Wu Guangqiang

    jw368@163.com

    WHEN Li Tianyi, the 17-year-old son of a renowned Chinese military singer, was detained on suspicion of participating in a gang rape, few were very surprised, since it’s all in a day’s work for the privileged offspring of China’s officials, wealthy businessmen and showbiz stars. This “brat pack” is known for its disregard for the law and public opinion. The only surprise is that the same young man was released in September 2012 after serving a year in a youth reformation center after he and another young friend assaulted a couple following a road accident in 2011.

    Li Tianyi is the epitome of “China’s ‘spoiled brat’ generation,” or “little emperors.” His father, 74-year-old Li Shuangjiang, a PLA general and singer, is said to have been excessively indulgent of his son. He was once quoted as saying that he had never spanked his son. In the father’s eyes, the son was “bright, talented, sporty and sociable,” bordering on perfection.

    But don’t think only fuerdai (the children of the wealthy) or guanerdai (the children of officials) are pampered and wayward. Even less wealthy parents go to great lengths to please their children — most of whom have no siblings — by showering them with material goods and giving in to their every demand. One of the major side effects of the only-child policy is the creation of a problematic generation, which, American foreign policy strategist Andrew Marshall even argues, is shaping Chinese society in unexpected ways that may culminate in a future “behavioral time-bomb.”

    Even a casual observation of the behavior of the only children of my relatives and friends justifies this concern.

    The son of my wife’s younger sister is 26 years old, but his only interest in life is playing computer games. During the long Lunar New Year holiday, I saw him close himself in his own room all day long, doing nothing but wandering through the virtual world, only coming out once or twice for a bite of food. His father, an eminent orthopedist, used his connection to land him a job, but he is late for work and leaves too early every day. It’s become a general phenomenon that successful parents fail to bring up successful children.

    Such are typical phrases characterizing the so-called “post-1980 and post-1990 generations” (mostly only children): egocentric, isolated and emotionally fragile, though they also share some common traits with their Western counterparts such as rebelliousness, insolence, and obsession with digital distractions.

    For the most part, the doting parents themselves are responsible for many of their children’s problems. Expecting their children to be successful in the future, they simply have their children focus on academic pursuits and other accomplishments, freeing them from any household chores. As a result, when members of this generation turn into parents themselves, they are still too immature to raise their own children.

    I really feel sorry for my 70-year-old brother and his wife. Every Monday morning, the old couple take an hour’s bus trip to their son’s home, starting a weeklong job as “nannies,” feeding, cuddling and parenting the little grandson, and in the meantime, the young couple are sitting on the sofa in front of computer screens, doing online trade. At weekends, my brother’s daughter-in-law’s parents take over the job so that my brother and his wife can recuperate.

    A friend of my wife has a similar story. She spends every penny of her pension on her grandson, insisting on using everything imported. Her son and his wife do nothing about their own child. Their room is full of toys and dolls!

    Sadly, doting parents do not always harvest the fruits they expect from the seeds they sowed. During conversations with parents, the most frequently heard comments on their feelings about their adult children are “disappointed” and “heartbroken.”

    For some unlucky parents, even “heartbroken” is an understatement. They may end up being hurt or even killed by their own darling children. In 2011, Wang Junjun, a 23-year-old student from Shanghai who was studying in Japan, seriously injured his own mother stabbing her nine times at the airport where she was picking him up. During the recent Spring Festival holiday, a college senior student in Kaifeng, Henan Province, brutally hacked his parents and seriously injured them over a financial dispute.

    The negative impact of “the spoiled little emperors” has begun to emerge. Serious attention should be given to the issue and prompt measures be taken to deal with it. The State and parents have their respective jobs to do.

    (The author is an English tutor and a freelance writer.)