little emperor

A calque of Chinese 小皇帝.

little emperor (plural little emperors)

1. (idiomatic) In contemporary China, a child with no siblings who is regarded as overly protected and spoiled. (Seen as belonging to a generation which is a product of China's "one-child" policy.)
   • 1988 Nov. 2, Edward A. Gargan, "Beijing Admits Easing of Birth Limits", The New York Times, p. A3:

     Chinese psychologists recently have also written extensively about the emergence of so-called little emperors—arrogant, spoiled children who grow up without siblings.

   • 2004 Oct. 4, Clay Chandler, "Little Emperors: China's only children—more than 100 million of them—make up the largest Me Generation ever", CNNMoney.com (retrieved 28 May 2007):

     The Chinese have a special name for those tots: xiao huangdi, or "little emperors."