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When do we think we are adults? What facts give us the impression that we have already left our childhood behind? These questions are difficult to answer. They count as questions of life everybody has opinions about, but nobody can give a definition. Does it depend on a degree, on income or the fact of moving out of your family home?

It gets more complicated when countries with different cultures and values are included in the discussion. In the case of China and Germany the imagination of being an adult could not vary more.

In Germany one of the most important steps is to become independent. That means you leave your family behind to find your own way of life. Mostly at an age between 20-23 after leaving school, apprenticeship or before university, young set out on their own way.

Also important is the fact of fending for yourself. As long as your parents pay for your daily life, the process of becoming independent is incomplete. At university most of students work part-time to finance some of their costs. They start early to earn their own money, in preparation for fully supporting their own lives.

Yet when looking at China the whole process of growing-up takes on a different aspect. The family plays a more important role in one's life. First your parents support your education, than you support your family as soon as you begin receiving your own salary.

The family stays closer together and often lives in the same house. For that reason the German approach to gaining independence is not applicable to the Chinese way of becoming an adult. There are other stages, such as getting a degree, finding a job and sharing family expenses.

If obtaining a degree was the most important step in growing-up, the average age of attaining adulthood would be different in both countries. For example Chinese are around 22 when they finish university and start working. In Germany university education takes longer and most graduates are around 26 by the time they begin working in full-time employment.

Some people in Germany also think housekeeping skills demonstrate adult status. Only when you wash your own clothes, can prepare at least some dishes and know how to use a vacuum-cleaner can you be considered an adult. In China housekeeping skills are not invested with the same importance. Because of the one-child-policy, young people think first of their careers and only later (mostly just before they get married) do they learn about housekeeping.

In the end, this comparison suggests a difference in the meaning of being an adult. Not only the educational system, also the family structure of both countries contribute to the variance in imagination.

To weaken this contrast we have a saying in Germany which makes all cultural differences seem small. "You are always only as old as you feel". That is definitely true in both countries.

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