Children born in or after the 1980s are increasingly more technologically savvy than their elders. Some have started an online campaign pledging to leave cell phones behind during family reunion dinners.
However, the Internet is not to blame, according to Tu. Rather, she says, the "interrogation" that parents spring on their returning children is the main factor making comfortable conversation a tricky business.
On China's Twitter-like microblog Sina Weibo, netizens have listed the 10 most awkward questions that young people are likely to encounter when they see their relatives. They include invasive quizzes about salaries and marital status.
Over 20,000 netizens have commented under the post. Some replied that they feel suffocated by their parents' overwhelming concerns prying into their private lives.
Yang Yang, a 24-year-old undergraduate in Xi'an, says she grew frustrated when her mother expressed dissatisfaction with her boyfriend after inquiring into specific details about his salary and job location.
"I think the difficulty in accepting my mom's opinion is that we are growing apart in terms of how I decide my own life, and they should live their own as well," says Yang.
Yang is one of the 1980s generation that are in many cases marrying late and postponing childbirth, an obvious sociological source of tension with parents.
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