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China: The rise of the 'Precious Snowflakes'
The Telegraph ^ | 1-8-12 | Malcom Moore

Posted on 01/08/2012 12:54:34 PM PST by afraidfortherepublic

"They are 'Precious Snowflakes', wrapped in cotton wool from day one," said Paul French, the founder of Access Asia, a China-based research company.

"Nothing is ever quite right for them. It is always either too hot or too cold and they are all hypochondriacs.

~snip~

"The first generation, the Little Emperors, were quite tough: fat little thugs always stuffing themselves full of McDonald's," said Mr French. "The new generation is very concerned with things like air quality, which the Little Emperors never bothered about.

"They only drink Evian and are scared of food unless it is imported. Their parents tread quietly around them so they can do 'natural waking', where they do not use alarm clocks but are in tune with their biorhythms."

~snip~

Gu Jianmei, 47, has taught at the Tianjia'an No. 3 kindergarten in Huainan, Anhui province, for three decades. She said the current generation of students had been banned from making any "big movements", like jumping, dancing or crawling, because of fears the children might hurt themselves.

"We have padded all the stairs, bannisters, corners and the children do not do physical exercise. Instead we lie them on cushioned mats," she said.

"They are more aggressive, and also more weak. They cannot control themselves and they give up when given tasks to do. Because their parents do everything for them, they do not believe they can do things themselves. They cannot even do up their buttons," she said.

~snip~

"The first generation of single children have already been deprived of having brothers and sisters. The second generation is even worse: they do not have cousins, uncles or aunts either. Some of them face being entirely alone when they grow up and their parents pass away. Think how lonely they will be."

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: china; consequences; onechildpolicy
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First there were the Little Emperors, the often chubby and spoiled first generation of children born under China's one-child policy. Now the Precious Snowflakes have emerged - a generation so coddled some cannot even tie their own shoelaces.

___________________________________________________

Ah, the unforeseen consequences of the State managing families.

1 posted on 01/08/2012 12:54:38 PM PST by afraidfortherepublic
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To: afraidfortherepublic
Charles Murray writing in the New Criterion, January 2012:


The members of America's new upper class tend not to watch the same movies and television shows that the rest of America watches, don't go to kinds of restaurants the rest of America frequents, tend to buy different kinds of automobiles, and have passions for being green, maintaining the proper degree of body fat, and supporting gay marriage that most Americans don't share. Their child-raising practices are distinctive, and they typically take care to enroll their children in schools dominated by the offspring of the upper middle class—or, better yet, of the new upper class. They take their vacations in different kinds of places than other Americans go and are often indifferent to the professional sports that are so popular among other Americans. Few have served in the military, and few of their children either.


Worst of all, a growing proportion of the people who run the institutions of our country have never known any other culture. They are the children of upper-middle-class parents, have always lived in upper-middle-class neighborhoods and gone to upper-middle-class schools. Many have never worked at a job that caused a body part to hurt at the end of the day, never had a conversation with an evangelical Christian, never seen a factory floor, never had a friend who didn't have a college degree, never hunted or fished. They are likely to know that Garrison Keillor's monologue on Prairie Home Companion is the source of the phrase "all of the children are above average," but they have never walked on a prairie and never known someone well whose IQ actually was below average.

2 posted on 01/08/2012 12:58:42 PM PST by yup2394871293
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To: afraidfortherepublic

Is this in China or California?


3 posted on 01/08/2012 12:59:23 PM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy
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To: yup2394871293

Touche!


4 posted on 01/08/2012 1:00:58 PM PST by afraidfortherepublic
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To: afraidfortherepublic

Da-yam! They’ve turned into Americans!


5 posted on 01/08/2012 1:01:25 PM PST by null and void (Day 1083 of America's ObamaVacation from reality [Heroes aren't made, Frank, they're cornered...])
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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy

LOLOLOL! I hear you...


6 posted on 01/08/2012 1:02:00 PM PST by afraidfortherepublic
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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy

“Is this in China or California?”

More like the way we treat Illegals here in Texas.


7 posted on 01/08/2012 1:03:48 PM PST by BobL ("Heartless" and "Inhumane" FReepers for Cain - we've HAD ENOUGH)
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To: afraidfortherepublic

The second generation is even worse: they do not have cousins, uncles or aunts either
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HOLY CRAP!

This never even occurred to me. I have never even thought about what it would be like to be the only child of an only child of an only child. You literally have ZERO living relatives other than your parents...and if your spouse is also the only child of an only child of an only child...MIND BOGGLING!

Imagine a whole nation...billions of people...all are in this same boat. FREAKY!


