew up in the "golden era" and "cyber epoch" in China, a period marked by an economic boom, material prosperity and the popularization of the Internet.
According to a report issued by the China Internet Network Information Center in 2011, about 60 percent of Chinese under the age 25 had access to the Internet as of the end of 2010.
"Unlike the older Chinese, the new generation enjoys wider access to information, so their culture is marked by pluralism, strong personalities and less belief in authority," Liu said.
Wang Chong, who teaches journalism at a Beijing-based university, said he supports this argument. Wang recently conducted an experiment on the role of media in the life of his post-1990s students.
"Their expectation of the media is mainly for entertainment purposes," Wang said. "When they write news reports for class, they focus on issues that directly affect their lives, such as housing prices and employment, while few care about other things that are important to the country."
Experts said that as the post-1990s generation integrates into society, their qualities, such as pragmatism, individualism and pluralism, will likely influence China's future trajectory. But experts also said the adaptation of a jilted generation to society could be painful, with the lackluster job market the first test.
The authors are Xinhua writers.
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