The Little Emperor Syndrome (or Little Emperor Effect) is an aspect of China's one-child policy where only children gain seemingly excessive amounts of attention from their parents and grandparents. 小皇帝/皇后中國將20～29歲的2億1,800萬人稱為小皇帝，小皇帝世代從小就受到父母親過度的保護，任他們予取予求，這將對中國的消費產生極大的影響。
Reviewed by Gary WatsonThe Canadian Book Review Annua
JoAnn Dionne offers an insightful, humourous, and sympathetic look at those turbulent years through Little Emperors—her journal of over a year’s work as a teacher in Guangzhou (Canton) where she taught English to a diverse but enthusiastic group of elementary students. In many regards, her students were windows onto the “new” China taking shape around them, but Dionne herself—a veteran of an earlier stay in Japan—never backed away from opportunities to explore the many ways past and present collided in Guangzhou and other cities she visited during her stay. The mid-90s offered relatively unobstructed travel for foreigners and little interference in their impromptu interactions with ordinary Chinese. With the help of Chinese friends, Dionne travelled frequently and learned a good deal about a rapidly growing China. For more ...http://www.joanndionne.ca/cbrareview/
Combined with increased spending power within the family unit and parents' general desire for their child to experience the benefits they themselves were denied, the phenomenon is generally considered to be problematic. Andrew Marshall even argues that it is shaping Chinese society in unexpected ways that may culminate into a future "behavioral time-bomb."
Little Emperors are primarily an urban phenomenon. The one-child policy only applies to urban communities and, given the value of labor, only children are not prevalent within rural communities. Economic development has not had as large an impact outside of urban centers.
Socio-economic implications
China's economic growth has tremendously elevated the annual per capita income of urban areas as women have become increasingly represented in the workforce, frequently resulting in families with two sources of income. This greatly improved purchasing power coupled with excessive pampering of only children is the cause of increased spending on children. From toys to clothes, parents shower their child in material goods and give in to every demand; it is common for children to be the "best-dressed members of their families."
Recently, it has become common for nearly half a family's income to be spent on the child. This effect has become considerable enough to be noticed on a global scale: marketing groups attribute a near doubling of platinum jewelry sales in China to "China's 'spoiled brat' generation.
Parental expectations
Little Emperors also bear the burden of heavy expectations. Parents who feel they lost their chance in the Cultural Revolution ("compensation syndrome" put immense pressure on these children to succeed and compete academically.
From an early age parents push their only child to educational extremes as they cater to their whims; "though many of these precocious kids can recite the English alphabet or read newspapers in traditional Chinese characters by the time they're 10, their parents often still perform basic tasks for them: fixing their hair, tying their shoes, wiping their bottoms." Boarding school, private English lessons, music lessons and an additional range of extracurricular activities are the normal fare; though after tough competition, only two percent of the Little Emperors will be able to study at a university.
Household structure
One factor frequently associated with the Little Emperor effect, the four-two-one family structure refers to the collapse of the traditionally large Chinese family into four grandparents and two parents doting on one child. Beyond the obvious further funneling of resources towards the whims and potential of the only child, this four-two-one reconfiguration of the familial structure has distinct ramifications for Chinese society. The Little Emperors of the one-child policy have warped the traditional family beyond recognition; "in the past, the power in a household devolved from the father," who ruled over a multitude of offspring.
Now the household structures itself entirely around the one child. This shift from earlier structures that supported the culture of filial piety has caused much concern; "traditionally, a great number of children, particularly sons, was seen as proof of the family's standing and it guaranteed the continuity of ancestor-worshipping customs." The most salient issue stems from the worry about who will look after the elderly. Aside from a potentially radical shift in cultural norms concerning the treatment of the elderly, this new family structure poses a purely demographic problem: "the composition of the dependent population is shifting away from children toward elderly
population."
The combination of immense pressure to excel and extreme pampering is reported to have resulted in a stunting of social and emotional growth.The perceived maladjustment of the Little Emperors is an exaggerated subject within the media; "the government has [tried] to cope with the Little Emperor problem through frequent cautionary stories in the press."
These stories depict children hanging themselves after being denied sweets and cases of matricide in retribution for a scolding or late dinner. The discussion of Little Emperors has saturated public discussion concerning the one-child policy in Chinese and international media.
Far from a stale-dated travelogue, Little Emperors
provides personal, and sometimes penetrating, insights into a China
whose present—and future—depend on a forgetfulness of its recent past.
Dionne’s accidental friendship with an elderly English teacher and
Cultural Revolution survivor during a visit to Beijing is one of Little Emperors’ most memorable chapters.Her boisterous students taught her a good deal about changing attitudes and basic values in fast-growing Guangzhou. Probably more informative were her three successive Chinese teaching assistants, whose vastly different backgrounds, attitudes, and outlooks allowed Dionne access to the many conflicts and contradictions ordinary Chinese faced following Tiananmen. Dionne is rarely judgmental and preferred simply to let her Chinese colleagues explain their “takes” on recent events.
Little Emperors offers no statistics, official interviews, or press release reporting about mid-90s China. Instead, Dionne presents a very different China through close observation of individuals who show us, with her help, how they experienced China’s transition to economic superpower.
Gary Watson is a former lecturer in Chinese studies at Queen’s University and is now a multimedia developer in Mississauga.
VOA Current 时事 Affairs大家谈: " 2nd Baby 单独二胎For Single Parent "Solve 能解决China's problem of the 中国问题Little Emperor？
中国宣布了计划生育新政策"单独二胎"，也就是只要夫妇一方是独生子女，就可以生育第
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