Chores, Medicine for a Widespread Lack of Gratitude in the One-child Generations of China

Abstract

"Little emperors" and "little princesses" are not new terms for describing the young generations of China after the 36-years' implementation of its one-child policy from 1979 that has triggered the launch of wave upon wave of massive and long-lasting campaigns of gratitude education at all levels of schools cross China from 2005 up to the present. Yet, on 10th December 2015, the People's Daily Online, an official newspaper flagship of China, reported that a lack of gratitude in young generations came out top of a list of the top ten deficiencies of Chinese people. What went wrong with the Chinese young generations and China's gratitude education? This article employs the morality of justice theory to explore the crux of a widespread lack of gratitude in young Chinese generations with the main focus on the role of chores in child development.