Life in China is so varied. I have been traveling to China for the past six years and with each trip comes new insights. China has the largest population of any country in the world. There are 1 billion 3 hundred million people that live in the country; one in every six people in the world live in China. There are 56 minorities and hundreds of dialects spoken. Many people speak more than one language. Mandarin is the National language and has been a key to the growth of China as it is the main language that is taught in school and spoken in business.
Over the last hundred years there have been so many changes to the basic family in China. Up until 1911, China was ruled by an Emperor. In October 1949 Chairman Moa declared a new country of China. Within the next ten years families were encouraged to have big families. If you were a mother of 8 or more you were called a super mom. You were honored with special privileges and were well-respected in the community. Chairman Moa felt that if China had more people they would have the advantage in the world.
In the next 40 years the population grew to over a billion people. The family went though a huge change when the government made a new law that couples could only have one child if you lived in the city and two if you lived in the country if the first one was a girl.
The family unit in China for decades has been the core to society. Much respect and honor has been given to the older generation. For years in the country 3 and 4 generations have lived together. I have been impressed with the care and concern they give their elderly. In the parks I often see them with their parents pushing them in wheel chairs. The other day in the park I saw a wheel chair bike combination. The wheel chair was in the front and the person that was peddling sat just behind the elderly person peddling the bike.
What I have learned in my recent trips is that many young people have been raised by their grandparents. Both parents go off to work and the care of the young children goes to the grand parents. My friend on our tour expressed to me how tired they get when they care for their grandchildren. I always ask them how many they are caring for. They forget that in China there is one child in a family and that child has six people concerned about their care. There is both mom and dad along with both set of grand parents. The little ones now days are often call little emperors and princesses as they get so much attention. I do not think that I have ever seen a shy child. They are ready to perform at the given queue.
Even though the family has been changing over the years I still see the family unit as a core to society with much love and care still going to the family.
