| Blogs > beyondfantasy3 > Many Perspectives of Attitude |
|
The programmed loss of culture: The Chinese government's strict controls on family size have curtailed… (David Gray, Reuters) September 02, 2011|By David Pierson, Los Angeles Times China's demographic time bomb has been attributed to the one- rule. But it's more than that. Some Chinese couples are choosing to remain childless, and many single women are in no hurry to marry. The Chinese government's strict controls on family size have curtailed population growth, with projections saying it will turn negative in coming decades. Many demographers say this now threatens China's economic future, with fewer people left to pay and care for an increasingly graying population. Reporting from Beijing — By Chinese standards, Chu Yang and Geng Chen should have had a years ago. The married couple in their early 30s are always reminded of that by family when they return home for the spring festival holidays. "They say we're too different and that we're weird and pathetic," said Chu, who runs a trendy boutique with his wife in an aging section of Beijing filled with classical courtyard homes. But Yang and Chen have their reasons. They point to uncertainties that have accompanied China's breakneck development, including a string of food safety scandals and a deadly crash on one of the nation's showcase high-speed rail lines. Then there's the soaring cost of living, underscored by the worst inflation in three years and a property bubble that refuses to deflate. "You don't know what kind of country the is going to grow up in," said Chu, who sports a snarky smile above a vintage T-shirt and bright red sneakers. "Only when you have lots of money will everything be all right." Experts have long cited three decades of strict population control for China's looming demographic time bomb. Declining birthrates and a rapidly aging society threaten to sap the country of its greatest economic asset: human labor. Some are calling for the nation's one- policy to be relaxed. But Chu and Geng show why it may not matter. Economic and social pressures are loosening the filial obligations that have long bound Chinese society. The younger generation longs for more personal comfort. Many Chinese wouldn't have larger families even if they were free to do so. Some want no at all. Tens of millions of men could be left without marriage partners, a major threat to social stability. (inserted comment) (add in the massive rise in homosexuality, within China- and social disaster is just around the corner) It all spells trouble for the world's most populous country. China's economic miracle was built on the backs of its working-age adults, who will soon retire and find fewer to pay for their care. The number of Chinese under 14 has declined 6.3% in the last decade and now accounts for just 16.6% of the population. Meanwhile, the share of Chinese age 60 and older is expected to more than double to 30% of the population by 2050. Southern Guangdong province asked the central government in July for permission to pilot a program that would allow couples to have two if one spouse is an only . At least five other provinces have reportedly considered a similar program. Many cities allow couples leeway if both spouses have no siblings. Exceptions already exist for some rural couples and ethnic minorities, among others. But it may not do much good. Dogs are the new bundles of joy for some childless families, giving rise to a phenomenon known as ding chong, or "double income with pet." And more Chinese women, particularly those with college degrees and white-collar jobs, are delaying marriage and childbearing — or avoiding them altogether. The divorce rate climbed to 8.5% last year, the fifth year in a row it has risen. "In major cities, the number of women enrolled in schools is equal to men, so they're becoming more aware of their status and more aware of their independence," said Chen Xiaomin, director of the Women's Studies Center at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law. "To them, getting married and having is now a choice." That's a significant shift in a nation where traditional gender roles have been the bedrock of family. Chinese have dubbed these unmarried females sheng nu, or "leftover women." They're often pitied on TV game shows and reality programs with titles such as "Let's Date" and "If You Are the One." Many single women bristle at the stereotypes. The problem, some say, is a dearth of worthy bachelors. "There's a lot of excellent women who are still single who own a car, own an apartment and have a career, but can't find the right other half," said a 28-year-old Beijinger who would give only her last name, Zhang. "We don't want to compromise. We have high expectations." Zhang, who was schooled in Britain and is employed by a media company, said she intimidates potential suitors. A steakhouse dinner date went south after she told her companion in jest that he was holding his knife and fork in the wrong hands. "He got very shy after that," she said. "He wasn't the one." Zhang said her mother once resorted to visiting a so-called matchmaking park, where parents trade dossiers on their in hopes of setting them up. It proved fruitless. (end story from news) (Inserted comment) chasing the vanity of the westernized modeling, will ultimately bring some major changes and disasters to a nation with so many centuries of historical linkage at stake.. Chinese are becoming more materialized,more vain and the individualized ego has become anti family development, and more self centered toward material status and all the things which has cripple the western societies system of family and social modeling. Unfortunately, its women are adopting Western Vanity Modeling, as if it's an infection sweeping their nation. It may not be a plague like SARS, that take down a nation, but the changes in the vain consumption being adopted by more and more women in these regions. As with any nation, when the women loose the sense of family and choose the selfish pursuit of pure vanity, a nation will always fall. The western model, is not falling because of women's rights, it is failing,because of the vanity that has over-shadowed the sense of rights, and replaced it with selfish egotism's. The concept of rights. was hijacked long ago in the western society, when it chose to make the vanity aims, more important than being a good and congenial person, The meek will inherit the earth, but by meek that does not mean the weak, it means those who live by the care of male to female and female to male, as a natural linking, this in the world of today is mostly maintained in tribal region who have not become infected by vanity nor have they adopted material standards of self equation. they have not become lost in the vanity of status illusion, nor are they driven and controlled by commercial marketing. there is a big difference in the acquisition of conveniences, and the obsession of self measurement based on conveniences. But the unfortunate reality which now exist, is these things are not viewed as conveniences, but as status equation. This has become more important than developing functional relationships with interactive communication, and mutual reasoning in developing a socialization process which utilizes shared understanding. |
|||
|
"You don't know what kind of country the kid is going to grow up in," said Chu, who sports a snarky smile above a vintage T-shirt and bright red sneakers. "Only when you have lots of money will everything be all right." If Chu's parents had been filled with this vain fear and utter ignorance of life... Chu, would not be here today. the flawed logic of the self-centered and material minded generation who thinks money is the only value point along with selfish consumption, is showing to be an infection that spreads global.. Pestilence is not just a chemical spread; it is an intoxicated mentality, drunk on its own self consumption. Vanity and measurement of life by material concerns is the whole mentality of the current generations concerns. Taking care of kids is not the true problem, The true problem is the vanity of which people want to entrap their kids lives within, as some status circle of materialism. people have flat out lost the meaning of what is family, they care more about selfish consumption and encircling themselves with concerns of vain aims, and self centered indulgence. It's so prevalent until people can't even make and sustain relationships, because their vain yearnings, won't let them learn to be able to share nor to find peace in anything, other than being consumption junkies, in constant pursuit of more... until, they will destroy not just a relationship, but the lives of others, if it will promote their vain acquisition, as being like gluttons for material self measure. Their elders, look at them, and wonder what the heck happen to them... unfortunately, the push to acquire more and more and be satisfied with nothing, was somewhere hidden within how they were groomed. Everything is about, be this profession or that profession, but nothing taught them about the value of being simply a self respecting person who respects life beyond any material measurement. Status chasing, has made the community of society fools unto themselves... they now, detest taking on any responsibility to give and raise a new life.
|