8 posted on 01/08/2012 1:03:51 PM PST by mamelukesabre
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To: afraidfortherepublic

Well, we can feel good that our X-gen and Millenials are not quite as wimpy as China’s. But it is close:

In the year 2525
If man is still alive
If woman can survive
They may find
In the year 3535
Ain’t gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lies
Everything you think, do, and say
Is in the pill you took today

In the year 4545
Ain’t gonna need your teeth, won’t need your eyes
You won’t find a thing to chew
Nobody’s gonna look at you

In the year 5555
Your arms are hanging limp at your sides
Your legs got nothing to do
Some machine is doing that for you

In the year 6565
Ain’t gonna need no husband, won’t need no wife
You’ll pick your son, pick your daughter too
From the bottom of a long glass tube’ Whoooa

In the year 7510
If God’s a-comin’ he ought to make it by then
Maybe he’ll look around himself and say
Guess it’s time for the Judgement day

In the year 8510
God is gonna shake his mighty head then
He’ll either say I’m pleased where man has been
Or tear it down and start again

In the year 9595
I’m kinda wondering if man is gonna be alive
He’s taken everything this old earth can give
And he ain’t put back nothing

Now it’s been 10,000 years
Man has cried a billion tears
For what he never knew
Now man’s reign is through
But through eternal night
The twinkling of starlight
So very far away
Maybe it’s only yesterday

In the year 2525
If man is still alive
If woman can survive
They may thrive
In the year 3535
Ain’t gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lies
Everything you think, do or say
Is in the pill you took today ....(fading...)


9 posted on 01/08/2012 1:05:06 PM PST by freedumb2003 (Spoiler Alert! The secret to Terra Nova: THEY ARE ALL DEAD!!!)
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To: afraidfortherepublic

most creepy is the line about the second generation having no cousins or aunts or uncles.


10 posted on 01/08/2012 1:05:25 PM PST by yldstrk ( My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: afraidfortherepublic

They’ve stolen the worst parts of our culture too. Too bad China, you were sooooo close to taking over, and now your are already on the downhill slide.


11 posted on 01/08/2012 1:07:06 PM PST by Vince Ferrer
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To: mamelukesabre
No blood ties to the community. (Note: I didn't say no blood ties to your community)
12 posted on 01/08/2012 1:07:48 PM PST by null and void (Day 1083 of America's ObamaVacation from reality [Heroes aren't made, Frank, they're cornered...])
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To: afraidfortherepublic
Surprise surprise.
13 posted on 01/08/2012 1:12:01 PM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: null and void

I predict drugs and suicide will become a worsening problem in china in the next 50 years.


14 posted on 01/08/2012 1:12:51 PM PST by mamelukesabre
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To: mamelukesabre

All alone, totally dependent on the government.


15 posted on 01/08/2012 1:15:21 PM PST by Hoosier-Daddy ( "It does no good to be a super power if you have to worry what the neighbors think." BuffaloJack)
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To: mamelukesabre
This is why socialism runs counter to human nature. Relationships make life meaningful, and the totalitarians always seek to dissolve relationships other than with the state. The one child policy has served this end.

This devolution of Chinese society will not end well unlesss they make radical changes. They will achieve the socialist ideal of the anthill, but their worker ants won't be working. What then?

16 posted on 01/08/2012 1:17:09 PM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: Hoosier-Daddy; mamelukesabre
mamelukesabre ~ I predict drugs and suicide will become a worsening problem in china in the next 50 years.

Hoosier-Daddy ~ All alone, totally dependent on the government.

Those two do dovetail together rather nicely, don't they?

17 posted on 01/08/2012 1:17:57 PM PST by null and void (Day 1083 of America's ObamaVacation from reality [Heroes aren't made, Frank, they're cornered...])
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To: yldstrk
most creepy is the line about the second generation having no cousins or aunts or uncles.

Yes, I noticed that. I had to snip a lot out of that post to leave that line in.

18 posted on 01/08/2012 1:18:40 PM PST by afraidfortherepublic
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To: mamelukesabre
Imagine a whole nation...billions of people...all are in this same boat. FREAKY!

Italy, of all places, is going to be like that in not too many decades - for the Italians, at least.

19 posted on 01/08/2012 1:19:09 PM PST by mvpel (Michael Pelletier)
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To: hinckley buzzard

“They will achieve the socialist ideal of the anthill, but their worker ants won’t be working. What then?”

War, silly.


20 posted on 01/08/2012 1:21:57 PM PST by JDW11235 (I think I got it now!)
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