Retirees decide it’s time for their day in the sun
Print Edition
BLESSED with palm-fringed beaches and balmy weather, the island province of Hainan is fast becoming known as “China’s Florida,” drawing retirees fleeing the biting cold of their hometowns.
“At home in Harbin, it (can be) minus 30 degrees, it’s unbearable. But here the climate is perfect,” said a 71-year-old pensioner surnamed Wang.
Hailing from the capital of the frigid, rust-belt province of Heilongjiang on the Siberian border, Wang and her husband have migrated to the Hainan resort town of Sanya each winter for the past eight years.
“Here we can breathe, and that warmth is better for our health,” said Qi Ningxia, a 60-year-old asthma-sufferer from Heilongjiang, who joined Wang in waving brightly colored fans in a group exercise-dance near the shore of the South China Sea.
“And we find so many people here from our province. We are sure we will not be bored,” Qi said.
Between 600,000 and 700,000 elderly people descend on Sanya every winter, almost doubling its population, said Huang Cheng, a sociologist at Sanya University.
Nearly half of these “migratory birds,” as they are called, come from the northeast provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning.
The trend began in 2000 as residents of those provinces began buying Sanya apartments, opening businesses and luring friends and family to join them, creating a “snowball effect,” Huang said.
Recreational centers with features aimed at the elderly have mushroomed. Ping-pong, mahjong, billiards, chess, calligraphy and painting are among the activities on offer.
A third of the pensioners who winter in Sanya — many retired steel, petroleum and mine workers — rely on limited monthly incomes of 2,000-3,000 yuan (US$290-US$435), while a quarter receive less, Huang said.
The influx has put pressure on local residents, who have to contend with surging food prices when the population doubles in winter.
Real-estate costs have also soared as some wealthier pensioners buy apartments.
More than 70 percent of apartment buyers in Hainan in 2015 did not live on the island, according to official figures.
Hospitals are also struggling to cope with an explosion in demand.
“The situation has evolved so suddenly that we have to allow time for local infrastructure to adapt,” said An Honglian, director of the Yihe service center.
The Sanya-based Buddhist non-profit helps retirees with practical problems from plumbing issues to health concerns.
An said the flood of pensioners to warmer destinations will only intensify as the population ages. China has more than 212 million people over the age of 60, who will make up 25 percent of the population by 2030, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
Other southern provinces and autonomous regions such as Yunnan and Guangxi are also witnessing an increase in the number of elderly migrants.
Wang, the Heilongjiang pensioner, is so convinced of the benefits of her winter sojourn she persuaded her son and grandchildren to join her for the Lunar New Year holiday, overturning the tradition of celebrating it in one’s hometown.
“Here, there is bracing sea air. It’s good for the health of the whole family,” she said.
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