In today's Los Angeles Times

[TSkillet]

there's an article about the Little Emperor phenomeon - old hat to those of us who are familar with China, I know. BUt it's interesting that the mainstream media are picking up on this. I remember about a decade ago, the theory was in vogue - as to explain the upcoming rapid societal change to take place in China as they little Emperors got older - a nation of only children. Selfish and Spoiled. I suppose the oldest of the LE's would be about 26 now.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-child2aug02,1,4810862.story?coll=la-home-leftrail

The LA Times is a free registration site.

[Guest Anonymous]

I hung out with some people my age (21 - 25) when I stayed a month in Shanghai and later another month in Beijing. I don't believe these people were selfish and spoiled. Almost all of them have already graduated from college and have started working in the real world and making their own money. Whenever they made plans, they always ask each other's opinions and always offer to treat each other.

I don't believe it's fair to label a whole nation "a nation of only children, selfish and spoiled". Not only is it stereotyping, it's just downright wrong.

[TSkillet]

kulong - honestly, it's not a rip on the youth of China, but there really is a distinct stereotype of only children as selfish and spoiled - I should know, I'm an only child myself. And you know what - the stereotype is more often true than not.

Soon it will be an entire nation of only children. The one child, six pocket phenonmenon - and by and large, the children of new China will be selfish and spoiled- especially compared to their predecessors.

Studies have shown that only children have a much more difficult time sharing, playing with other children and really - getting along with people. Of course, these are tendencies and don't reflect every only child. But over a large population of only children - you'll find the populace of young Chinese a lot more used to getting what they want and when they want it from their parents and grandparents.

Is this necessairly a bad thing? Well, it can be, but Jan Wong has a theory that she writes about - it's that a nation of spoiled only children will really be the first generation in China to look out for itself. Not to say that familial piety will disappear, but she theorizes that these children will be the ones to really make change when they get into positions of power - because if they're going to be spoiled by their parents and grandparents - when it comes down to treatment by their government - she doesn't think they will be as willing to fall in step as their parents and grandparents were - simply because they were indulged so much as children.

I think her theory is reaching a bit, but it'll be interesting to see how it pans out as the Little Emperor generation reaches their 30s and 40s and begins to move into positions of political and economic power.

[Guest Anonymous]

So your logic is, only children are selfish and spoiled, this is true because you are one yourself. Since the youth of China today are all only children (though you forgot to mention that the One Child policy doesn't apply to everyone, for example ethnic minorities), eventually Chinese people will all be selfish and spoiled.

How many of these "Little Emperors" do you know and are close friends of? How can you label people just by theorizing? A good portion of my Chinese friends are either from the mainland or were born there. I've actually talked to many of them regarding this issue. What I find out is that just because they didn't have brothers or sisters, it doesn't mean they grew up with no other children in their lives. Many of them grew up with their cousins or neighbors' kids, thinking of them as brothers and sisters. Also, I never felt that there was even a possibility that people from the mainland would be more selfish and spoiled than any other people until I read a similar article a couple of years ago.

[Guest sjj17]

I have noticed the little emperor phenomenon a bit. But Ive only really noticed it among richer kids. The kids from the countryside all seem to have lots of cousins and neighbours and have grown up playing with them and as they grow up they have looked after the younger neighbours. In a way this seems to be much better than having large, but separate famillies as you never get a "baby of the family" as there is always a younger child around.

The richer kids arent as spoilt as you would expect from western one child families as they have much more pressure on them to succeed. They are always being told to work and spend most of their holidays with tutors. Yes alot of children here are treat like little gods, but they are expected to live up to that status and come top at school then go to university. I also get the impression that they are expected to behave like adults from a younger age and so you dont get the stereotypical tantrums.

Thats what Ive gathered from all the families Ive visited and stayed with anyway.

SJ

[TSkillet]

goodness no, my logic is that there are lots of studies out there which show that only children (not just chinese ones, but globally) have a tendancy to be more selfish and spoiled.

The only reason I mentioned my personal status was because I'm well aware of that stereotype being one myself. If it's true or not, I couldn't say, I'm not a socialogist nor would I pretend to be one.

How many Little Empreors do I know? Well, I don't know why my personal experiences come into this - but I personally taught 250 students when I was living in China, plus I certainly have lots of friends in China, so if you really want to put a number on it, I'd say it would be about 300.

But that's not really here or there. The gist of the argument (and it's not necessarily one that I'm making, as you so vehemently are trying to push me toward - it's just one I find interesting) is that

a. There is coming an entire generation of only children. Ones who are the focus of their entire family - one child, six pockets. I don't think there's any disagreement about that. And to take it one more generation - there will be a lot fewer (or none even) cousins as more and more families are only-children households.

b. Some studies have depicted only children as more selfish and spoiled. The stereotype is certainly there. With every indulgence of a child's every whim - the possibility for children to become spoiled and selfish certainly exists.

c. the combination of these two trends could lead to a nation of spoiled and selfish people - or at least a much larger population of them. Especially as China's economy continues to boom and more people move into the burgeoning middle class.

