Letting the young learn from life

Chinese youths who live, study and work in Western and other foreign countries surprised the world last month when they staged rallies to roar their anger at the Western media's biased reports about the situation in Tibet and the Beijing Olympic Games.

Their behavior also came as a surprise to domestic educators and media commentators, who said they had not expected the Chinese youths, both at home and overseas, to demonstrate so strong a love of the motherland.

In today's China, the young people in their twenties are called "balinghou," literally '80-after, or post-1980s. These '80-afters are generally thought to be selfish and indifferent to the fate of the country. Yet what they did during the past month was an eye-opener for their parents and grandparents. The elders went into ecstasies over the discovery of the patriotic responsibility in the '80-afters and applauded their moves to safeguard China's national dignity.