Those born into the late 1970s world of the one-child family have now grown up and taken their place in society. Compared with their parents they have a new focus on advancement through education, comfortable lifestyle and leisure clothing. Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, they were able to benefit from a good education, free from the resource limitations that had gone hand in hand with earlier larger families.
Now grown up they look at education differently. To them it is an investment much like stocks and shares but with life changing implications. Among these new citizens it is possible to recognize traditional, pragmatic and anxious types.
For the anxious types there is always the feeling that in some way they still don?t know quite enough. They put as much as 60 percent of their income towards further study at the expense of other types of investment. They might consider studying abroad, on-the-job training or working towards certificated study. Going abroad at anything from 60,000 to 170, 000 yuan (US$7,257-20,562) a year will likely be out of the question without the help of well funded and understanding parents. In-service training might well be a more affordable option but it could still take several thousand or even several hundred thousand yuan. The cost of studying for a certificate varies but would typically be of the order of several thousand yuan.
Turning to the pragmatic types. This group is generally speaking pretty confident about life after graduation. They believe in themselves. They are sure that they must have at least a chance of success with what they already know. They have this rosy picture in their mind?s eye that one day they could become another Bill Gates. They value their freedom. Their primary goal is to enjoy the good life. They are true consumers investing most of their salary in shopping, leisure and travel. But they still keep an eye on education not for its own sake but for what it too can offer them as consumers. Just 10 percent of their income is earmarked for study. They want to work and to earn so education will just have to fit in around this.
Traditional types inherit their parents? traditional priorities. For them income is something to be split three ways. A third is for financing further study, a third can be spent on personal consumption and a third has to be saved.
The three types clearly have rather different strategies for investing in education. However they do share a common enthusiasm for the value that education can add to their continuing personal development.
The experts have been urging the various educational providers not to neglect their marketing. There is opportunity waiting for those that can offer educational products to match the needs and wants of the huge market which the one-child generation has grown to represent.
Many years ago the late Chairman Mao told the parents of today?s one-child generation that good health is the best foundation on which to build a good life. The one-child generation has embraced the idea of valuing good health in a big way. It may not be the only thing that matters in life but everything else can mean so much less without it. And so investing in health and fitness has become a very current trend.
Often receiving a daily dose of stress in a high-pressure job, the citizens of the one-child generation are only too aware of the high cost of medical treatment. They would much rather invest in a healthy lifestyle now than pay the cost later. Not for them the life/work balance of those now in their middle years who have worked for the last 30 years to build up their wealth only to spend it on medical care over the next 30 years just to stay alive.
The well paid and forward looking citizens of this generation are the main customers of the health and fitness industry. Theirs is a society in which fashions from gymnastics to bodybuilding and from golf to yoga can all flourish.
They would rather invite their friends to join them in good healthy exercise than in a good filling meal. A treat means burning not buying calories. Membership cards for bodybuilding clubs have become popular gifts. Their hunger is for books on health and their thirst is for lectures on health.
Those who find the sports center too busy will buy exercise equipment for their homes. And what?s more they?ve moved on from the old fashioned idea of taking their old parents out for a meal, instead they?ll buy exercise equipment for them too. It has been estimated that the one-child generation is already spending 10 percent of salary on health and fitness and the proportion is rising.
From the cradle, they have been carefully looked after by their parents and grandparents so the world says they?re spoilt. But in reality they are tired of being fussed over and dream of independence. As soon as they become established in society and gain their financial independence, they will be on the lookout for opportunities to explore the outside world with their friends.
Nowadays there is nothing unusual in Internet messages looking for travelling companions. The one-child generation loves to travel and it has become fashionable to organize a group of travelling companions via the Internet.
Wang Yong, a 27-year-old magazine editor, found the Internet was just what he needed. He organized a netizens visit to the Three Gorges during last October?s National Day Holiday followed by a trip abroad for this year?s Spring Festival (the traditional Chinese New Year according to the lunar calendar).
Statistics show the number of visitor trips abroad reaching some 12.29 million in the first three-quarters of last year alone. This was four times the figure for the whole of the previous year. More and more Chinese are now turning to Australia or New Zealand for their destinations. Visits will typically be for one or two weeks and cost 10,000 yuan (US$1,209) or more. The travel market is witnessing increasing numbers of young customers and industry insiders say the one-child generation now provides the bulk of its customers.
Meanwhile according to a survey by a Beijing travel agency, 80 percent of the one-child generation plan to travel abroad soon after they take their place in adult society. Some far seeing travel agencies have their eyes on this potentially huge market and have been developing new products. And the one-child generation has also discovered the business trip.
Visits to North Korea became surprisingly popular during the last National Day holidays. There were reports of a long tailback of cars packed with tourists on the border at Dandong City. Every new day brought something like another 2,000 visitors twice the number of just one year ago. Among them were many young white-collar workers setting out to find new business opportunities. The coming of age of the one-child generation has had quite an impact on the travel industry and seen many travel agencies replacing outdated products.
Jiang Yuting was born in 1978 and is a nurse in a hospital in Shenyang. Since she doesn?t need to give money to her parents, she spends all of her monthly salary of 2,000 yuan (US$242) on clothing. She said, ?Clothes are a matter of taste and fashion. I have a busy job and can feel relaxed only when I dress well.?
The one-child generation has sent a wind of change blowing through the clothing market. Formal outfits are seen less and less nowadays as this generation is much more likely to opt for a style which is at once both fashionable and capable of projecting a sense of individuality.
The TV may continue to showcase regular suits through clever advertising but today?s youth are not so easily impressed. Though they all have maybe four or five suits, they are much more likely than their parents to value designer labels.
Apart from the most formal of occasions, Xiao Li who works in a state-owned unit tends to dress very causally favoring blue jeans and a T-shirt. He says he likes to dress casually, not just to be comfortable but also to capture that cool relaxed look.
And accessories too are important in making a statement about style. Handbags, ties, belts and watches are all pressed into service as visible expressions of culture and taste.
Both underwear and laundry businesses have good reason to welcome the emergence of the one-child generation. One businessman who has researched the market said that today?s youth don?t like to wash vests and pants They just throw them away when they?re dirty after all it?s such a waste of time and energy to wash such things. They don?t care much for washing larger items either so these can go to the laundry.
The increase in the number of young white-collar workers has meant a new focus on quality. According to official statistics, last year?s sales of clothing in the major shopping malls and department stores amounted to 141 million pieces. This was over 19 percent up on the year before. High-quality items now represent 10 percent and middle-range items make up a further 60 percent of sales through these outlets.
(China.org.cn by Zheng Guihong, February 21, 2003)
