160 CultureShock! China
enough in their careers to support their return to the cities
of their birth.
The negative cultural effect of communism in China
can be seen in how families, historically a cohesive social
network, were shattered by deporting educated parents to
farms and encouraging red-book waving youths to turn on
their family and friends. It is not uncommon for there to
be a disconnection between some 30 and 40-year-olds and
their parents. Many children were raised by grandparents
or in state-run boarding schools while their parents served
time in the countryside.
It can also be seen in a whole generation who lost an
opportunity at an education, a career and a chance to better
their family situation as the universities were shut down
across China during the Cultural Revolution.
Another bi-product of communist-instituted change is the
one-child policy, which has created a generation referred to as
‘the little emperors’—a group of ‘only child in the family’ who
are the hope of three generations and are often considered
pampered, spoiled and lacking consideration toward others.
This policy has changed the view of the nuclear family in
China, and you will often hear a single child referring to their
cousins as their sisters or brothers.
Another policy implemented that has had ill social effect is
that of the identity card, which historically designated where
one could work and live. At present in major cities, there are
millions of transient labourers who are the backbone of the
construction industry. Most of these are illegal workers, who
are routinely rounded up and returned to the countryside.
Although communism has done much to modernise China,
over 60 per cent of China’s citizens are still peasant farmers,
living at a level that would be considered far below poverty in
most developed countries of the world. While the citizens of
China’s major cities are living an improved life, the peasant
farmers are still inundated with the Deng Xiaoping and Mao
thought, clinging to the government’s promise of a brighter
future that will not come.
Communism has created a dramatic change in the lives of
women—they now have an equal chance at education and