Thrift Hero Bridges Generations in China
New America Media, News Features, Jun Wang, Posted: Nov 01, 2005
EDITOR'S NOTE: As China's economy skyrockets, a new generation of privileged children have left the frugality of their parents' time far behind. A schoolteacher from northwestern China has become an unexpected "thrift hero" in his quest to bring back the concept of thrift.
SAN FRANCISCO - In the northwest city of Lanzhou, China, high school teacher Bo Zhang walked into his classroom as usual and found a half-eaten pancake in the garbage can.
"Who threw this away?" He picked up the pancake and asked, "You've never experienced hardship, so you don't treasure food?"
His students said nothing.
"Since none of you will admit it, I'll just eat it," Zhang stuffed the pancake into his mouth.
Zhang's "reality show" thrift lesson shocked his students at first, but the story, which appeared in the local newspaper Western Economic Daily, have ignited an intense online discussion and made Zhang a "thrift hero" in China. As a new generation of privileged Chinese children adopt American-style spending habits, they have left the frugality of their parents' generation far behind. Educators and parents like Zhang are trying to bring back the concept of thrift that has been central to the Chinese culture until now.
An online discussion group following Zhang's pancake-eating incident even created ten rules for students to be thrifty. The rules include making pencil holders from old newspapers, saving food, and fertilizing plants by using fallen leaves.
Zhang's colleague, Mr. Xie, had always been impressed with Zhang's thrift and effort to stick to what he believes. Every teacher knows that it's easier to write with the thinner end of the chalk, but Zhang writes with the other end because he found it can save more chalk, even though chalk is far from expensive and in plenty supply in any school.
Zhang shrugged off the attention on his pancake-eating incident, which has made him famous. "It's not a big issue (for me)," he said. He started working in the 1960's during China's historic famine, which taught him how invaluable food is, and reinforced the old food-saving tradition in China.
Zhang said he usually reminds his students of what he thinks are the three most important things - uphold good character, study hard, and go to college. Upholding good character is the first priority, in which thrift is a necessary part, Zhang said.
Like Zhang, the students' parents experienced extreme hardship in the 1960's. Some parents still remain frugal even though they are now able to afford almost anything they want. But unlike Zhang, because of the hardship they faced, many parents go out of their way to make sure their children never experience the kind of hardship they experienced. Most of the time, the parents do this by providing their children with more than enough of everything: food, money, and connivance in the name of love.
According to some chefs in Beijing in a Xinhua News Agency report, it is common to see customers who order over 30,000 Yuan ($3,750) of food per table. However, most of the food goes to the garbage only one hour later, much to the chagrin of the chefs, who can do nothing to stop people from ordering more than they can eat.
The World Bank estimates that about 150 million Chinese people live on under $1 per day, which means that they would have to work for more 10 years to earn such a table of food. Another 26.1 million people's annual incomes are lower than $84.
Contrarily, in his New York Times story, Shop till you drop in China, David Barboza said a nation of savers is on the verge of also becoming a nation of tireless shoppers. "Stores without Western pedigree sell Gucci and Louis Vuitton goods. Retail sales in China have jumped nearly 50 percent in the last four years. With rising incomes, Chinese are spending their money on shoes, bags, clothing and even theme-park-style rides," he said.
"China's increasingly affluent young people are adopting the American teenager's habit of hanging out at the mall," contributing a lot of their money as well as their time to the booming consumerism in China.
So if teenagers are buying designer bags, who cares about half a pancake?
Apparently, Zhang isn't the only person who wants to bring frugality back to Chinese culture. This fall, Shanghai, the biggest and most developed city in China, is putting a new motto into its elementary and middle school students' list of good characters: "Treasure food and don't waste."
NAM contributor Jun Wang has worked as a correspondent for the Xinhua News Agency in China and Egypt. She is currently a graduate student in journalism at U.C. Berkeley.
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