The little emperor syndrome (or little emperor effect) is an aspect or view of Mainland China's one-child policy where children of the modern upper class and wealthier Chinese families gain seemingly excessive amounts of attention from their parents and grandparents. Combined with increased spending power within the family unit due to China's growing economic strength, and parents' general desire for their child to experience the benefits they themselves were denied, the phenomenon is generally considered to be controversial. The British journalist Andrew Marshall even argues that it is shaping modern Chinese society in unexpected ways that may culminate into a future "behavioral time-bomb". Little emperors were primarily an urban phenomenon. The one-child policy generally only applied to urban communities and, given the value of labor, one-child families are not prevalent within rural communities. Economic development has not had as large of an impact outside of urban locations. Dynamics Socio-economic implications Modern China's economic growth has tremendously elevated the annual per capita income of urban areas as women have become increasingly represented in the workforce, frequently resulting in families with two sources of income. This greatly improved purchasing power coupled with excessive pampering of only children is the cause of increased spending on children. From toys to clothes, parents shower their child in material goods and give in to every demand; it is common for children to be the "best-dressed members of their families." Recently, it has become common for most of a family's income to be spent on the child. This effect has become considerable enough to be noticed on a global scale: marketing groups attribute a near doubling of platinum jewelry sales in China to "Chinese's 'spoiled brat' generation." Parental expectations Little emperors also bear the burden of heavy expectations. Parents who feel they lost their chance in the Cultural Revolution ("compensation syndrome") put immense pressure on these children to succeed and compete academically. From an early age parents push their only child to educational extremes as they cater to their whims; "though many of these precocious kids can recite the English alphabet or read newspapers in traditional Chinese characters by the time they're 10, their parents often still perform basic tasks for them: fixing their hair, tying their shoes, wiping their bottoms." Boarding school, private English lessons, music lessons and an additional range of extracurricular activities are the normal fare. Household structure One factor frequently associated with the