CARTOON
Fashion statement
Published: Jan 28, 2022 11:19 PM
Illustration: Xia Qing/GT

Illustration: Xia Qing/GT

"How much do you earn a month?" "When are you going to get married?" "Did your final exams go well?" For most of China's Generation Z who are returning to their hometown to celebrate the upcoming Spring Festival, these questions from their overzealous relatives will be overwhelming. To cope with these questions, a specially made sweater has gone viral on Chinese online marketplace Taobao. Terms and sentences including "salaries are confidential," "still single," "do not ask about my exams" are printed on the sweater, and the cumulative sales have already exceeded 10,000 units. Many Chinese netizens said that it is their "dream sweater" for the Spring Festival. However, some are worried that elderly people may feel hurt by such a sweater, or they may think young people are not willing to share their daily lives. In fact, the sweater reflects the widening generation gap in China. China's Generation Z and the elderly should try to understand each other, communicate in a more comfortable way, and perhaps one day, young Chinese people will no longer need such a sweater.