"Active Ageing" and China: A Critical Excursion

Historically, Chinese society placed the elderly people on a pedestal. It was part of the filial duties imposed by Confucianism to care for one¿s parents when they were old. Today, however, that old order in China is breaking down, at the very time that the proportion of the elderly is increasing as the ¿superaging¿ of the population takes place. When coupled with the decrease in births associated with the People¿s Republic Single Child Family Programme, plus the lack of a developed welfare system, the increased number of the elderly is giving rise to serious concerns among Chinese policy makers. While not seeking to minimise the issues concerning the frail elderly, this paper presents a different ¿take¿ on aging, focusing on the ¿active elderly¿. Via dispelling the stereotypes of the elderly, an alternative discourse is possible, in which the elderly are viewed as a resource, not as a problem. This has implications for the epistemological development of gerontology. We seek to ground the which highlights shifting discourses and stories about aging that can be told.