Young Photo Stars

It’s tempting to think that the Chinese adore their children so much just because of the famous one-child-law (abolished in 2015). One could think: oh, that’s why the whole family is there – parents, grandparents, some uncle or aunt, a nephew or niece – when on a Sunday in the park they walk their only child, sing to it, give it ice cream and tons of attention and let it star in a picture the whole family is co-directing. But there’s more of course. It’s that centuries old deep and strong sense of family, of continuity, of lineage. And beyond that adoration, there is still this strong feeling of citizenship and discipline, of community above individual, and a deep modesty to prevent these young stars from becoming the spoiled brats one might fear they could become. Most of them are not. They will have to work too hard to find a place in the new capitalist society. A society that may already be undermining that strong family tradition…