Generations of Little Emperors and Empresses
现代的小皇帝，小皇后

As some of you might have heard of or witnessed a trend in China since the enactment of the One Child Policy, that a new generation of Little Emperors and Empresses are emerging. I have also encountered a few of these living phenomenons during my travels within China. I can't help but wonder what the future of China might look like when these little Emperors and Empresses grow up and inherit their society. I have spoken to some mainland China residents on their thoughts regarding this issue and most of them wonder just like me, what will come of the future? Will any new trends emerge? What sort of impact, if any, will it have on this society?
自从中国进行了计划生育之后，开始出现了小皇帝与小皇后的现象。我在中国行走的这段时间也见到了一些。我每次见到都会心想这些小孩将来长大成为什么样的人。当他们的父母将来把社会寄托给他们，会成为什么样的社会？我也跟一些本地中国人谈论过这种现象，但是他们也跟我一样纳闷。将来的社会会有变化吗？这些小皇帝，小皇后对将来会有什么样的影响？

The One Child Policy came about due to a population burst in the past decades. This population burst put enormous pressures on society, the environment, and more. The One Child Policy, even though it was proposed during that time was shunned. It was not until much later that the Policy was redeemed and put into action. The Policy has done much for population control and even though it is an unnatural means of control, it was prompted by the spawn of an unnatural problem. I personally have no judgment on this issue, but I do see the need for urgent population management in China.
计划生育之所以存在是因为在前段时间，人口爆发的增加。这个巨大的人口问题给社会，环境， 等等带来的很大的危机。那时候计划生育的理论已经存在了，但是没有受到良好的考虑就被取缔了。计划生育虽然不是一个很自然的解决方法，但是面对的问题也不是一个自然引起的问题。我对计划生育没有什么评论，但是我也同意人口问题巨大，不能等待，需要尽快进行解决的方式。 

The One Child Policy in short allows each married couple to have only one child. If either of the parents were the only child themselves of their parents, then they are allowed to have one additional child, I believe.
计划生育简单来说只让一对夫妻生一个孩子。如果夫妻两有一方或双方都是独生子，那他们可以生两个孩子。

The children growing up as the only child in China carries the hopes & dreams of their families which is a very heavy burden. Besides their heavy burdens, they are also the lone receivers of all the love, affection & adoration of the family. Chinese families in particular tend be more protective of their children than maybe some other cultures. Even children born in less financially well off families receive a lavish amount of care and attention. The child definitely grows up in a very loving and caring environment but are often lacking in other areas, as too much of anything is rarely a good thing.
这些中国的独生子背着他们家庭全部的希望和梦想。每一个家庭都对他们 唯一的小宝贝有望子成龙的期待。这个负担对孩子是很重的。但是，负担之外他们也受到全家的心爱，关怀和倾慕。中国家庭通常比外国家庭多保护孩子一些。即使不富有的家庭也会尽量这样对待他们的孩子。这些孩子在爱的怀抱中长大，对他门的生长有很好的影响，但是照顾得太多和溺爱也会带给他们不好的印象。不管什么东西一旦有了太多，大部分都会有一些不健康的印象。

 The more noticeable negative traits of these children are a lack of manners & disregard for others, bordering on unbalanced selfishness. This type of child rearing, commonly referred to as spoiling, happens most everywhere, but rarely on the scale of a nation this populous. However, the outside world is a very competitive place for these children and has no room for anything but conformity. Therefore, I would guess, through natural societal influence, the noticeable public displays of selfishness might decrease as they age and mingle with society, though it still leaves me to wonder about any underlying impact it may have on their lives and their underlying judgments.
这些孩子比较明显的不好的习惯大部分是缺少基本的礼貌和对他人的无视。这种宠爱和惯孩子的行为并不稀奇，只是几乎没有过这么巨大的国家和人口同时培养这么多个小皇帝和小皇后。即使父母这样教育孩子，但是社会可不是同样的对待孩子。因为人口太多了，外面的世界是一个竞争很激烈的地方，让孩子一定要一致社会的要求。所以我觉得当他们长大之后，融入了社会，他们一些溺爱的现象因该比较不会在大重场合显示出来。可是这不一定能够洗清他们被惯出得不好的影响。

I recently heard in the news, something about this very topic that had me boggled for months. The news stated that in 2006 nearly 25,000 couples got divorced. About one-third of them had marriages that lasted less than 5 years and one-fifth had marriages under 3 years. A significant number of these divorced couples were born in the 1980's and a survey revealed that 90% of those divorced couples are both the single child of their respective families. The news also mentioned that according to experts some underlying factors to these divorces were often, lack of patience and restraint, due to being spoiled by their families from a young age.
最近在新闻报告里听说在2006年有两万五千个夫妻离婚了。离婚里的三分之一的婚姻没有超过五年，五分之一没有超过三年。大多数的离婚者都是在1980年代以后生的。百分之九十离婚的夫妻是他们家里的唯一的孩子。专家说最常见的原因是他们缺少耐心和约束。大多数是因为他们的家庭从小太惯他们了。

Even though it may be too late for many of those who are divorced now, but if Chinese parents can learn to temper their love with balance, it would spare the next generation from suffering a similar fate.
现在对很多年轻人来说可能太晚了。但是如果中国家长可以学会用平衡调和他们的爱，那可能下一代就不会走向同样的命运了。

Comments (2)

Responsibility Written by Jean, on 17-04-2007 19:42 Thank you. Hmm, good point. Well, I don't think the government can do much in these people's personal lives, other than to change the policy. But they can definitely encourage more media that is helpful to parents on raising more balanced children. There might be some other methods, but not quite sure. Report

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