Several young attendants at the Mandarin Hotel, the most luxurious in Xiamen, were asked about this, and they all said they just took it for granted that more work meant more pay. Chen Kuanyu, deputy manager of the housekeeping department, said he used to work in a factory, but he much preferred his job at the hotel. One of the main reasons he came to the hotel, he said, was the good pay. Although he now works harder and longer hours at the hotel, he said it was worth the extra money he makes.

Another deputy manager at the hotel, 22-year-old Lin Xiaoqing said she used to be a gardener and was low paid. She said she was usually exhausted after a 10-hour workday at the hotel. But she makes about 200 yuan a month now, much more than she made as a gardener, and is able to practise her English at the hotel, making those long hours more than worthwhile.

An official of the city's statistical bureau said when the Xiamen Special Economic Zone was established in early 1980 the monthly per-capita consumption was only 33.81 yuan. Today it stands at 67.55 yuan, about twice as much as five years ago.

The policy of allowing people to make more money through labour has rekindled their enthusiasm for study. The more knowledge, the more chance of a good job, and perhaps better pay. The city now has 350,000 residents, 60,000 of whom are studying part time. About 60 percent of the students are young people.

Traditions moving in time

Xiamen's young people are the most conspicuous of all when it comes to new lifestyles. Unlike their older counterparts, who have stood by their traditions, young people in Xiamen have new interests and hobbies. They take pride in their appearance and often can be seen wearing Western-style suits or Shanghai or Hongkong fashions. While they are of a more practical nature than many other young people in China, they also love to socialize, listen to pop music and dance. Gold wedding bands have become common at wedding ceremonies. Young married couples have begun to be able to afford modern amenities like colour television sets and refrigerators.

Xiamen has enjoyed full employment since it was designated a special economic zone. Young people fresh from school find it easy to get a job. Therefore, some of these youths with long purses under their belts prefer to live away from home. The tradition of several generations living under one roof is being replaced by smaller families of one or two generations.

In the neighbourhood of Haibin, for example, about 250 households out of the 730 have broken away from traditional family roles. Wang Xiuqing, director of the neighbourhood committee, said the elderly had nearly nothing in common with their children in terms of lifestyle, likes or dislikes. Therefore, she said, it makes sense for them to live separately, rather than to try to manage together.

Ten out of the 12 young people interviewed for this article said they preferred to live on their own. The two who preferred to live together with their parents said they had young children of their own who needed looking after by their grandparents.

Despite the galloping speed of the young away from binding traditions, the centuries-old custom of respecting the old and cherishing the young remains deep-rooted in Xiamen. Children still feel duty-bound to support their parents.

In the Kaiyuan district, one woman, Huang Yuzhen, said her son and daughter, married and long gone, each give her 15 yuan every month as a symbol of their filial respect.

Although Xiamen has become a real "boom-town," neighbours still watch out for each other. In the Kaiyuan district, a 47-year-old widow has been seriously ill. Her only son is severely mentally disturbed. But her 64-year-old neighbour is always ready to look after them, free of charge.

The Wenan neighbourhood committee in the Siming district has taken under its wing 10 elderly people without children, two old men whose sons were killed in the war, and six disabled people. The committee has placed them in the hands of several groups of retired workers, Communist Youth League members, and housewives.

Yang Changming, deputy director of the city's civil affairs administrative bureau, said the city hall had doubled its efforts to build welfare houses and homes to care for the senior citizens. The city now has one welfare house and 12 homes for the aged, so that all those 60 or older who do not have children to look after them have been accommodated.

The welfare house, built in 1980, is a complex of six buildings with 150 beds. It houses more than 70 senior citizens, including one foreigner and two returned overseas Chinese. All the expenditures of the welfare house and retirement homes are covered by the city government and other collective organizations.

Cultural wastes

Since Xiamen opened its doors to the world, the economic zone has imported needed investment, technology and management expertise, all of which have had a positive effect on China's economic and social development. Unfortunately, along with these benefits come the uglier aspects of Western culture, so-called "cultural wastes." These include money worship, pornographic videotapes, decadent music and sexually violent publications. These objects have already had adverse effects on the impressionable youth of Xiamen.

According to the city's public security bureau, the city's overall crime rate has dropped year after year since 1980. But the juvenile delinquency rate is on the rise. Some of the young criminals said they admired a bourgeois lifestyle and were seeking material gain and pleasure. Others, aroused by X-rated videotapes, have been known to rape women.

Life has not been all wine and roses for them. There have also been handcuffs and shackles. The problem has caught the attention of the city hall and the public. Apart from trying to encourage the education among young people, the city government already has made it a point to crack down on those who smuggle in these "cultural wastes."