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Wealth and Western influence are among
the factors behind an emerging group of pleasure-seeking Chinese
youths.
Stereotypically, a Chinese youngster studies long hours, obeys
his parents and is righteousness personified. Kids that shoot
pool, chain-smoke cigarettes and listen to expletive-loaded rap
music are meanwhile more readily associated with the Western world.
But wealthier parents in today’s China, and consequently,
wealthier “Little Emperors,” comprise just one of the
reasons why some of the country’s kids are cultivating habits
of a less principled nature.
The “one mouth, six pocket” family has
become commonplace in China. Twenty-six years after the implementation
of the “One Child per Family” policy,
most college students, and practically all school-goers, are only
children. For the majority, that means extra pressure to succeed,
but there’s a significant proportion of only children
whose situation results in a childhood of luxury. Take for instance
Guo Dong (not his actual name), a high school student in Beijing.
“My parents allow me to spend more time participating
in leisure activities,” he says. “I don’t
slack off too much - my teachers would never permit it - but I
know that my classmates are under much greater pressure than I
am. And as long as my grades are reasonable, my parents are happy
enough to fund my choice of lifestyle.”
His father’s riches - and consequently his pull in
certain circles - suggest why Dong’s parents have
taken a relatively lackadaisical attitude towards their son’s
school performances. “Actually, my closest friend is
a university dean,” says Guo senior. “When
it is time for my son to enter college, I can count on his help
in ensuring my son has a place.” The use of guanxi
(interpersonal connections) such as these is not uncommon in Chinese
universities, particularly in arts schools that do not rely solely
on the gaokao (national college entrance exam) when allocating
places.
Some blame Western influences of a direct and indirect kind.
Coolness has never been as important to any previous generation
of Chinese youngsters, and that concept comes in myriad forms.
“Whether it’s wearing the latest ‘Rockets’
basketball shirt, or putting on heavy make-up to ‘be
like an adult,’ adolescents in China today are behaving
more like Western kids,” says Xiao Jing, a Chinese
parent who worked in the United States for two years.
Peer pressure, too, is emerging in the Chinese classroom, particularly
in better-off, big-city schools. School-teacher Ms. Zhao (not
her actual name) reveals her experiences in the modern Chinese
learning environment, saying, “In the past, all Chinese
kids behaved in the same way. But these days, no one can deny
that the classroom is splitting into more diverse groups - some
exhibit positive behaviors, and are courteous and studious, but
there’s a noticeable increase in more disruptive groups,
and they tend to get larger, not smaller.” Zhao
worries that these kids will negatively impact their peers because
their existence is far more exciting - and appealing - to the
teenage mind, especially as the country prospers further, and
its range of diversions widens still.
So what do all these teenage brats get up to? Among the dark
and dingy places that Chinese teenagers like to spend their time
and money are pool halls, and Internet cafes. The latter are found
almost everywhere, and are rarely empty. Kids cram into tightly
packed cafes where they expend their hours gleefully blowing the
brains out of pixilated villains. “For me, it’s a kind
of stress relief,” says teenager Wang Wen. “After a tough
day in school, I like to spend some time playing computer games
in the local Internet cafe. We don’t have a computer at home
- all that awaits me there is more study.”
But these cafes have also helped to generate many an Internet
junkie, giving rise to a plethora of other problems. Says Dr.
Tao Ran, director of Beijing’s first-ever Internet
addiction clinic, “All the children here have left
school because they are playing games or in chat-rooms everyday.
They are suffering from depression, nervousness, fear and unwillingness
to interact with others, panic and agitation. They also have sleep
disorders, the shakes and numbness in their hands.”
That kids are becoming addicted to far more deadly substances
is another major cause of concern. China has the largest population
of smokers on earth (more than 350 million at last count), so
it’s hardly surprising to see millions of youngsters
following their father’s footsteps - down to the local
tobacconist. “I grew up around people smoking,”
says Xiao Zhang, a 17-year-old Beijing schoolboy, “so
I never thought it was a bad thing. Anyhow, if it starts to affect
my health, I’ll just quit.” But isn’t
that what all addicts say at the start?
Cigarette smoking was once a male-only ambit. These days, though,
it’s not uncommon to see young girls, particularly
teenagers, lighting up outside a net cafe. Eighteen-year-old Su
Peng says, “I started smoking with my two best friends
after we saw Pulp Fiction. The star [Uma Thurman] looked so cool
with her cigarettes, so we thought we’d have a try.”
The girls were 16 when they saw that movie, so the habit seems
to have become more permanent than they had perhaps wished at
the outset.
Kids swigging beers, too, are seen all the more in the malls
and pool halls of Beijing. With a 640ml bottle of the local brew
priced around RMB 2 (US $0.25) and readily available in shops,
it’s perhaps one of the cheaper and more convenient
misdemeanors that a teenager can get up to in China. But unlike
their Western counterparts, Chinese teenagers very rarely drink
to excess, and in any case, there is no age limit for the consumption
of alcohol in China.
Wang Shuo (not her real name) is the worried 38-year-old parent
of an extroverted, and potentially promiscuous, 14-year-old daughter.
She says, “When I was in school, there was absolutely
no intimate contact between students. But I have seen kids as
young as 16 lounging around in each other’s arms and
kissing in public. If they have the courage to canoodle in public,
one can only imagine what they might do in private.”
At least authorities have established websites and stepped up
efforts to educate youngsters about sexual activity and its consequences.
This is timely progress, as traditionally in China, sex education
was the parents’ obligation. Parents often left it
up to the kids to figure out what goes where for themselves -
which they often did only after marriage.
Modern Chinese parents do worry about their children’s
high jinx, but they’re beginning to adopt modern parenting
tactics in dealing with them. As Wang Shuo says, “Chinese
kids are becoming more inclined to do as their friends do, instead
of what their parents tell them to do. So a great way to nip potential
problems in the bud is to prohibit kids from spending time with
the unruly element, and to encourage them to be friendly with
brighter, more motivated peers.” Yet the majority
of young Chinese still fit snugly into their stereotype. With
the competition for university places - and indeed for jobs -
so intense in this country, relatively few youngsters can afford
to, or are permitted to, lead the life of a hedonist. And moreover,
the traditional Chinese culture’s emphasis on obeying
those that “know better” allows this
country’s truant officers to live a comparatively
trouble-free life to their Western peers.
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