`Little Emperors' Surprise China Elders With Work at Olympics

By Dune Lawrence

Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Li Xueguang spent much of the summer standing in a Beijing square between two centuries-old towers, her blue Olympic-volunteer polo shirt a magnet for tourists in need of a map or translation.

``When I see someone go away happy, I feel proud,'' says the 23-year-old chemical-engineering graduate student, whose ``job'' ended last week. ``We're not looking for a reward.''

China's pampered, 20-something ``little emperors'' surprised the nation with their hard work during the Beijing Olympics and the May earthquake that killed an estimated 87,500 people --showing that they may, after all, be capable of leading China to superpower status instead of just to the mall.

Since the 1980s, China's rapidly developing economy and policies limiting many families to one child created a generation of 200 million young men and women with unprecedented wealth and opportunities. In a nation with a tradition of conformity and a recent history of political radicalism, the ``balinghou'' broke with both, spawning visions of adults obsessed with money, unable to stay married and negligent in caring for aging parents.

``Given another 10 to 15 years, the country will be in their hands,'' says Chen Xingdong, chief China economist at BNP Paribas SA in Beijing. ``Are they perfect? No, but actually they are far better than people's original perspective.''

The balinghou -- literally ``post-80s'' -- were born between 1980 and 1989 at the confluence of two massive social changes: the government's decision in 1978 to abandon isolationism and develop a market economy after the Cultural Revolution, and the adoption in 1979 of restrictions that reduced the average family from 2.9 children to 1.3 in urban areas by 2004.

Star Seekers

``You want the stars, Mom and Dad will think of a way to pick them'' became the catchphrase as new wealth and smaller families changed child-rearing.

``My parents couldn't spend that much time taking care of me,'' says Zhang Ling Li, 46, a professional nanny in Beijing who grew up with four siblings. ``But with my one daughter, I do everything for her.''

Zhang says she took Li Mengjiao, now 19, shopping every weekend for clothes or toys when she was little, paid for after-school English classes when she turned 10 and bought Li her own computer when she was 12.

Such pampering created a stereotype reinforced by a 1996-1997 study of only children in cities by the China Youth & Children Research Center. The survey found that the post- 80s youth didn't care about other people's feelings, weren't interested in studying and gave up in the face of challenge.

`Very Egotistical'

``They were very egotistical, didn't do any chores and loved to spend money,'' says Sun Yunxiao, deputy director of the center. ``China had never been such a wealthy country, so people had no way of understanding these kids.''

Chinese youth in the 1960s and 1970s helped foment the 10-year Cultural Revolution through their intense idolization of Chairman Mao Zedong, modeling themselves after Lei Feng, a young soldier whose purported diary chronicled an unswerving dedication to his country. In 1989, students occupied Tiananmen Square for seven weeks, demanding democratic reform.

The children of these activists dreamed of becoming billionaires or the head of a multinational company -- the top two choices in a 2000 survey of student aspirations by the Communist Youth League and the National Student Federation. The popular image of balinghou has been the hit TV show ``Fen Dou'' (``Starting from Scratch''), whose characters are recent college grads obsessed with making money, getting an apartment and finding love.

Sichuan Earthquake

Then, on May 12, the mountainous southwestern province of Sichuan was devastated by a 7.9-magnitude earthquake that destroyed 4.5 million homes, 51,000 kilometers (31,690 miles) of highways, and thousands of hospitals and schools, according to the China Daily newspaper.

College students rushed to donate money as the country watched 24-hour coverage of young soldiers struggling to reach the hardest-hit areas and carrying the injured and elderly on their backs to safety.

Lin Lei, a 24-year-old volunteer for the Chinese Red Cross at Beijing Jiaotong University, said 500 people, almost all students, lined up to give blood the day after the earthquake.

``I hadn't thought so many people would participate,'' he says. ``But when there was a need, everyone stood up.''

Lin, from rural Hebei, a province neighboring Beijing, was also a spectator-services volunteer during the Olympics at the tennis venue, sometimes working until 3 a.m. He called both events a ``trigger'' that has made his elders reassess their impression of his generation.

Youthful Volunteers

Of the 120,000 volunteers who worked at Olympic and Paralympic venues, an estimated 94 percent were younger than 35, according to the games' organizing committee.

Some observers say the balinghou's community spirit -- and revamped image -- won't last. While ``the current generation is very much committed to having a strong China and a wealthy China standing up in the world,'' once the Olympics ``buzz'' wears off, ``you're stuck with the same old materialistic society,'' says Stanley Rosen, a professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles who has studied Chinese youth.

Sun disagrees. He says the earthquake and Olympics gave China's 20-somethings an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to something other than their own material gain.

``In the aftermath of the quake, it was the generation born and bred in `a luxurious and material age' that headed to the frontline,'' said a June 4 editorial in the Communist Party-affiliated People's Daily newspaper. ``The will power, perseverance, professionalism and commitment these young people displayed in their life-and-death fight against disaster have greatly impressed their seniors and won over nationwide support and respect.''

Li Xueguang says she recently got a telephone call from a Sichuan high-school student thanking her for her earthquake-relief donation.

``I was really moved,'' she says. ``After that, I thought, I should really do more of this kind of thing.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Dune Lawrence in Beijing at dlawrence6@bloomberg.net