It's true that a hard life gets old.
But in the 30 years since then, as China has prospered, its elderly seem ready to "relive their youth" and spend money on it in a way they have never experienced before. Now, the elderly no longer follow the ancient "wisdom" of saving money and worrying about their children's lives. In addition to engaging in traditional activities such as Tai Chi, mahjong and "minding their own business," middle-class urban seniors are taking up sports. Hiking and cycling, for example. And, of course, the famous "square dance.
Those who live in the city retire early (at an enviably low age of 55 for men and 45 for women) and then enjoy generous pensions (which are much lower in rural areas). The value of their houses is also substantial - the privatization of urban housing in Beijing was completed at the end of the last century. This has been described as the largest one-time handover of wealth in history. With this handover, the houses went directly to these 60-somethings.
This generation is represented by the affluent senior members of Shanghai's Ruijin Street Riding Club. On weekends, the club's seniors wear tights and go hiking on their bikes, riding at least 100 kilometers a day.
Five years ago, the seniors in this club rode all the way to Inner Mongolia, **** in 29 days. One of the oldest cyclists was 74 years old; for that ride, he spent 4,000 yuan to buy a bike for his wife, while he himself rode an ordinary "grocery cart". They rode 1700 kilometers that ****.
I rode what the Chinese call a "grocery cart" to one of the cycling club's events. On a recent weekend, a 20-something colleague from the Financial Times and I joined a group of older people on a ride. The result was surprising: they had to reduce the distance to just 15 kilometers to avoid us "dying of exhaustion" along the way.
It was 7am on a Sunday morning and we were cycling to a suburban park. Along the way, I saw almost exclusively energetic older people: some were doing Tai Chi, others were walking birds in bird cages. It seems that every neighborhood in Shanghai lacks enough exercise equipment for the elderly. Younger people, by contrast, are happier to stay at home and watch TV on the Internet. They haven't experienced the hard times of scarcity and hardship, and there's nothing to toughen them up.
China's elderly are now incredibly experienced. As the old Chinese saying goes, they have spent their lives "suffering", and now it's time for them to do so.
Yang Jianhua, 71, used to be a factory worker. After retiring, she has added a lot of fun to her life. She gestures and lists the things she can do after retirement: singing, dancing and playing the piano. 66-year-old Lin Xuejun, one of her riding buddies, was an executive at a state-run enterprise before he retired. he retired from the organization five years ago and felt he needed to do something to make his life fulfilling. Now he goes riding every weekend and spends an hour swimming every day; in addition, he walks twice a day, each time covering a long distance.
"We prefer to spend our money on exercise rather than cures," he said.
Recently, seniors have become a strong pull for China's economy, said retail industry analyst Matthew Grable. Meanwhile, enough people over 60 live in Britain, Italy, France and Germany. They have disposable income, like to try new things and don't just want to hang around for diapers and baby food.
The generation that went through all sorts of hardships in its youth is starting to spend. It's just the beginning, and they have decades of golden years ahead of them to enjoy.