Skin care, four times a month: 500 yuan. Clothes and accessories: 300 to 800 yuan a month. Hair style, twice a month: 300 to 600 yuan. Cell phone minutes: 200 yuan. Food and transportation: 600 yuan.
This is the bill of Fang Wei, a 22-year-old woman in north China's Shanxi Province. Fang is now an employee in a privately-owned company in Taiyuan, capital city of Shanxi.
Though her 2,200 yuan (US$265) monthly salary is above average in the province and she doesn't need to pay rent, Fang always finds it difficult to make ends meet at the end of every month.
"This generation has no idea of thrift because in the ages of their growing, they lived in an environment with rich supply of commodities," said Xing Yuan, professor of sociology at the Shanxi University.
Xing noted that more and more new-graduates from universities tend to squander their salaries and then live on poverty or depend on their parents.
"I'm much better than many of my pals," said Fang, saying that some of them even ask for money from parents or rely them to buy house or cars.
Fang is typical of the "one-child" generation born in the 1980s,when the Chinese government adopted a family planning policy, encouraging couples to have only one child as a measure to control China's population growth.
Such children are usually known as "Little Emperors," for critics describe them as the "dictators" in the families. Now 20 years passed and the "emperors" have grown up and begun to enter the workforce. Their new life style and values are causing a wave of shock in traditional society which values hardworking and thrift.
Because most of them are the only child in the family, this generation lived with overprotective parents and didn't know the hardships of life. Sociologists say this generation is weaker in the practical skills, has less sense of responsibility and is lazier.
Xin Zhiyong, majoring in psychology at the Beijing Normal University, attributed some shortcomings of the "emperors" to the failure of school and family education.
"During their upbringing, all the attention has been put on the marks, but no one tells them how to consume rationally, how to try to be an independent person," said Xin.
A survey of 100 new couples from single-child families in Harbin, capital city of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, coincided with critics' opinions.
The survey shows that 30 percent of them hire workers to do housework, while 20 percent rely on their parents to clean up rooms for them. In addition, 80 percent eat free meals at their parents' homes instead of making dinner themselves and 30 percent have their laundry done in parents' home. Half have had conflicts because of housework.
In addition, many children born in the 1980s and after have difficulty understanding others.
"As the only child in family, these emperors were the center of the family," said Xing, "that's why most of this generation are self-centered. They don't know how to be modest or show courtesy."
Xing noted that "post-80s," as the generation is called, change jobs more frequently, most of times not because of the job itself, but bad relationships with colleagues.
"From primary school to university, I have been the center of the attention. But now at work, I need not only to do a good job, but also to consider others' feeling, it's difficult for me," said a girl with surname of Yu. Graduating from a well-known university last year, Yu has changed two jobs so far.
Though criticizing "post-80s" as a generation with lot of shortcomings, sociologists don't grudge to praise the generation on the other hand. In the eyes of many people, the "post-80s" are modern, open-minded, worldly and confident. The emergence of a new young and successful generation has also shaken the traditional view of "getting older, getting richer and more successful."
They have higher educational attainment, cherish greater awareness of democracy and law, and are more capable of using computers, said Wang Xianzhong, director of the occupation guiding center at the Shanxi University.
"They are the backbone of the country in the next years, but they are under great social pressure, they need more positive assessment and encouragement," said Wang.
(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2004)