I just think it's an interesting theory. I don't think you can say right now whether this will come to pass or not - until about 15-20 more years have passed, and one child will suddenly be solely responsible for 4 elderly grandparents and 2 older parents. Will we see a move away from Confucian traditions like family piety -as taking care of 6 aged people becomes burdensome for a single person?

Who knows - but I think it's really interesting to consider the possiblities.

[TSkillet]

(though you forgot to mention that the One Child policy doesn't apply to everyone, for example ethnic

Yes, and rural familes. However, I think we can agree that it's a general trend. I'm not looking at exceptions here - but a lot more at trends.

[wix]

It's interesting to consider what social changes will come about as a result of the one-child policy. TSkillet is right that these changes will become more obvious in the next decade or two. The basic unit of Chinese society is the family and historically each family may have had at least three or four children (often more) and when you combine that with the extended family dozens of cousins and aunts and uncles. The one-child policy is going to radically alter that equation.

Another issue (maybe it belongs in another thread) is the imbalance between males and females in the population. This is probably the worst aspect of the one-child policy. I have put a link to an interesting article about this from the Taipei Times below.

When family planning becomes baby trafficking

[holyman]

the problem doesnt lie with the family planning policy. it is the idea of 'having a male offspring is better than a female one' that is creating problems. as far as i know, the island state of singapore also had family planning in its early days but turned out to be rather successful. imagine a family with $1000 monthly income, do u think by having 3 children in the house they will enjoy more than one having only 2 children? in the early state of economic development, bringing up less children that are better taken care of is better than having a lot but not taken care of at all. china had to adopt a harsh measure of having 1 children now bcos it missed out its chance unlike singapore.

during the 50s, a sociologists named ma yinchu(and i think he's also the pricipal of the peking university) appeal to mao to start family planning policy, by restricting family size to around 2 children per family. his argument was, food increase in an arithmetric progression but population increase in a geometric progression. in a few decades population will out grow food and there will be a problem. but mao was influenced by his rural thinking and ma was put to prison(and probably died inside during the cultural revolution, if i remember properly). imagine after the war china was like having 450mil population. then in 50 yrs it tripled. one of the main reasons is also due to the total halt in economical progression(and thus the lack of entertainment) during the 2 decades of dark era. so the only thing to do in a house is you-know-what.

[TSkillet]

Just as an additional note - we're not really seeing the first real little empreors for another 10 years or maybe longer have an impact on society - aside from being little consumers.

The reason being is many of the students I taught 6 years ago - still weren't affected by the single child policy - they tended to be hte younger or youngest sibilings in a 2 or 3 child family. So I'd say babies born in the late 80s - would be much more likely to be only children AND they would be the first generation growing up in the economically vibrant era of China.

Obviously these social trends are centered around the upper middle class in the cities - but I suspect they'll be the movers and shakers of China decades from now.

[holyman]

thats right, rural areas or areas away from the central govt wasnt really serious about the policy. my 4 cousins in canton had 12 children altogether, average 3 per couple. to them, the policy will be in effect for maybe 2 generations, 40+yrs that is, and they are already half way through. after that it'll be scrapped once the population curve is not so steep. they'll then declare their 'unregistered' children at that time. but of course, looking at their mentality, they'll declare the male ones first. the girls will be the last in the line. when we visited them, it is apparent that the girls are more diligent and hardworking, while the boys are imitating 'gu yi zai'(a series of hk gangsters' movie) style and mannerism. but the parents, my cousins, still tried to persuade us to take their boys abroad instead of the girls.

only in bigger cities like beijing one can see some of the darker side of these little emperors. they yell at their grannies, they scream and shout bcos their parent let them walk instead of carrying them(7-8 yrs old kids.... imagine), they push and punch elderly people on the back who cannot move quickly up the bus, they show off their newest handphone models even though they are only primary school kids.

[ChouDoufu]

I definitely think there is a little emperor in China. I agree that it's predominantly an urban phenomenon, though. I don't know a how lot of emperors myself, but I've talked to quite a few Chinese people and they've brought up the subject--obviouslythey believe it probably exists.

I think it's not necessarily in the current batch of adults for a few reasons: being 2nd or third child as was said earlier; but most important to me is the level of economic development. China was much less developed during the early period of the 1-child policy. You can't really have an emperor if you don't have anything to give him.

But I disagree with the idea that we'll be able to see the changes this caused in 15-20 years. I don't think you can accurately get an idea on how a generation changed things until after 50-60 years after they become adults. (thus, in america we won't really be able to look at the baby boom generations effect for another 20-30 years. But it will definitely be interesting.

[Marco]

I think it is a global thing, I am from The Netherlands, and many people just have one child, that child gets everything and can’t do anything wrong, Dutch society is changing rapidly , people want things on the spot, don’t mind others feelings are very demanding acting like big children, I see the same in the big city’s in china