Dale Says

With the Olympic Games getting underway in Beijing, we are learning a lot about China – about its size and growth, the efforts to compete globally, and the challenges the country is facing as it becomes a global player. But we don’t read as much about China’s young people. These youth, who are now becoming adult consumers, were raised under different laws than their parents and many of them have different values than previous generations. And those beliefs could greatly influence how they feel about the U.S.

China’s Gen Y: Smart and Receptive

China’s Generation Y includes a huge generation of China’s youth (around 200 million) who were born between 1980 and 1989, just as China was opening to the West. Today, many of them are educated, receptive to brands, and tech-savvy – and many of them have generally favorable attitudes toward Americans and American products.

These Chinese youth, who are now becoming adult consumers, were raised under China’s “One Child” laws, which produced a generation without siblings. As a result, many of them have been overprotected and somewhat spoiled. Sometimes referred to as “Little Emperors,” they are used to more material things than their parents, and an easier life.

China’s urban teens have grown up with television and computers and they are influenced by what they see on TV and the Internet. They like foreign goods, which they view as superior to those made in China, and many of them are receptive to brands and advertising.

China’s Generation Y youth also have complex relationships with their parents. They are highly dependent on their parents and are expected to care for them in their old age, but different values have caused a generation gap, and many Chinese teens are rebellious and independent.

Education is crucial to China’s Generation Y, whose focus is on learning and succeeding. For many of them, career success entails earning large sums of money in white-collar occupations.

Many of China’s youth are used to having and spending money. Between what they will make and what their parents will give them, they will have enough funds to be a major force in the Chinese (and global) economy.

China’s Teens: Optimistic, Rather than Happy

(From an interview with Michael Stanat, author of China’s Generation Y: Understanding the Future Leaders of the World’s Next Superpower, Homa & Sekey Books, 222 pages, $17.95).

In your book, you give readers a look into the lives and minds of China’s Generation Y. Who are they and what are they like?

They are made up of around 200 million young people born between 1980 and 1989, largely comprised of single children. They have seen many rapid changes in China since their births (economic, social, cultural, etc.) and they are trying to absorb these changes. Unlike their parents, China’s Generation Y tend to embrace technology and consumerism.

Are China’s teenagers happy? What aspirations and dreams do they have?

I would characterize China’s youth as optimistic, rather than happy. That optimism can be represented by their music, by their desire to explore the world outside China, and by their pride in a changing China. There is also some unhappiness, caused by the pressure to be successful in school, by the high rates of unemployment in China, and by expectancies that they will take care of their parents and grandparents.

Most Chinese teenagers were raised under China’s “one-child laws,” which has introduced an entire generation without siblings. Your book talks about how parents are overprotecting these “Little Emperors,” as they are sometimes called. How has that influenced their behavior, and what affect do you think it will have as they age?

This policy has left China’s teens without their parents as their only support system. They are the only source of attention, and they don’t have to share – which is much different than what their parents experienced. They are dependent on their parents for guidance, and have been somewhat spoiled by their parents, generally receiving better health care, education, and brand name toys and clothes. Some Gen Y children in China receive generous allowances from their parents – larger in some cases than comparable US teens. In some cases, between costs of education, food and clothing, and spending money, Gen Y children take up as much as 50% of their parents’ income. The long term effect will probably include a focus on their parents and grandparents. It could also translate into some interesting spending and savings habits as they become adults.

Your research found that Chinese teens believe there is a significant generation gap between them and their parents. What do you think has caused that gap, and how do you think it is influencing the relationship between them and their parents?

I believe the generation gap is caused by the rapid changes in China since the 1980s. The parents of China’s Generation Y were raised in a closed “we” society where the good of the whole is more important than that of the individual, and they experienced very difficult economic times. In the early 1980s, as Gen Y kids were born, China was opened to the West, and since then TV and the Internet have since been widely introduced. China is still largely a “we” society, but the teens want more. These are different values than their parents were raised under – more concerned with fashion and more individualistic. And those different values are not well accepted by parents. That’s causing a generation gap between them and their children.

How important is education to China’s Gen Y? What are their long-term educational goals?

Education is highly valued in China – parents see education as the one thing that can make their children successful. It’s also the most important thing in Chinese teens’ lives now. For the most part, they embrace that. Some are obsessed with obtaining a quality education and their career goals, and many believe that college is the way to the future for them.

In your book you say that “career success for China’s Gen Y entails earning large sums of money and is predominantly envisioned as a white-collar occupation requiring a university degree.” How many of them will wind up in white-collar jobs, and what differences do you foresee between them and the ones that don’t?

I’ve seen estimates that there are around 5 million white-collar jobs in China with international exposure, which will increase to around 75 million by 2010. When America’s Gen Y graduates from universities, they will find that their counterparts in China and other countries will have taken 25 percent of all American Information Technology jobs, especially in manufacturing, software and engineering. That’s a tremendous increase, but still not very many jobs for 240 million people, and the competition will be intense for those jobs. Therefore, getting into a big name university is very important to them. Chinese who obtain a white-collar job can expect to make somewhere around US$8, 830 per year, versus around US$2,000 per year for those who don’t get those jobs. That’s a significant difference, which would mean quite a different lifestyle. Some Chinese teens who don’t land white-collar jobs will likely become entrepreneurs (e.g., own their own small businesses, or work in engineering, medicine, etc.

Your book describes some surprising trends among China’s Generation Y such as increasing obesity and higher rates of drinking and drugs. Most Americans probably wouldn’t associate those behaviors with Chinese youth. What is behind them, and do you foresee long-term affects from them?

These problems are largely confined to China’s urban areas (where teens tend to have more spending money), and they are a minor problem. Drinking and drug use, I believe, is much less common in China than in the US, for example. But they are on the increase, and I think it shows that China’s teen are looking for ways to cope with the changes and stress they are experiencing.

I think these trends bear watching. The Chinese government is watching them and is launching anti-drinking and anti-drug programs.

What is the attitude among China’s Generation Y toward the US, and more specifically toward US products? Do you foresee a change in those attitudes as teenagers become adults?

Chinese teens can separate their product preferences from their overall feelings about a country, and they have a generally favorable attitude toward American products. Many of them view foreign products as higher quality than Chinese products, and they expect to pay more for foreign products. Some of the US products that are “hot” with Chinese teenagers are clothing (e.g., Nike shoes, NBA clothes), and food (e.g., KFC, McDonalds).

In your book, you suggest the Mandarin language should be more widely taught in the US, and we are now seeing some movement in that regard (e.g., the National Security Language Initiative and the Confucius Institutes). Is enough being done by the US to understand and communicate with China?

No. The US needs to take more steps to help its youth understand and communicate with China. We should start teaching Mandarin in schools when children are young, for example, or we will reduce our own competitiveness.