Subject: Motherhood in China Posted by Picasa

In 2006, a research team from Saatchi a& Sattachi travelled 50,000 km in China by van, boat and train to discover the lives and motivations of the people. The findings have been published in a book entitled “One in a Billion: An Introduction to the People of China”, by Sandy Thompson.

In this book Thompson writes about the contemporary Chinese mother.

While Chinese mothers always appeared affectionate and attentive with their kids, we began to sense that being a mother was as much a career to these women as the career they paid the rent with. We asked them, “What makes a successful mother in China? How do you know if you are a good mother or not?”. In China, a successful mother was one who succeeded in bringing up a competitive achiever. As one young mother told us, “Being a mother is not about good or bad; it is about success or failure.” Another told us, “If she turns out to be ordinary, I shouldn’t have given birth to her in the first place. Raising a child is like working on a project: you have a goal to achieve.” For Chinese moms, kids aren’t just kids but rather a continuation of their lives – vessels for their hopes and dreams. They are an assurance that whatever they don’t achieve in this life their kids will. There is, however, one universal truth that we witnessed over and over again. All Chinese mothers, regardless of their ambition, love their children completely.