A friend of mine pointed out a a missing piece in my story yesterday. Here's the comment: “说到底，他们还是有父母给他们兜底的一代。他们有的心理上的支持，我们这一代人是完全没有的。我们要考虑上一代，考虑自己，还要考虑下一代。他们顶不济了，老人还会给他们留下一些钱，还会给他们留至少一套房产。这就是他们的底气”
That is, in the final analysis, young people today can enjoy life free from care at a young age because of the safety net provided by their parents. If they can't make ends meet, they can always turn to their parents who have more than enough now. Moreover they will most likely inherit a property. They have the full financial support from their parents. In contrast, our generation had to take care of the welfare of three generations: ours, that of our parents and the next generation.
This is mostly true. I know many young people travel abroad during the May First holiday, including my sister's son and his girlfriend. Another reason is young people today are paid hugely more now than before. I remember my first pay check from China Daily was ¥65, right off the college in 1982. I stopped getting even a penny from my parents since then. Instead I started giving back to them as soon as I could.
The contrast makes me think of disparities, or one disparity leading to another. One's life experience depends so much on his socio-economic status and family background. That is, people with abundance of financial support have opportunities to enjoy life from very young age. Those without may face challenges and constraints that limit their chance to more experiences in life and access to resources to thrive later in life.
The most meaningful of it all is the generational differences in China provide context on China's transformative journey since 1980s. With the increasing prosperity and stability that many families in China enjoy today, millions of Chinese parents today can provide greater opportunities and support for their children, which was not even in the wildest dream among older generations.