Posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on March 20, 2004 at 00:26:49 from 195.93.32.7 user ACB.
In Reply to: Re: "The tall wireless masts at Bawdsey" posted by Adam Quinan on March 19, 2004 at 01:28:04:
We had some Chinese friends to stay with us last summer; their son Qiyang is the same age as Alex (now 9) and they remarked on how very much more mature Alex was - not a remark that we could really disagree with!
Chinese children of the current generation may be a bit of a special case - each one has two parents and four grandparents doting on him/her and even less chance of playing in the street with other boys and girls than British and American children of today. They are therefore far more indulged - it was always usual for Chinese children to be brought up on the free range principle until 7 or so whereafter they were whipped in sharply as having reached the age of understanding, and I suspect the age of understanding has been deferred at grandparental request.