Ni Lu takes things one step at a time. "It's most realistic to set yourself targets for the next three or five years — longer periods of time you can't control," the Shanghai girl says.

倪璐（音译）按部就班地计划着自己的生活。这位上海姑娘说：给自己设定一个未来3年或5年的目标，是最现实的事情——再长就无法控制了。

Ms Ni's short-to-medium term goals include working less, travelling a lot; finding a man to marry and having a baby.

她的中短期目标包括少工作一些、到处旅游；找个人结婚然后生孩子。

With her ambitious agenda, the 24-year-old office worker at Shanda, an internet company, is an emblem of China's young generation. Markedly different from their parents and grandparents, under-30s in the world's most populous nation have grown up in a relatively stable society and experienced increasing, if modest, prosperity, so they have certain expectations.

这位志向远大、在互联网公司盛大(Shanda)任职的24岁白领是中国年轻一代的写照。与他们的父辈和祖辈明显不同，在这个全球人口最多的国家，30岁以下的人群是在一个相对稳定的社会中长大的，他们经历了越来越富裕（即使富裕程度还有限）的生活，因此会怀有一定期望。

"These people have what I call middle class anxiety," says Li Chunling, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Science in Beijing. "They all strive for a decent standard of living which makes other people respect them."

这些人患有我所说的中产阶级焦虑症，位于北京的中国社科院(Chinese Academy of Social Science)研究员李春玲说道。他们都追求高品质的生活，想让其他人尊敬自己。

It is a familiar picture.

这种现象很常见。

As continuously growing demand makes China the world's largest market for everything from mobile phones to cars, and as the country develops a voracious appetite for luxury goods, the plans and expectations of young people also seem increasingly to resemble those of their western peers: and, it seems, they share the same status symbols and desires.

随着持续扩大的需求让中国成为全球一切商品的最大市场（从手机到汽车），加之中国人对奢侈品产生了强烈兴趣，中国年轻人的未来规划和期望也似乎越来越像西方靠拢，他们似乎有着同样的社会地位象征和愿望。

But the path to realising these seemingly simple dreams in China is very different from what it might be in Europe or America.

但在中国，实现这些看似简单的梦想的道路与欧美截然不同。

China's society and economy are changing rapidly. The countryside is urbanising at a dizzying speed, the job market is being transformed overnight, and the media and entertainment landscape is undergoing sweeping changes.

中国的社会和经济正迅速发生变化。农村正以惊人的速度城市化，就业市场日新月异，媒体和娱乐业格局正在经历彻底变革。

While these conditions offer many opportunities to strike it rich, they also create huge hurdles for young people to attain their desired state of a middle class goal.

这些环境造就了很多暴富的机会，但也给年轻人实现期望中的中产阶级目标制造了巨大障碍。

"As a result, they feel a lot of pressure," explains Mr Li.

李春玲表示：因此，他们感受到很多压力。

To be sure, the lives of the young can differ vastly, depending on whether they were born in a big city or in the countryside and whether they come from an affluent or well-connected family or a simple peasant household.

无可否认，年轻一代的生活千差万别，这取决于他们出生在大城市还是农村，是来自富裕或是有着良好社会关系的家庭还是简单的农民家庭。

Mr Li says: "It is broadly felt that one's family background is an increasingly important factor in one's future, that social mobility is somewhat decreasing in China."

李春玲表示：人们普遍认为，一个人的家庭背景对于他的未来是一个越来越重要的因素，在中国，社会阶层的流动性正开始有所减速。

But what young people across all social groups share is the expectation of a good life and the sobering realisation that getting there can require a rather uncomfortable struggle, if it does not turn out to be impossible altogether.

但各个社会群体中的年轻人所共有的是，对美好生活的期望以及对一件事实的清醒认识：实现这一理想可能需要相当痛苦的奋斗，甚至有可能完全失败。

"For young people in the cities, a home is probably the biggest issue," says Wang Xiaodong, a researcher at the China Youth Research Centre. "Property prices are too high," he says.

对于城市中的年轻人而言，房子或许是最大的问题。中国青少年研究中心(China Youth Research Centre)研究员王晓东表示，房价太高。

For young men and women who grew up in a small town or village, making a fresh start often seems easy.

对于在小城镇或农村长大的年轻男女而言，白手起家通常似乎相对容易。

Especially in the poorest rural regions, the young increasingly leave school early to go to the more developed coastal regions to work there.

特别是在最贫困的农村地区，越来越多的年轻人辍学，到更为发达的沿海地区工作。

"At the beginning, I was dazzled that I'd have my own cash every month," says Zhuo Hong, a 25-year-old from Sichuan, one of China's most populous western provinces. He left his rural home at 15 to work in a factory in Dongguan, an export manufacturing hub close to Hong Kong.

一开始，每月都能有自己的钱这件事让我激动不已，现年25岁的四川人卓宏（音译）说道。四川是中国人口最多的西部省份。他15岁离开农村老家，在出口制造业中心东莞的一家工厂工作。

But Mr Zhuo now finds it hard to get by. He has been saving his wages for marriage, but he is no longer sure he wants to go back to the village where all the young people have left, where the roads are muddy and where there is no work.

但卓宏现在发现生活很难继续下去。他一直在攒钱准备结婚，但他已不再肯定自己希望回到那个所有年轻人都已离开的村子，在那里，道路泥泞，也没有工作。

Staying in Dongguan would be difficult too, because he does not earn enough to buy a flat there. "But I'm too old to start again, so maybe I made the wrong decision 10 years ago," he says.

留在东莞也很困难，因为他赚的钱不够在那里买房。他说：但我已过了重新开始的年纪，或许我10年前出来的决定是错误的。

Those younger than him who leave the countryside now often do not wish to work in a factory. "They can't eat bitterness," says Mr Zhuo, using a common expression for enduring hardship.

那些现在离开农村、比他更年轻的人通常不希望在工厂工作。卓宏表示：他们不能吃苦。

Many younger migrant workers try to find jobs in the service industries instead of construction and factories.

很多更年轻的农民工设法在服务业找工作，而非建筑业和工厂。

Although young people in cities have more options, they often share the same sense of confusion. "I don't know in what direction the future will take me, I haven't thought about that thoroughly," says Ms Ni.

尽管城市中的年轻人有着更多选择，但他们经常感到同样的困惑。倪璐表示：我不知道自己的未来在何方，我还没有认真地考虑过这个问题。

She has taken up religion, something unthinkable in Maoist China a few decades ago. Once a month, she visits the Jing'an Temple in Shanghai to "have a chat with the Buddha. I think it's a good thing when people have some faith."

她现在信教，几十年前，在毛泽东时代的中国，这种事情还是不可想象的。她每月去一次上海的静安寺，与佛祖聊聊天。我认为，有些信仰是件好事。

译者/梁艳裳