CHINA: Sanya City for Winter Indicates Changing Lifestyle of Aged

BEIJING (People's Daily), January 17, 2005: From 2000 to 2050 the number of senilities in China will increase at an annual rate of 4.6 percent and the number of aged people of over 70 will see an increase from 12 million to 114 million, according to a forecast of a state department. For thousands of years in China, the family has attended to the aged people. This has been an unchanged rule. With social progress and changes in family ideology, the tradition of attending to the aged is changing from the family to society. "The migrant aged" fly to Sanya City for winter When winter came, many old people have flown like migrant birds to Sanya City. They have gone there to enjoy warm sunshine and fresh air. Every year sees over thousand of the aged come from many other places to spend their winter in Sanya. They stay three to four months before they return to their own hometowns. Some rent a private house at a cheap price of a few hundred yuan, some stay long in a cheap family inn while others stay either with their relatives or otherwise buy some houses for their old-age winter vocation. An old couple, Pao Feiran by name, has been running for several years a family inn by the beach along the Foreign Trade Road in Sanya. Years ago when Pao Feiran couple came to Sanya for winter tour they found that the place was particularly good for spending their old age. They decided to stay in Sanya for the rest of their lives. They bought an apartment along the Foreign Trade Road and refurbished it into a family-run inn. Thereafter, every winter, the family inn by the beach has been able to usher in a few old couples like themselves. Farewell to tradition, not to be a housekeeper anymore To rear children for old age attendance, it is a tradition passed on and on for thousands of years in China and this is even more deep-rooted in the countryside. Many aged people have gradually broken through the cuffs of tradition and habits and come to form a new ideology for their old-age attendance. Before retirement, Liu, a teacher was teaching Chinese in a middle school at Benxi, Liaoning province. Liu has students everywhere. After retirement, all his three children would like to invite their parents to stay in turn with them, enjoying a happy family life. Teacher Liu and his wife, however, chose to "leave for somewhere faraway" to buy a house for settling down in Sanya. In real life there are many aged people, who worked hard to have reared up their own children and have to take care of grandson or granddaughter after their retirement. It may seem very joyful to have several generations under one roof but in reality, they have to play the role of a "housekeeper". More than half the time of the aged people has been spent in hard work. Why not leave the rest of the life for them, and in the meantime also leave some free space for the young people? In many large cities the traditional way for old-age attendance has gone through a gradual change with the dependence on the young being reduced. The aged are no longer to be borne down by the young. Many aged people, in consideration of their own health and way of life, are more willing to shake themselves away from household work to enjoy life in their own space. To live in apartment for the aged tends to be a new choice. Since he lost his better half three years ago Granddad Shan has been living in a shade of solitariness. He spent his days taking care of plants and flowers, reading newspapers and welcoming back his little granddaughter. He had almost nothing else to do. Nor did he like to have any connection with old friends and neighbors. In September 2004, encouraged by one of his old classmates, Granddad Shan followed the old couple to Haikou, joining the group in an apartment building for the aged people on the Haidian Island. Here there were many people like Granddad Shan who shared the similar life experiences and started chatting and talking, playing cards and discussing about skills in playing balls. Gradually Granddad Shan returned to his normal self of the past, smiling and laughing as he did earlier. Along with emergence of a great number of single-child families, the family attendance for the aged people has turned out a single pillar hardly able to prop up an edifice. It is really an unrealistic burden for a young couple to take care of four aged people and one child. So people began to set eyes on organizations in social community for attendance on the aged people. Investigation indicates now there are only 45 percent of people who chose family for their old age attendance while 54 percent favor homes for the aged. Due to the accelerated paces in life, parents and children each have their own life space and so many people worry about diluted affections and feelings among family members. Many sociologists, however, feel that with the arrival of the single child family, the concept of traditional family in China will face a big challenge and gradually there will be more attendance in old age homes. There will be a gradual turn from dependence on the family to dependence on society. By People's Daily http://english.people.com.cn/