Posted by Prue Eckett on March 20, 2004 at 21:28:25 from 210.86.103.75 user PrueEckett.
In Reply to: This might be a special case posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on March 20, 2004 at 00:26:49:
We have Asian homestay students who have come to NZ to learn English and four of them have been Chinese(two boys and two girls), one from Hong Kong and three from mainland China.
As the risk of generalising, it seems children brought up in large extended families, as two of my students have, have no more or less independent qualities than children from other countries. One of the students at present is an only child in a nuclear family but has evidently been taught good manners and has no problem with taking turns etc. with our other Japanese student and ourselves. Only one was what we would designate as a 'Chinese princess'. Spoiled and stubborn, she lasted only six weeks in our home and chose to go into an independent flat (in the worst part of town) rather than 'share' things like bathrooms and TV's.
The other three behave like normal 18-24 year olds - studying, staying up all night on weekends, playing computer games and eating voraciously.