Constructing the autonomous middle-class self in today's China: the case of young-adult only-children university students

Confucian or Communist, Post‐Mao or Postmodern? Exploring the Narrative Identity Resources of Shanghai's Post‐80s Generation

“…As Sara said, "Balinghou are special because a lot of expectations transferred onto them." This is similar to what Liu (2008a) found in the narratives of young adults in China; the children of the generation deprived of higher education during the Cultural Revolution had to carry with them their parents' ideals and attempt to compensate for what had been lost. This intergenerational transfer of aspirations may be a result of not only contemporary conditions in China but also Confucian tradition.…”

“…Liu (2008a) found that young adults in China take an individualized, self-authoring approach to life planning and goals, and have their own concept of "the good life", which they see as the middle class lifestyle, modeled on perceptions of success in Western developed societies (Liu, 2008b Many participants echoed this combination of individualistic pursuits and familial obligations.…”

“…This is consistent with a previous study on how young-adult onlychildren university students negotiated their identities in relation to individualist versus socialist-collectivist values. Liu (2008a) found that if the prescribed cultural scripts of a certain regime are not relevant to what they deem important for a good life, Chinese young people may ignore these elements by not including them in their narratives. Thus, since the Balinghou term has some negative attributes associated with it which participants may not feel are conducive to life success, they are reluctant to call on the term as a narrative resource.…”

“…There is research looking at Chinese identity outside of mainland China, for example in Taiwan (Huang, Liu, & Chang, 2004), Hong Kong (Fung, 2001Kit-Wai Ma, 2001), and the United States (Hong, Ip, Chiu, Morris, & Menon, 2001). There are studies conducted within China that investigate young adults and their identities, but these studies are focused on a specific area of inquiry, such as consumer decision making (Fan & Xiao, 1998), filial piety (Liu, 2008b), ideal personhood (Fong, 2007), or life planning and higher education (Liu, 2008a). Ho and Ng (2008) carried out narrative and observational research in Shanghai using contemporary ethnography, but it was not generationally specific.…”

The effects of individual characteristics, socioeconomic status, and political engagement on the attainment of student leadership roles in Chinese university students

“…Specifically about student leadership, Hu (2011) sampled American university students and found that parental education and finance support were significantly linked to these students' leadership efficacy and leadership role attainment in the university. The current generation of Chinese university students born under the one-child policy is equipped with all the resources their parents can possibly provide (Leung et al, 2011;Liu, 2008). The effects of parental education and occupation on the attainment of leadership roles in Chinese university students therefore cannot be overlooked.…”