Young Chinese born in the early 1980's, numbering about 240 million, will soon start to rise to senior positions in business and government (if not already there). As China's influence increases, so will their influence
Think about that number of 240 million, compare it to the total population of the USA (approx. 320 million). That igves us an idea of the influence they may exercise.
What will "their" China be like?
They belong to a generation that has seen unprecedented changes in Chinese life and thought. Many have finished their education in foreign universities in the western world, many have stayed in western countries, if you watch the results of scientific research, Chinese names crop up more often, and patent applications increasingly have Chinese names attached.
People in this age group will also (increasingly) form the bulk of service men and women in China's military.
If they, or their families have migrated, they will form influential social groups in countries like Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK, Germany, France, Greece etc.
This generation is also diverse, China has some hundreds of minor ethnic groups that have been grouped into more than 50 main ethnic groups. The main grouping, known as 'han' are also diverse, representing not just an ancient ethnic group from more than 2000 years ago, but many other subgroups that became part of the dominant group, and whose original ethnicity is lost.
This series of photographs gives an idea of the ethnic diversity.
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2015-05/04/content_20613759.htm
Selecting one group, as for example, these young people from Yunnan and close by areas belong to the Yi ethnic group. And over the border in Myanmar, they will have close and distant relatives.
