FACED with a future plagued by AIDS, environmental destruction and political uncertainty, Hong Kong's twentysomethings say they have every reason to feel hopeless and indifferent.
Even with the kind of opportunities never dreamed of by their parents, they remain disenchanted and disaffected. They have a pessimistic view of life and see no point in planning for a future.
Their parents complain they are apathetic, that they don't care, that they just sit around whingeing, playing computer games and listening to trashy Canto-pop.
These are the Hong Kong equivalent of ''Generation X'' - a term coined by Canadian author Douglas Coupland to describe a disaffected generation of twentysomethings in the West.
Whatever they are, they are a group with which marketing men have been quick to identify. The local entertainment industry was the first to capitalise with a film called Twenty Something. It made $10 million in less than a month when screened in May.
The soundtrack of Reality Bites, an American movie about a group of twentysomethings, has also been a chart topper in the territory. The film, which flopped in the US, drew young crowds in Britain and Australia, although director Ben Stiller said it was not an attempt to define the Generation X. The film has yet to be released here.