Post-90s not so different

There is a group of people in China who frequently come up in conversation accompanied by a resigned sigh or a dismissive "Oh, them." In the media, they regularly feature as a subject of discourse, as the public attempts to diagnose them, identify the causes of their malaise, and figure out what can be done to fix them. From the way they are talked about, you would think they were a colony of aliens.

But they are not. They are just like me, only younger.

I am talking about the "post-90s", the cohort born during China's golden decade. Most of them are just now entering adulthood. In their lives so far, they have only tasted the sweet fruits of market reform and they harbor no bittersweet memories of the past. Because of the fortuitous timing of their births, the post-90s are a distinctive breed.