This master’s thesis seeks to shed light on the connection between contemporary life and family pressures felt by female students in Shanghai, the societal issues of China’s rapidly aging population, and the role of traditional Confucian values in modern Chinese society. The rapidly aging population of China, partly due to the implementation of the One-child policy, is an increasingly pressing problem that social protection laws in China have not yet succeeded in addressing. More and more seniors are putting an increasingly heavier burden on the shoulders of an ever-decreasing workforce, largely composed of only children from the One-child policy. The diverse life pressures faced by younger generations, such as finding a suitable job and partner, and the high costs of living and raising children, present a major life challenge. These pressures are perceived in various ways and influence their views and decisions differently. Without the support of siblings to help care for elderly parents and fulfill their civic duty, only children are even more vulnerable to the unreliable market forces of the modern globalized capitalist system. The traditional Confucian value of “xiao” or “family reverence” has been pervasive throughout Chinese history. In its traditional moral and ethical form, it seems that it no longer finds a significant place within the framework of the modern Chinese subject and the Chinese cultural and ideological space. Based on interviews conducted in Shanghai in spring, 2019, the author seeks to investigate these individual themes, interpret their interrelationships, and answer questions about how Shanghai female students perceive and respond to family and societal pressures in the context of an aging society, using intercultural scientific approaches.
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