Emperors or Rebels
Chinese born in the 1980s were slated to be the first generation of “little emperors,” products of the one-child policy initied in 1979. Like Generation X in the West, they were expected to possess minimal senses of responsibility, high degrees of self-absorption and little resilience to difficult times.
Yet such prejudiced predictions have ended up far from true. Many sociologists have decided that kids of the ‘80s are strong and creative enough to find their own paths and set their own values while navigating the unprecedented possibilities opened by China’s ecomic explosion. The prospects and viewpoints of this generation of up-and-comers was put in the international limelight when addressed in the article “he New Radicals” in the January 26 issue ofTime magazine.
The story, written by Hannah Beech, follows five young people, writers Han Han and Chun Shu, punk rocker Li Yang, computer programmer Wu Wei and computer hacker Man Zhou, who stand at the cutting-edge of Chinese society. Despite the range of their fields, they all have one thing in common ?they dropped out of high school and have found “cool” ways to live their lives far from the traditional routineHan Han explained the choice to leave school, an idea anathema to the previous generation, in a near mantra of the kids of the 80’s: “It’s my choice to do what I want and go where I want. Nobody can tell me what to doUnlike their parents, children of the 80s grew up caring more about individual identity than collective politics. “People born in the 1970s are concerned about how to make money, how to enjoy life,” Chun Shu was quoted as saying iTime, “But peopl born in the 1980s are worried about self-expression, how to choose a path that fits one’s own individual identity.o describe this identity, the Time article repeatedly uses the word linglei, a term in heavy circulation around China these days. “In the past, the word was derogatory, connoting a disreputable hooligan, but this year theXinhua New Word Dictionary, official arbiter of what is linguistically acceptable, amended the definition of linglei to just mean an alternative lifestyle, without an accompanying sniff of disapproval,” write Beech.
Yet such prejudiced predictions have ended up far from true. Many sociologists have decided that kids of the ‘80s are strong and creative enough to find their own paths and set their own values while navigating the unprecedented possibilities opened by China’s ecomic explosion. The prospects and viewpoints of this generation of up-and-comers was put in the international limelight when addressed in the article “he New Radicals” in the January 26 issue ofTime magazine.
The story, written by Hannah Beech, follows five young people, writers Han Han and Chun Shu, punk rocker Li Yang, computer programmer Wu Wei and computer hacker Man Zhou, who stand at the cutting-edge of Chinese society. Despite the range of their fields, they all have one thing in common ?they dropped out of high school and have found “cool” ways to live their lives far from the traditional routineHan Han explained the choice to leave school, an idea anathema to the previous generation, in a near mantra of the kids of the 80’s: “It’s my choice to do what I want and go where I want. Nobody can tell me what to doUnlike their parents, children of the 80s grew up caring more about individual identity than collective politics. “People born in the 1970s are concerned about how to make money, how to enjoy life,” Chun Shu was quoted as saying iTime, “But peopl born in the 1980s are worried about self-expression, how to choose a path that fits one’s own individual identity.o describe this identity, the Time article repeatedly uses the word linglei, a term in heavy circulation around China these days. “In the past, the word was derogatory, connoting a disreputable hooligan, but this year theXinhua New Word Dictionary, official arbiter of what is linguistically acceptable, amended the definition of linglei to just mean an alternative lifestyle, without an accompanying sniff of disapproval,” write Beech.