There are two different generations’ of women around me who are my grandma and my mom. My grandma was born in the1930s in Beijing; it was a very hard and poor era. Almost everyone worried about food and clothes. My mom was born in 1960 in Beijing; although not as good as nowadays, it was much better than thirty years ago. My grandma’s generation and my mom’s generation differ in terms of the time, the society and the culture. I will compare four aspects about their live: number of children, work and income, life and leisure time and education.
In my grandma’s era, every family had at least four children because they thought more children could help their family more. My family is similar to most Chinese family, she has five children, three of them are girls and two of them are boys. My grandma and my grandpa had a little Chinese traditional restaurant. For their family, they had to work hard. My grandma woke up at 4:30am to make breakfast and go to at sleep 12:00am every day. Although she did very well, her income was not very much. For raising every family member, she saved 90% of her income. I think she has a habit, so it continues now even though she has enough income every month. She arranged her restaurant next to her house, because that was easier to her to take care of her children. She devoted much of her time to her family, so she had less time to have a rest. She spent her time either on work outside or work inside. Unlike us, my grandma reads very poorly. She can recognize only a few words in Chinese. Because her family was very poor when she was a young girl, her parents could not afford to her to study in school. So for having a good life, my grandma just could know few words which she studied by herself. When I watch TV with her, she often asks to me how to read Chinese characters. Her spirit of studying influences me deeply.
It changed a lot in the1960s the era in which my mom lived in. While in that time, because of my country’s new law, every family just could have only one child, so my mom just has me although she wanted to have more children. My mom had worked in many different places; she is running her own cement and concrete business with my father now. Her business is not bad; it can give us a comfortable life. My mom’s life is more varied and graceful than my grandma. Shopping is my mom’s favorite activity no matter whether she buys anything. She differs from my grandma in many ways; she spends more money than saved-part of her income. She always says, “Money is to spend. You need to spend it so that you understand its true value. Then you can earn more.”(Translated from Chinese) That means the way to get real value from money is to spend it. It has no value just sitting in the bank. I can remember very clearly, when I was a baby, my mom often worked outside and went to another place to work; so she did not have enough time to look after me. That was the reason I always live with my babysitter at that time. But I feel better, because nowadays my mom has time to do her hobbies with me. She has more leisure time than before. In the same way, my mom likes study. While she was young, she knew knowledge was an important thing in one’s life. Although her mother did not have enough money for her tuition, she persisted to finish her high school degree. But after that, my mom did not stop to study; she studied more at other places depends on her low income at that poor time. That is a same point with my grandma and my mom, I am proud of them.
Whether it’s work or leisure, my grandma and my mom have many distinct aspects in their life. In short, they represent two distinct generations. In my opinion, their diverse ideas and attitudes are a result of on the difference in that their eras which have very big disparity. Social environment will influence people. All in all, in our modern society with its never-ending changes and improvement; I believe women’ life are happier and more relaxed.