“Child's slave”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

Similarly, there are also "House's Slave" and "Car's Slave", which means the people who are under living pressure of buying houses and cars.

Major Causes

High living cost

The main reason is the high cost of raising a child, which includes the cost of housing, food, education and transportation. It has been rising over the years. According to the gynecologist in China, it cost about 40 RMB only to give birth in 1980s, while it is over 4,000 RMB now.^[2] However, even more money is spent on education of the child because of the fierce competition in China. The huge expenditure forces parents to become a "child's slave". Some married couples might even get child phobia because of it.

One-child policy

Parents in China can have only one child under one-child policy, which leads to excessive parental expectations. With parents putting all their hopes and dreams on the only child, the parents might over-protect them and materially over-provide them.^[3]

Personal psychological factor

In Chinese traditional culture, family is considered as a center of society. This concept remains the same now and the child becomes the center of family. The parents who are "child's slaves" are mostly post-80s, who grew up in a special circumstance. As the first generation growing under single child policy, they had no siblings and were the center of family as well. Therefore, they are self-oriented and have difficulty of expressing their emotions. They use materials and money to show their love towards their children. This gives them a heavy burden and makes them become "child's slave" eventually.

Characteristics

Effects

Effects on children

The child is usually well-taken care of, even spoiled, by his parents. Because the parents prepare every aspect of the child’s life, the child may have low self-care ability and be over-dependent on his parents. However, he gains sufficient supports, both financially and mentally, to focus on his own interests, which may lead to temporary success, but ultimately reduces his ability to face failure.

Additionally, since the child is spoiled by his parents, he takes parents' love for granted, and may even regard them as servants. This might affect the child’s personality by causing him to develop the so-called prince illness. Moreover, a lack of sense of responsibility slows down the mental maturity of children raised in this manner.

Effects on family

Since the child is the center of the family, the parents are willing to give up their own life goals in order to focus on the growth of the child. High expectation is imposed to the kid, and it might worsen the relationship between the child and parents due to the severe upbringing^[4]

Effects on society

For the whole society, a generation of spoilt children does little contribution to social development. They are selfish and lazy, unwilling to work hard.

Aging society is another problem. If young couples refuse to give birth because of the fear of becoming "child's slaves", the labor force of society will be reduced.

Situation in China

"Child's slave" has become a common situation in modern China. Many young parents, especially those born in the 1980s, are called "child's slaves" to describe the heavy burden on them.

More than 80% of young parents feel great pressure under the burden of raising a child because of high expenses incurred as the child grows up. To ensure their child grow in a better environment, young parents are willing to spend most of their income on them. The common situation of buying expensive imported milk powder is a representation.^[5] The average cost for raising up a child from birth to grade six is RMB 450,000, despite the extra spending like traveling or studying abroad.^[6] In big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, the cost is even much higher.

Moreover, most of these young parents also have other "name-tags", including "mortgage's slave", "card's slave" and "car's slave",^[7] which indicates how heavy their financial pressure are. It is because of the inflation in China and also their wills of providing a better living environment to their family and child. Apart from the financial pressure, "Child's slaves" sacrifice their own life for the child. Some of them give up personal career and shorten their leisure time to take care of the child, or some of them work day and night to earn money for their child.^[8]

In popular culture

TV drama

See also

References

1. ^{{cite web|last=Xu|first=Anqi|title="孩奴"現象傳媒炒作的負效應和實證辯正|url=http://www.sociology2010.cass.cn/upload/2010/10/d20101027165416161.pdf|accessdate=27 March 2014|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140331151516/http://www.sociology2010.cass.cn/upload/2010/10/d20101027165416161.pdf|archivedate=31 March 2014|df=}}
2. ^{{cite web|title=養大一個孩子需要多少錢 80後懼怕當孩奴|url=http://finance.ifeng.com/money/wealth/story/20100112/1696054.shtml|accessdate=27 March 2014}}
3. ^{{cite web|title=孩奴產生的最根本原因|url=http://bbs1.people.com.cn/postDetail.do?id=97438710|accessdate=27 March 2014}}
4. ^Wen, Yuen"Slave to Children, the Fate of Two Generations" (Chinese: 被"孩奴"套牢的兩代中國人), Society and Public Welfare (Chinese: 社會與公益), 2010, issue 02
5. ^{{cite web|title=孩奴現象空襲80後專家呼籲撫育孩子要理性|url=http://npmpc.people.com.cn/GB/10784485.html|accessdate=27 March 2014}}
6. ^{{cite web|title=China's grown-up 'child slaves'|url=http://travel.cnn.com/shanghai/none/chinas-child-slaves-974516|accessdate=27 March 2014}}
7. ^{{cite web|title=Child's Slave (Chinese:孩奴)|url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/language_tips/news/2010-02/20/content_9476337.htm|accessdate=27 March 2014}}
8. ^{{cite web|title=Are we slaves to our children?|url=http://www.bjreview.com.cn/forum/txt/2010-02/21/content_247486.htm|accessdate=27 March 2014}}
9. ^{{cite web|title=Introduction of drama "Child’s Slave"|url= http://dianshiju.cntv.cn/2013/08/27/VIDA1377585395995879.shtml#|accessdate=27 March 2014}}
10. ^{{cite web|title=Drama "The Sweet Burden"|url=http://eladies.sina.com.cn/qg/xeny/|accessdate=27 March 2014}}
11. ^{{cite web|title=Official Weibo Page of drama "Baby"|url=http://weibo.com/dsjbaobei|accessdate=27 March 2014}}