How do teenagers in China during the early twentieth century compare to the young people in the United States today? What common problems might both experience? Give specific examples to support your point of view.
How do teenagers in China during the early 20th century compare to the young people in the United States today?
Published By kk On Wednesday, March 17th 2010 Under China Question Answers Tags: 20th, century, China, compare, during, early, People, States, teenagers, today, United, Young
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I would think their lives would be very very different.
In China in the early 20th century, relations between parents and children tended to be very formal and children were very strictly brought up. They would be expected to be very polite and obedient to their parents. Teenagers would be expected to be very deferential to their parents, the kind of behaviour that is considered normal in modern teenagers would be completely unacceptable.
A teenager’s life would vary considreably depending on their social class. The children of peasants would be out working in the fields from an eary age, and the children of artisans and craftsmen would likely be expected to help in the family business from an early age. Boys might be apprenticed to various different trades. Girls often worked as silk weavers, which was an exclusively female trade. Children from higher social classes would be likely to have a better education, and boys might be entered for the Civil Service exams (China had a vast beaurocracy which employed huge numbers of civil servants).
Girls of middle and upper class families might have their feet bound from an early age. This stunted the growth of their feet and meant that they could only walk with very small, tottering steps. This was a status symbol, it indicated that she did not have to perform physical labour in the fields like a peasant women. In 1911, foot binding was made illegal, but it was difficult to put a stop to it as women regarded it as a sign of high status.
Girls would often marry young, and would be expected to obey their husbands, and be very defferential to their parents in law. Although women were generally regarded as inferior to men, great importance was placed on age, and young people were expected to be deferential to their elders of both sexes. Age trumped gender when it came to relations between the young and the old.
In short, I think it is extremely difficult to find any points of similarity between Chinese teenagers of a hundred years ago and modern US teenagers. Their lives are so very different.