ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how those my interlocutor’s professional ambitions came to be realized in their careers in early adulthood. Conflicts with parents often surface when young people gain the material independence to break away from parental authority and pursue their own plans. This chapter outlines the strategies my young Chinese and Taiwanese interlocutors applied to mitigate arguments with family members. It will analyze how their different ways to negotiate obligations towards parents or to escape parental authority are dependent on the degree of autonomy they have reached at that time.
