Derogative name given to some of
China's children today. A result of
China's
birth control policy was a number of
children spoiled senseless by not only their parents, but also their four
grandparents as well. Mostly below the age of ten, these
children get anything they desire with little argument from their parents.
I see those kids around Shanghai a lot. They're usually fat, because overeating in China is considered a luxury. They walk around and demand their parents buy stuff for them and their parents listen to them. They also tend to cry, yell and whine if their parents hesitate, and which their parents would immediately try to pacify the little brat with showerings of gifts. They are loud and obnoxious.
An unfortunate sidenote is that these "little emperors" tend to be disproportionately male, resulting from the age-old preference of boys over girls in Chinese society. The government has aggressively campaigned against this prejudice, and almost all posters for the birth control policy feature a rosy-cheeked, smiling little girl with two happy parents. However, it has not died out, and boys tend to be pampered much more than girls.
I don't see the Little Emperor going away anytime soon, because Chinese families have traditionally had large families, and the reduction of the number of children allowed to one usually focuses all the parent's and grandparent's love onto a single entity. I would hate to see a generation of self-indulgent brats in China. Parenting books would make a killing in China right now.