Keeping up appearances
Many migrant workers pretend to be rich, buying suits and fake iPhones, so they can have a glorious homecoming during the Spring Festival, some even spend thousands of yuan during the festival. What's behind the seemingly ridiculous phenomenon is a deep social root, says an article in Yanzhao Evening News. Excerpts:
No matter whether it is to boost confidence, satisfy vanity, gain an advantage in social interactions, or just follow the crowd, such conspicuous consumption is the way young people win social recognition. Through such pretense, young people fulfill the expectations of relatives and friends .
But this "Chinese-style pretense" has evolved from individual choice to a collective preference and become a common behavioral characteristic of a certain group of young people. We need to see through the image they present and perceive their true living and development situation.
This group of young people were mainly born in the 1970s and the 1980s and are either facing huge pressure supporting a family of four parents and one child or are freshmen at work struggling for career development and survival. Driven by twisted values, such pretense has become the most direct and effective tool for them to gain social recognition.
But it is better to improve one's life and development in a more down-to-earth way than to pretend to be someone else. After all, made-up success and a fabricated image will not stand the test of both facts and time.
