A guide to Chinese teen culture

Born in the 1990s, Chinese teen generation of under-18 is a population of nearly 367 million people, who are into consumerism and entrepreneurship and have accepted the economic integration of China as a natural consequence of economic reforms. Balancing old traditions and new options, Chinese teens experience the world taking huge steps towards modernization and getting ready to possibly become the next world's leaders.

China’s ‘Rare Generation’ has a brand new attitude, a brand new clothing, Western type, nothing like their parent’s generation. Being in their rough 20s and making a sharp break from their parent’s habits, Chinese teens are energetic, ambitious, innovative and individualistic.

In spite of the Western beliefs, teens in China are not much different than American teens. Having developed amazing abilities to quickly adopting Western lifestyle, Chinese teens are considerably more consumerist and entrepreneurial than their parents. Besides, the ongoing market reforms and socio-political changes facilitate their potential to become entrepreneurs far more than their Western peers.

Teen Chinese consumers are born to become the future force in the Chinese economy. Born after China opened its borders to the West and experimented with Capitalism, China’s ‘Rare Generation’ doesn’t recall too much of political turmoil. So, all they have experienced is prosperity, a broad array of professional options and an even wider array of consumer choices. Besides, Chinese teens are creative, confident, and full of national pride and these traits can reshape the rapidly expanding market of consumer goods in China.

In reality, Chinese teens experience a generation gap between them and their parents. Increasingly living in an environment of economic development and social transformation, they develop expertise in high technology and demanding education requirements. They have increased access to computers, cell phones, Mp3 players and the Internet and their generation is influenced by consumerism and modernization. All these different endeavors cause a conflict between traditional values and modern influences which can be evidenced in career pursuits, purchasing habits and daily interaction in families.

Unlike their parents, new Chinese consumers have no aversions to borrowing or going into debt. As the time goes by, they realize that a mortgage is the only way to buy a house. This shift in attitudes has created a greater acceptance and use of credit cards which represent nearly 17 percent of consumer purchases.

On the other hand, there is an ongoing conflict between China’s teen generation and the Chinese government, which, in effect, maintains the idea of the Western world regarding China’s communist regime. To a certain extent, Chinese teenagers have been affected by governmental intervention and shutdowns of Internet cafés to avert the excessive use of the Internet. Besides, the existence of large socio-economic gap between rural and urban residents affects teen generation in China as many of their parents, having experienced the Cultural Revolution under Mao’s regime, lack an education.

Education is one of the most important factors of development in Chinese society. Any teenager is put under tremendous pressure at school to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge and become a successful professional. A typical day in urban areas starts at 7:30, when students arrive at school to have an extra half-hour for studying. 8:00 classes start until 12:00pm when students have lunch. Classes resume at 1:30pm and finish at 5:00pm. Then, at home, students do their homework, watch educational TV, practice written or spoken English, have dinner, play a bit and go to bed by 10:30pm the latest. In rural areas, they might do some farming or horse riding as exercise or play.

Because of the strict birth control and the only-one child family policy carried out since 1978, Chinese couples are allowed to have only one child. Therefore, all their expectations for a prominent future are pinned on a single child. Besides, for a Chinese teen, excelling at school equals a bright future and financial stability, not only for oneself, but mostly for China’s future prosperity.

The only point of difference to their Western peers is tradition. In spite of modernization and growing up in an emerging capitalist market, Chinese teens pay respect to their 4,000 years old culture and traditional values. They are assigned small household chores, eat only Chinese food, respect their parents, rest regularly, are disciplined and are not allowed to have part-time jobs until they graduate from school and choose their Major in the university. Besides, in majority, they do not practice a religion as they receive atheistic education since birth. However, those who do practice, pay their Buddhist or Taoist duties regularly.

In conclusion, teen generation in China has gone through major changes and has reached a point to be considered as the future of the world. Each year, China produced 4x more engineers than the U.S., placing China in technological and scientific superiority over Western society. Besides, nearly 20 million people become teenagers in China every year. All these statistics indicate that Chinese youth is ready for even more changes, while maintaining its traditional traits.