Who are you spending your time with?
How long has it been since you sat down and had a good meal with your parents? How long has it been since you watched a movie with your wife? How long has it been since you spent a pleasant weekend with your child? Is a happy family life just staying in your imagination?
A survey targeting Chinese white-collar workers shows that over two-thirds of people spend an average of no more than one hour a day with their partners, 63% of urban white-collar workers have fewer than three full-family gatherings per year, and 75% of young fathers miss their child’s first words due to work and other reasons. Spending time with family and enjoying family joy is becoming a new "luxury" in the lives of urban white-collar workers.
The Nordic concept of FamilyTime and their views on family and life are increasingly influencing and inspiring Chinese people’s understanding of life. Correspondingly, products that meet the demand for "new family fun spots" have also emerged.
Where Has the Time Gone?
At the 2014 CCTV Spring Festival Gala, the song "Where Has the Time Gone?" inspired by 30 years of growth photos of a father and daughter moved millions. This heartfelt segment brought many viewers to tears. The rapid passage of time, the gradual aging of parents, and the audience who had much of their time taken up by work suddenly realized in the performance of the song and scenes that they hadn’t spent time with their families for a long while. The daily schedule of Chinese office workers generally includes 8–12 hours of work, 1–2 hours of commuting, and 6–7 hours of sleep. With an average annual working time of 2,200 hours, China ranks first in the world. However, this also highlights from another perspective how the time for family gatherings in China is being ruthlessly eroded by reality.
"Finding time for the family to get together is one thing, but once we’re actually home and the warmth fades, mom goes to the living room to watch TV dramas, dad heads to the bedroom to go online, leaving me alone scrolling my phone — it ends up feeling like 'seeing without really seeing each other,'" a netizen complained.
The differing lifestyles and entertainment needs of various family members also make "family fun" a bigger challenge. It’s hard to find a place that can truly bring together everyone's interests.
Defending FamilyTime
In contrast to Chinese families, a group of happy residents live on the Scandinavian Peninsula. An international home furnishing brand from Sweden promotes values of "family," "life," and "care," selling furniture embodying the Nordic "joyful lifestyle" to people all over the world.
From 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., it’s the Scandinavians’ unshakable FamilyTime — a TV-free family time when they gather for meals. Aside from enjoying happy evenings with their families every day, travel is also a vital part of the leisurely Nordic lifestyle. Life-loving Scandinavians don’t spend their holidays working overtime. They highly value quality of life. As soon as a holiday comes, they can’t wait to enjoy the sun, beaches, rock climbing, skiing, cycling, and other joys with their families. Their strong sense of family means even the household heads — the men — won’t sacrifice precious time with their wives and children under the excuse of "working overtime or socializing."
Nordic countries such as Sweden and Denmark rank among the nations with the highest number of outbound travelers in the world. In Sweden, entertainment expenses including travel typically account for more than 10% of a normal household’s expenditure, the largest expense after personal income tax and housing costs. Sun-loving, family-enjoying Scandinavians take their whole families out for outings every spring when the sun is shining. In summer, they flock abroad for "sunshine trips." Some even go as far as purchasing property in countries like Thailand and Singapore just to enjoy the summer sun with their families.
Putting the focus of life on family is the core of the happy life of Scandinavians. For many middle-class Chinese families, it’s time to change perspectives. Beyond achieving personal dreams and values, creating a better life for the family is a higher level of value realization. But sometimes, we get things backward, stealing time that originally belonged to the family and getting so busy that we forget why we’re busy in the first place.
Advocating the Joy of "Being Together"
During the recently concluded National Day Golden Week, the proportion of family travel nationwide exceeded 50%. Data from the LY.com booking center shows that about 56% of citizens chose self-guided local family trips during the 2014 National Day Golden Week.
"I took the opportunity of the holiday to come with my parents. We rarely get to travel together usually," said Ms. Chen, whose family traveled to Xi'an on October 2nd. She specially brought her nearly 60-year-old parents along. Though they visited fewer attractions due to the elders’ limited mobility, she still felt this "filial piety trip" was very necessary. "Though it was a bit tough on the child," Ms. Chen said, "My son is only eight. He wasn’t interested in the historical sites his grandparents liked, but he was very understanding and accompanied them anyway."
Similar cases of whole families traveling together, like Ms. Chen’s, were everywhere during the 2014 National Day Golden Week. According to statistics from Ctrip, short-distance family travel products mainly featured "attractions + hotels." Groups traveling with children made up nearly 60% of the total, and theme parks and similar attractions were particularly popular during the Golden Week, with some sites even reaching capacity. The proportion of full-family travelers in the tourism market is growing larger, and they urgently hope for travel products better suited to all family members.
Market demand is always the indicator of innovation. Some companies have started creating brand-new vacation products based on this emerging market trend. The "New World International Resort" developed nationwide by China Oceanwide Holdings (000979) is one representative. Advocating for "new family fun spots," the New World aims to create a resort that is "united yet diverse," tailored to family travelers.
New World International Resort Brand Spokespeople: Huang Xiaoming & Angelababy
The New World is not just a single theme park or resort hotel product, but an organic integration of different formats — including theme parks, resort hotels, cultural theaters, children’s playgrounds, and health and elderly care communities — bringing together the varied needs of family members within one resort. In the New World, the elderly can stroll leisurely in exclusive wellness communities; the younger generation doesn’t have to give up their favorite adrenaline sports because of their parents’ limited mobility; children can experience the happiest times in fairy-tale-like playgrounds created just for them… Troubles like Ms. Chen’s "feeling sorry for the child" no longer exist.
It is reported that the nationwide "New World" projects maintain unified planning standards but offer unique experiences based on the scenic features and tourism resources of their locations — the skiing thrills of New World International Resort · Changbai Mountain, the island beauty of Hainan Ruyi Island project, the unique ethnic charm of the Xishuangbanna project… And as more New World projects come online, they will be easily accessible from major cities across the country.
In the future, every holiday or weekend, we’ll be able to accompany our parents and children, enjoying the endless fun brought by the New World and rediscovering those once-lost moments of family happiness.