Youngsters lord it over not in China but in the West

At Chinese New Year, children receive hong bao, money in red envelopes that has probably increased because of the family planning policy.

We in the West are led to believe that a generation of obese, spoilt little emperors are making their way through their Chinese childhoods with the granting of every wish and a road to adulthood paved with chocolate.

But bringing up my son in China, I haven't noticed that his classmates are any more spoilt or misbehaved than their Western counterparts. Indeed, the phenomenon we are supposed to find in China is actually growing in my own backyard.