Chinese media reports that a growing number of parents are taking their children on special tours of luxury villas, to stimulate their desire to become wealthy and successful.
On weekends, most parents take their kids to the playground, maybe to a museum, shopping mall or on a relaxing picnic, but in China, some parents use these family outings to inspire their young ones to study hard so one day they can afford to live a life of luxury.
Companies like Heming Island Resort and Spa, in Qingyuan, Guangdong Province, offer families the chance to visit luxury villas worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, which are meant “to stimulate a child’s desire to become wealthy and successful”. These holiday homes are apparently becoming a popular tool for parents who want their offspring to learn that being rich is a sign of “high social status and success”.
A spokesperson for Heming Island Resort and Spa speaking to Chinese magazine Youth.cn said that the company holds these luxury villa tours on Saturdays and Sundays, for around 50 families every week. However, the tours were particularly popular this Children’s Day weekend, with over 300 families opting to take part in them.
During the course of their visit, parents will generally tell their kids that wealth represents success, and if they work hard during school they will one day afford to have a beautiful home of their own, expensive cars and become social elite.
As you can imagine, this sort of materialistic teaching has received a lot negative feedback, since the news went viral online. Many consider it an “unhealthy and distorted value” that pushes children to always put money first in life.
GB Times has selected a number of user comments from Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter:
@NameGPS: Success is money, money, money!! Both one’s soul and body are slaves of money! How ridiculous has the world become?!
@So-close: It is an extreme example of teaching children. I was taught “Money can’t bring happiness” from an early age. Thank goodness I have good parents with normal values.
@West-wind: Don’t those children complain to their parents about having no ability to afford the villa? Maybe the event is just a publicity stunt from the estate agent.
However, not everyone feels the same way. For example one user had this to say:
@Yimohanyi: I think we should treat the news more rationally. Success does include making more money. It is not a bad thing if people can become rich and realize their dreams, as long as they do so via legal means. So please don’t be overly critical of others’ educational methods.
Would you take your kids on one of these luxury tours to inspire them to become wealthy?
