Different generations, different worlds…

Sui Mei Jie*, 32-year-old, mum of 2 kids, not giving her name until asked.
Wang Wen Ting, 22-year-old, fresh graduate, spontaneously introducing herself as Angela.
They are relatives – aunt and niece. They both were born and grew up in the countryside (not from the same province though), and later moved to big cities to seek for more opportunities.
But behind their similarities, what differentiate them says a lot about how the attitude to life of country side Chinese women is evolving.

Following the steps in life vs Choosing her own life
Mei got married at 26, giving birth to two kids– a 5 years old daughter and a 3 years old son. She complains how naughty the two kids are, especially the boy she finds too hard to control. She felt surprised when asked if she ever had considered not having kids: ‘that is how life should be, growing up, getting married and having kids’.
Her niece, Angela gives a totally different answer. To herwhat matters most is to have her own career and be financially independent. She doesn’t think of getting married, not mentioning having her own kid. Maybe she’s too young? But girls at her age in her hometown already did both not so long ago.

Fatalistic vs Proactive
Seven years ago, Mei heard that Dongguan (one of the main manufacturing cities in Guangdong province, which itself is the heart of the Made in China) was quickly growing with many factories settling down. So she came to Dongguan with her husband, to make a better living. They did benefit from the fast growing economy at the earlier time, however, the cost of living has been growing much higher in the last two years, while salary level remained stable. How does she feel about that? She just shakes her head and replies, ‘There are no other ways’. She just accept the tracks she put her life on and seems to show little commitment in trying to react to the situation.
Angela came to Chongqing four years ago to obtain higher education. She believed that better education could help her better survive in the fast changing society. Being a fresh graduate from Chongqing University, she has been working full time as sales in a local internet company for 8 months. There was not many assignment in the last semester so she wants to move to gain more work experience else where. She is thinking of quitting the job in 2-3 months and go to Dongguan to seek new opportunities. She thought she could learn more advanced knowledge there and work in what she describes as a more professional environment. She is even ready to see her salary reduced in the short term because it’s more competitive there. But she knows she can over compensate in the long term.

Finally, when asked if she would recommend to Angela to go to Dongguan, Mei refuses to give her opinion. ‘I don’t want to be responsible for her going there’. Once again two opposed attitudes to life reflecting changes in mentalities over the past ten years in China.

We will keep in touch with Angela and Mei, and see them again in DongGuan in a couple of months.


*Sui Mei Jie is the woman described in the previous ‘So Be It’ post

This post is courtesy of Melody Zhu