Trust me, this situation won’t last for long. Once children born around 2017 grow up and are old enough to use social media and TikTok, this distorted situation will gradually disappear on its own.
Imagine a Chinese child who, from the day they were born, has lived in a country with fifth-generation fighter jets, aircraft carriers, its own space station, the second-largest economy in the world, consumes its own entertainment through its own internet, has infrastructure that surpasses most of the world, and is either first or second in various technologies. As they grow up, China’s position and capabilities in the world continue to strengthen their memories and impressions of everything around them. By the time they reach adolescence and begin to form their values, they can finally understand social media and become a keyboard politician. How could they possibly understand those places that are behind China but still look down on China?
If news like Cathay Pacific were to happen again at that time, I am sure that these children would not even be angry or outraged. They would calmly swipe their fingers and continue to watch the next video. At most, a word would pop into their minds: idiot!
So don’t doubt it, these children’s bones and knees are naturally hard from the day they were born. Unlike those of us born before the 1990s, no matter how developed China is now, we still remember what it was like when China was poor and backward. This impression is easily matched with the mediocre economic ability and social status of most ordinary Chinese people. Therefore, contemporary Chinese people find it difficult to adapt to our status as the second largest country in the world.
The next generation of children will be different. Even if they don’t do well when they grow up, they won’t be able to find the image of a poor and backward China in their memories. They will only remember that super China.
Everything has changed.