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Caring for China's Ageing Population: The Residential Option — A Case Study of Shanghai

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

Sarah Harper
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Abstract

China is a rapidly ageing nation. With nearly 10 % of its population over sixty, forecasts predict that this proportion will double by 2025. Such ageing is particularly acute in some of the large cities, where the impact of population policies has combined with lengthening life expectancies, to increase rapidly the percentages of elderly residents. Following a brief review of health and welfare policies directed towards elderly people, the paper draws on documentary and field research, carried out in Shanghai, to assess the current development and administration of residential homes in that city. Using a variety of case- study material the paper discusses the current situation of residents in relation to their former life experiences. It appears that in communist China, as in western democracies, former positions and allegiances in younger life help construct the experience of old age.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , June 1992 , pp. 157 - 184
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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