Chinese children need a tough upbringing parents believe, according to an online survey released on Monday.

About 56.1 percent of the survey's 5,546 respondents believed children should not be spoilt with money, and 52.9 percent believed children should learn how to cope with setbacks, said the Beijing-based China Youth Daily.

The survey, carried out in July, also revealed that about 73.5 percent of the surveyed did not believe that they should leave all their wealth to children, while 66 percent thought parents should train their children to earn their own living and work for their future, according to the paper.

There was nothing wrong with parents who had made a fortune, but they should set a good example in managing money, the paper quoted Xi zhonghua, an expert at China Family Education Trainer's Center as saying.

Parents should help their children realize that not a single penny was easily got, so the children should learn not to spend money like water and learn how to shape a future for themselves, added Xi.

It is becoming a consensus among Chinese parents that children should taste some pains in the process of growth, as they enjoy a better life than their parents.

Recently, cities like Zhengzhou in central China's Henan Province have held toughening camps for students on summer holidays. The programs of these camps range from outdoor work like pulling up weeds in the fields and watering vegetable plots, to indoor labor such as washing clothes and making dumplings, the paper reported.

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2008)