Confrontations on public transport highlight generational tensions in China, say analysts

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 a growing sense of anxiety among Chinese youth over dimming economic prospects and a shift away from traditional values have resulted in a particularly taut relationship between China’s old and young

The latter had greater financial security during China’s most prosperous years, post-1980s till the 2000s. Then annual gross domestic product growth began to fall to the single digits, down from the double-digit yearly expansion. Public benefits were better then as well, with older Chinese getting apartments for free from the government, and the cost of living was lower.

Today’s young Chinese are the most educated in the nation’s history, with a record 11.79 million university graduates this year.

Privacy is another concept that some older Chinese, who are used to communal living, struggle with, analysts said. ...It’s hard to talk to older Chinese about boundaries and privacy because these concepts did not really exist during their time.