T

he generation that has grown up since China’s transition to a market economy in the 1980s is expected to earn more than any previous generation in China’s history.

The product of China’s one child policy, members of post-80s generation happily admit they are prone to selfish impulses. Yet, they are doing a good deal of soul searching, conscious of their place in history as they point their dreams toward a better future and away from the past.

The youthful spirit and idealism of post-1980s generation, a group who has high expectation for the country’s leadership, has already been put to the test, and in many exhausted already by hardened realities. As a result, we can see a growing amount of frustration in these people’s bitterness and tears, which may replace youthful optimism with more confrontational attitudes.

Ma Nuo, a 22-year-old model from Beijing, became the center of controversy recently when she appeared on the popular new matchmaking program If You’re the One on Jiangsu Satellite TV.

“I’d rather cry in a BMW car than laugh on the backseat of a bicycle,” Miss Ma responded, haughtily rejecting a young man’s offer to take her for a ride on his bike. Netizens were generally enraged, heaping scorn on her, labeling her the “BMW Lady”.

A new TV series, Love Story in Beijing, was launched at the beginning of this year, featuring a number of actors from China’s most popular TV series in 2007, Soldier Sortie. The new series depicts current realities in Chinese society, and from this series, we can feel the burden of life weighing increasingly heavier with the passing of time on the post-1980s generation.

Faced with skyrocketing housing prices, and extremely scarce job opportunities, social unrest among young Chinese has become especially pronounced, reflecting growing social anxieties.

The widening gap between rich and poor, disagreements over social and personal values and difficulties of finding a mate in a country — an unintended byproduct of the one child policy — have added pressure to an already tense situation.

After watching Love Story in Beijing, many netizens commented on Weibo — a Chinese version of Twitter — that “reality is like a huge black hole, devouring (our) dreams and love…” Many similar comments, pointing to a growing gap between this generation’s hopes for the future and the stark realities they face, have followed.

However, as a member of post-1980s generation, I believe that we should look ahead. Most of our generation will soon be in our 30s. In Chinese, there is a saying that “a man should be independent and steadfast at the age of 30”.

Now our generation has become the backbone of our families and society at large, we should take on more responsibilities.
Great Han
Jakarta