OznAsia

Perhaps my theory of the connection between China's one-child policy and Chinese people's apparent lack of friendliness is not a good one. The one-child policy was introduced in 1980. Anyone currently over the age of about 27 would have probably grown up with both siblings and cousins. I assume I'm correct in saying that most people born after 1980 grew up without siblings and that their children are now growing up without siblings or cousins. It is perhaps the offspring of the post-1980 generation that I have been observing with their grandparents. However the personality traits I am observing apply fairly generally across age groups.

I wondered about the older generation and the Cultural Revolution. I can imagine that the purges of the Cultural Revolution might have made almost everyone paranoid. However the Pol Pot era in Cambodia was more recent and probably more terrifying and my experience is that Cambodian people are the friendliest I have met anywhere. So much for that theory.

I have decided that the issue I should be looking at is not why Chinese people are as they are but why this is so important to me. Perhaps I'll blog that one when I have some answers.

Labels: Asia, Cambodia, China