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Stop spending like there's no tomorrow

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-08 09:41

Chinese children's growing craze for material things will affect not only the family's bills, but also the nation's future. As the father of a 10-year-old boy, I worry for the younger generation.

I'm most concerned about my boy watching TV ads. The boy studies hard, so I don't have the heart to forbid him from watching TV.

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But the channel showing cartoons frequently airs ads on food, clothes, toys and other products that cover all aspects of a child's life. They never fail to trigger some response from my son. Luckily, he is yet to take their claims to heart, unlike some other children.

We are living in a materialistic world and in China, children are becoming materialistic at an alarming rate. Such a phenomenon has its roots in Chinese culture and systems.

Before the 1950s, Confucianism and Buddhism exerted a certain influence on the Chinese and curbed their material cravings. But as traditional systems collapsed, economists told us it was OK for people to satisfy their material yearnings.

With the growing market economy, the example of those who got rich first stimulated the rest of the nation. The craving for affluence has been spreading among the young unchecked.

In all Chinese cities, it is common to see parents leading their only child to spend freely in supermarkets over the weekends. In the spending spree - celebrated much like a religious ceremony - the parents print smiles on their innocent children's faces with money.

Alexis de Tocqueville, a French thinker of the early 19th century, was most concerned about materialism in modern society. He said materialism would corrupt minds, make people selfish and turn them away from their public responsibilities.

If our children are allowed to become captive to materialism, later generations may become unable to differentiate between material riches and emotional or spiritual riches.

To save our children, adults must begin to look at themselves. If we can free ourselves of the temptations of material comforts, we will be the boss, not slaves, of material goods.

Enlightened adults can come together and declare war on advocates of materialism. In modern Chinese society, it is reasonable and legal for parents to demand that laws be issued to limit the time and types of ads aimed at children. Parents can even create a "zero-ad" corner at home.

We must act now.