The older generation has created a Taiwan of unprecedented wealth. What do we want to leave the next generation?
In this issue's cover story we discuss childhood pressure. The times of filching mother's medicine for sweets and daily torture for the sake of entrance examinations are things of the 1960s. The next generation gets everything it asks for and, with everything they need, today's little princes do not know how well-off they are. Is there anything they are still not satisfied with?
The answer is far from unexpected and is even a bit embarrassing for adults. Arising from the traditional pressures of home and school, and under conditions of material plenty, the expectations for every child to grow up a prodigy become ever more demanding. So that their children will not be "left behind at the starting line," parents have them studying English at three, and cultivating special talents at five, while daily feeding them up with multiple vitamins and tonics.
In this issue's "Art from the Heart" we cooperate with the Taipei Municipal Tungmen Primary School to discover that what most children hope for and get most pleasure from is winning prizes. As for fears, many children use pictures done in grey and black to get to the source of what gives them pressure. They are frightened of parents fighting, being kidnapped on the way to school, being scolded, exams and nightmares. They are also afraid of polluted air, the hole in the ozone layer and world war. . .
There is currently running a television advertisement in which children are made up as professional women and airline pilots, precociously telling the viewers "I grew up on XX milk powder!" Are these the prospects for which children are anxious and suffering as they struggle to pick up a skill--to become a busy managing director or high-flying international airline pilot?
In fact, the experts also think that pressure is not all bad. It is only pressure combined with encouragement that makes people learn about life and fit into society as they grow up. The only problem is that at this time of momentous world change the relationship between the aspirations of the two generations is not so simple. Putting it simply, even adults do not really know what kind of world we will be facing tomorrow. So what kind of suitably clever scheme can we pass on to them so that they will not be "left behind at the starting line?"
The beginning of the '90s has seen the reunification of Germany, the revolution in Eastern Europe and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Not only has communism collapsed, but even the mighty American economy is sluggish and suffering high unemployment. As for socialistic Europe, under the burden of social welfare, even the Swedish socialists have been voted out of power. The end of March saw the Green party achieve 14.5 percent of the vote in France's local elections, which was not far behind what the ruling Socialists polled. What really worried people, however, was that the extreme right-wing National Front also got 14 percent of the vote. Ecological consciousness has displaced political considerations in France, and racialism has raised its ugly head again. What does this mean for the future of a united Europe?
In mid-March the former German chancellor, Dr. Helmut Schmidt, visited Taiwan to speak on the subject of "The Future of China and Europe in the World." He frankly analyzed the hard-pressed situation of the United States economy, the unsettling prospects of Japan's growing might, and the vitality of the Four Tigers. Apart from the ups and downs of the political economic situation, Schmidt especially stressed the pessimistic outlook for the environment, raising the problem of population growth and limited resources adding to the worsening of the greenhouse effect and leading to unlimited tides of human migration.
"Yesterday evening I received a phone call from my wife, and this morn in g my secretary sent me a fax. Modern technology is really marvelous," said Schmidt. "But, for the sake of the next generation I would happily give up these conveniences. I would rather that domestic product dropped than be willing to see the existence of future generations under threat! "
Hearing one of the builders of Germany's post-war economy outlining the future prospects for the economy and preparing to give up some of the joys of modern technology, apart from being a shock, was also rather moving. Nevertheless, Chinese people at the end of the twentieth century who have just picked up their confidence might find it hard not to ask: a century ago you came with gunboats to this "old wreck" that was China to bring us free trade and modernity, so how is it that today when people come from the West to tell us about the trade gap, they also add the threat to our existence posed by modern technology?
The globe is in a critical situation, and who is it that has complacently exhausted the world's resources for the last hundred years? Who optimistically believed that technology was the panacea for all evils? It is only now, as we approach the crisis, that scientists start to worry, and deep fears arise that if over a billion Chinese all start to use cars and refrigerators it will be hard to protect the ozone layer. So they arrive traveling weary to urgently announce the bleak outlook for mankind to the new wealth of Asia.
In comparison, from World War to Cold War, from ruins to high rise, from eating potatoes to "eating your fill," this generation has been most fortunate because it faced stark truths. In a divided world the object to strive for was simple--from zero to something, the creation of wealth.
What about the next generation? The February 28 Incident was a taboo subject for their parents, but now the government is apologizing and carrying out research and many books are forthcoming (see p. 96). In the past, we could only dream of the mighty Yellow River and the Yangtze; now, we have soap operas in the gardens of southern China, and mainland pop concerts are already a matter of course (p. 110). Facing a new world order, new ideas, and new vision of history; facing the exhaustion of resources and a worsening environment, should we be teaching them early to use computers and safeguard against viruses (p. 34), or be preparing them for the coming storm by telling them that pen, paper and a brain that can think are the only hope for mankind? Are we to teach them to put the future in hock by having today's pleasures on credit, or to follow Grandma's teaching to reap as you sow?
Looking at a Taiwanese child weighed down with computer, violin, textbooks and glasses (p. 6), it is hard to imagine that he might have to use bottled air and that he will easily give up his right to drive a car. Looking at mainland China, with its one-child policy, how can we deny the people there their dreams of refrigerators and air conditioning? Looking at the green and wild world of the shepherd boy in Sinkiang (p. 82), one must wonder why humanity wants cars and air conditioning if this means the destruction of the beauty of nature?
Nobody knows what tomorrow's world will bring. We can only say that what this generation can teach children is perhaps not just to work hard and create wealth, but to teach them to think hard about possible alternatives for the future of humanity apart from materialism, wealth and a worsening environment.
