China's Generation Divide. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1220370.stm

We have been discussing the differences in China’s recent generation in my UNCG MALS class, Modern China.
Today’s youth are exposed to the Internet, television, popular magazines, video games, American movies, western culture and a host of other underground activities that their parents could not have imagined in their own youth. There is an incredible difference in the two generations. The infamous Cultural Revolution practically eliminated childhood for many of today’s parents, which increases the misunderstanding and even bewilderment at their own children’s behavior. There is definitely a great divide in the values that Chinese culture has historically maintained and today’s values which are influenced and compromised by the aforementioned exposures.
In a 2001 BBC article by Duncan Hewitt, he reports that Chinese kids today are more violent and have increased attacks on their own parents. This is a new phenomenon that contradicts the peaceful resolutions of China’s main religion, Buddhism. I have attached the article so that you may read the full account. Unfortunately, some of our undesirable western cultures now include violent teenagers and young people who have little self control, resulting in attacks on teachers, parents and other figures of authority. Hopefully, these negative images will not become commonplace in China.

Click title for link to BBC.

China, a world power?

China is becoming a world power and it will eventually surpass many of the countries that for years have dominated commerce, economics, and development. China’s growth rate has been an astounding 9.5% a year for the past two decades. Analysts project these figures to steady at 7-9% for the next twenty years as well. China is known for its ability to organize a large workforce, manufacturing mass quantity of goods for export. However, many of the young Chinese today are majoring in business and high technological studies. University education is at an all time high for Chinese students. This new field will allow China to expand past its simple labor pool and offer the world an intellectual source for revenues.

China’s military is also growing. They are not as advanced as the United States, Britain and some of the other European States, but with the Taiwan issue becoming a bigger problem every day China is preparing for an offense if necessary. Recent uprising in Tibet is putting China on the news every night and people are considering China as a world leader, if not a world power. China is buying and building serious weapon systems that should alarm the world.

2008 marks a year of substantial recognition of China on a worldwide stage. The 2008Olympics will no doubt place Chine center stage for months and it will allow the world to see just how much China has transformed in the past twenty years. China now has gleaming skyscrapers and skylines that rival Manhattan and other large cities. China’s economic growth is strong, but their grasp on communism and rejection of democracy results in many people failing to publicly recognize China for its accomplishments.