Doge

The craze surrounding Liu Yiting: A Harvard Girl in 2000 was a cultural milestone. Today, however, the term feels like a relic of a bygone era. This shift reflects a profound change in how Chinese society views success, education, and the West.

1. The “Demystification” of Elite Education

Two decades ago, Harvard was seen as a mythical temple. Today, the “black box” of Ivy League admissions has been opened.

• Information Symmetry: Parents now have access to consultants and internet forums that break down admissions into a technical roadmap (standardized tests, extracurriculars, essays). It’s seen as a solvable puzzle rather than a miracle.
• The “Ordinary” Reality: Liu Yiting’s career in US finance, while successful, didn’t fulfill the public’s grand expectation of “changing the world.” This led to a realization that a Harvard degree is a great start, but not a magical transformation.

2. Backlash Against “Tiger Parenting”

The “Harvard Girl” model relied on extreme discipline (like the infamous “holding ice cubes” to build grit).

• The Cost of “Chicken Blood” (Jiwa): As “inner-involution” (neijuan) became a national crisis, parents started questioning the psychological cost of such rigid upbringing.
• Class Awareness: Modern audiences are more cynical. They realize that getting into Harvard often requires massive financial and social capital, not just “secret parenting tips.” It’s seen more as an inheritance of privilege than a triumph of pure effort.

3. The Bursting of the “Elite Label” Bubble

The prestige of a foreign diploma has faced a “market correction” in the Chinese job market.

• Degree Inflation: With hundreds of thousands of students returning from abroad annually, a Western degree—even from a top school—no longer guarantees a top-tier life.
• Domestic Rise: The rapid ascent of domestic giants like Tsinghua and Peking University has made the “local path” just as prestigious and often more practical for building a career within China.

4. Cultural Confidence and “Leveling the Gaze”

The era of looking up to the West as the ultimate gold standard is transitioning into an era of “level-eyed” observation.

• Diverse Success: Success is no longer a monolith. Whether it’s tech entrepreneurship, the arts, or social impact, the younger generation values individuality and passion over the brand name of a school.

The Bottom Line: We stopped worshipping “Harvard Girls” because we realized that success isn’t a standardized product, and a prestigious university is just a tool, not the destination.