There was a story about a Chinese old woman and an American old woman. When they met in the paradise, the Chinese old woman said, "It took me 60 years to save enough money to buy a big house", while the American old woman said, "It took me 60 years to pay for the debt of my house".

曾经流传过这样一个故事，讲的是一位中国老太太和一位美国老太太离开人世后在天堂偶遇，中国老太太说"我攒了60年的钱，终于在临终前买了一套大房子。"而美国老太太却说"我住了60年的大房子，临终前终于还清了全部贷款。"

Traditionally, Chinese people prefer the "buy now, pay now" consumption style. They don't want to spend more than they can afford. However, nowadays, the one-child generation of China has become a specific consumption group that cannot be ignored. Ahead-of-time consumption is regarded fashionable among them. Meanwhile，some irrational consuming behaviors such as unrealistic-comparison consumption，show-off consumption and so on also form since their consumption concept has been changed.

对于过去传统的中国人而言，"量入为出"是一贯以来盛行的消费方式。他们不愿意花费他们承担不了的费用。然而，如今的独生子女一代却成为社会消费中特殊的、不容忽略的群体。对他们而言，超前消费是一种时尚。与此同时，一些非理性的消费行为也随着他们消费观念的转变而逐渐浮出水面，比如攀比性消费、炫耀性消费等等。