More than half of China’s 1.3 billion citizens are less than 24 years of age. Growing up in this era of dramatic and accelerating societal change, it is the likes, dislikes, hopes, fears and dreams of these young Chinese that will ultimately mold the China of tomorrow. So, what effects are the whirlwind social and economic reforms of today having on China’s children? Can they propel this country to new heights in the mid-twenty first century?

Recent Reality

Twenty years ago, 80 percent of the Chinese population survived on less than a dollar a day. The most they wished for was enough for their family to eat. With the great changes of recent decades, more and more people are reaching for and seizing new opportunities for both work and life. Greater freedom and increased affluence have meant significant lifestyle changes, especially for the young. For Chinese youth, progress has brought both advantage and challenge.

For instance, a major concern among health experts is the rising obesity level among Chinese children. A recent survey found that 10 percent of children are now clinically overweight, with an expected 8 percent rise per year. As in many Western countries, high-fat, fast food diets, too much TV and computer gaming, and not enough exercise are blamed. Despite this, investigations have shown that in general terms, Chinese children’s’ nutritional status has improved considerably over the last decade, with malnutrition dropping sharply.

The United Nations Children's Fund, (UNICEF), declared in May that China had already achieved the target of a 50 percent reduction in its number of underweight children. In a report on global child nutrition, the UN body said China had slashed its proportion of malnourished children from 19 to 8 percent, and commended the Chinese government on its successful efforts.

Demographic Challenge

Fueled largely by an increasingly energetic media, the growing sums Chinese parents lavish on a single child has led some to lament a spoiled generation. Thus the term “little emperor,” a self-centered Chinese child pampered at every turn by doting parents. Some among earlier generations believe a love of money and material possessions may be eclipsing more important societal priorities for the nation’s youngest.

The increasingly pronounced demographic skewing of the Chinese population is a further worry. By 2020, the number of people over 60 in China will be more than 240 million, or 12 percent of the population. Caring for the elderly is a mounting burden which both society and government must share in a way that doesn’t limit progress or strangle aspirations.

China’s one child policy may have slowed population growth, but has also given rise to a marked gender imbalance, with men outnumbering women by nearly two to one in some areas. The Chinese government’s “Girl Care Project” is described as a multi-pronged approach to encourage the birth of girls. The program aims to end pre-birth sex selection, while rewarding and assisting families that plan to give birth to girls. A pilot project has been launched in more than a dozen of China's poorest provinces, with the financial burden shared by national and local government.

Leading the way in the project is Fujian province, where US$24 million is being distributed among nearly half a million households, and 100,000 girls exempted from school fees. Under the program, couples who limit themselves to two girls will receive a combined annual pension of about $150 for the rest of their lives. Preferential treatment in health care, housing and employment is also provided.

Free Education for All

Thanks to efforts by both Chinese government and society, children’s education in China has made significant progress over the last twenty years. Since the 1980s the Chinese government has heavily subsidized normal and vocational education, and education for minorities. In recent years China has established a comprehensive educational fund-raising system, with financial support from national and local government supplemented by funds collected through other channels.

While standards of schooling in China’s affluent, eastern and southern urban areas are usually high, kids from poorer, agricultural and migrant worker backgrounds have traditionally been less well educated. However, times are changing. At the end of 2005 the Chinese government announced it would be investing over US$15 billion to pay for compulsory education in rural areas, thereby ensuring a free nine-year education for every child. Before the start of the 2006 spring semester the Chinese government invested over US$450 million to cover the school fees of kids living in 12 western provinces, including Sichuan and Yunnan.

In addition, the amended Compulsory Education Law, which came into effect in China in September, contains a new provision ensuring the right to a free education for migrant workers’ children, irrespective of where they are living. Now, if migrant families are living and working in locations other than where they are registered, local governments must pay their educational expenses. According to the Ministry of Education, by the end of 2004 more than 6.4 million rural children of compulsory education age were living in cities with their parents, and another 22 million rural children remained in their homes while their parents left to search for work.

In the past, children who accompanied their migrant parents to the city were often charged school fees much higher than those charged by rural schools. This inequity, together with problems linked to migrant children’s often highly transient lifestyle, and the fact that migrant parents are often too busy or poorly educated to communicate with their offspring properly, has made this recent amendment extremely welcome.

Wealth brings Health

China’s young are not only becoming better educated, but healthier as well. In terms of macro-level trends, China has the health profile of a middle-income country, with the general health of the population steadily improving. Quality healthcare is gradually becoming more widely available, and thanks to a well-developed welfare system, more than 95 percent of China’s children are now vaccinated against a full range of infectious diseases.

Since the implementation of China’s immunization program in the 1980s, carried out with the approval of the World Health Organization (WHO), the incidence of infectious diseases in children has sharply declined, with polio now totally eliminated. Commensurate with this, the child mortality rate in China has also dropped dramatically. The mortality rate for infants fell from 50.2 per thousand in the early 1990s to 32.2 per thousand in 2000, while that for children under five fell from 61 per thousand to 39.7 per thousand over the same period.

Fruitful Future

Thanks to iincreased investment and more enlightened policy making, the number of teenagers graduating high school and going on to higher education continues to increase. While the education system undoubtedly still needs improvement, more and more kids are getting the opportunity to study, even in the poorest rural areas. To underpin the fast-paced economic growth that China is currently enjoying, the Chinese government is well aware that a healthy, educated and skilled workforce is an invaluable resource.

With sensible planning, investment and guidance, China’s kids will mature to move the nation forward. Before they assume their role as adults, however, many are enjoying a childhood quality of life beyond the wildest dreams of prior generations.

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