Home » Opinion » Book review
Not all graying societies need be ailing societies
By Wang Yong |
October 15, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
FOR many of my old acquaintances, retirement is very rewarding.
"I'm much more popular and earn a lot more now than when I was teaching," a flute performer in his 70s told me the other day.
Although he is widely considered to be one of China's best flute performers, for most of his life he was restricted to classroom teaching in a conservatory in Shanghai and his salary was low.
Every since he retired, however, he has been able to cash in on a recent revival of interest in traditional Chinese culture and music.
Private music schools have mushroomed across the Yangtze River Delta, where the xiao (vertical bamboo flute) and other instruments are taught. My friend is much in demand and he has a full travel and lecture schedule.
Another old pal, now in his 60s, was no less successful in retirement. He was a culture editor at a newspaper and a big fan of Peking Opera. Few colleagues took his opera interest seriously until a few years ago when CCTV invited him to give a lecture on Peking Opera. He was hugely successful.
And now, in retirement, he has become a professor in many prestigious colleges, coaching doctoral candidates in their research papers about operas. On top of that, much of his time has been booked for nationwide lecture tours.
The happy endings to my friends' careers plays into some of the themes of a popular 2010 book: "Shock of Gray: The aging of the world's population and how it pits young against old, child against parent, worker against boss, company against rival, and nation against nation."
After listing a litany of problems related to aging, author Ted C. Fishman says: "One bright spot in (the city of) Rockford's economic picture: Former employers are rehiring engineers and skilled production workers as consultants to advise manufacturing companies in China that have taken on their previous jobs."
Rockford, Illinois, near Chicago, is emblematic of the industrial and manufacturing decline of the American Midwest. It used to be one of the richest towns in the United States, but now the "Screw Capital" is economically depressed. Many older workers are forced to retire earlier.
In the Rockford case, retirees are reemployed, whereas in the case of my two old mentors, there is no reemployment. But in both cases, the residual value of retirees is duly recognized - one by society at large, the other by former employers.
Ancient Chinese wisdom has it that an elder is a family treasure. But this wisdom is often lost in modern academic literature and media reports that too often give a false alarm about what an aging society means.
In most cases, an aging society has been portrayed as an ailing society. And "Shock of Gray" also sounds some similar alarms.
For example, when author Fishman turns to an aging Japan, he asks how an increasingly older workforce there can compete globally.
If we're talking about manual work like making screws for mammoth machines, older people naturally lose to younger ones for reasons of strength and dexterity. But when it comes to design or management, older people can excel.
Again, to borrow an old Chinese saying: the older a piece of ginger, the spicier it is.
In the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), one of China's most prosperous dynasties, septuagenarians were not rare in ministerial or senior military posts.
One of the big mistakes made in modern China has been mandatory retirement and removal of most people from their posts at age 60 (for men) or 55 (for women), whether they are still capable or not.
In the case of my two old pals, their former employers could well have retained them as senior advisors, unless they themselves had declined. In any case, the continuing popularity of my two old pals in their retired life is their employers' loss.
Being young is good, but not always. Being older means being slower, but slower is sometimes better.
If I had a chance to write a book on the world's aging population, my title would be "The Shining of Gray: How elderly people make our societies wiser."
If you still harbor doubts about the merit of an aging society, look at the US Supreme Court, where "old heads" often shine with brilliant decisions.
"I'm much more popular and earn a lot more now than when I was teaching," a flute performer in his 70s told me the other day.
Although he is widely considered to be one of China's best flute performers, for most of his life he was restricted to classroom teaching in a conservatory in Shanghai and his salary was low.
Every since he retired, however, he has been able to cash in on a recent revival of interest in traditional Chinese culture and music.
Private music schools have mushroomed across the Yangtze River Delta, where the xiao (vertical bamboo flute) and other instruments are taught. My friend is much in demand and he has a full travel and lecture schedule.
Another old pal, now in his 60s, was no less successful in retirement. He was a culture editor at a newspaper and a big fan of Peking Opera. Few colleagues took his opera interest seriously until a few years ago when CCTV invited him to give a lecture on Peking Opera. He was hugely successful.
And now, in retirement, he has become a professor in many prestigious colleges, coaching doctoral candidates in their research papers about operas. On top of that, much of his time has been booked for nationwide lecture tours.
The happy endings to my friends' careers plays into some of the themes of a popular 2010 book: "Shock of Gray: The aging of the world's population and how it pits young against old, child against parent, worker against boss, company against rival, and nation against nation."
After listing a litany of problems related to aging, author Ted C. Fishman says: "One bright spot in (the city of) Rockford's economic picture: Former employers are rehiring engineers and skilled production workers as consultants to advise manufacturing companies in China that have taken on their previous jobs."
Rockford, Illinois, near Chicago, is emblematic of the industrial and manufacturing decline of the American Midwest. It used to be one of the richest towns in the United States, but now the "Screw Capital" is economically depressed. Many older workers are forced to retire earlier.
In the Rockford case, retirees are reemployed, whereas in the case of my two old mentors, there is no reemployment. But in both cases, the residual value of retirees is duly recognized - one by society at large, the other by former employers.
Ancient Chinese wisdom has it that an elder is a family treasure. But this wisdom is often lost in modern academic literature and media reports that too often give a false alarm about what an aging society means.
In most cases, an aging society has been portrayed as an ailing society. And "Shock of Gray" also sounds some similar alarms.
For example, when author Fishman turns to an aging Japan, he asks how an increasingly older workforce there can compete globally.
If we're talking about manual work like making screws for mammoth machines, older people naturally lose to younger ones for reasons of strength and dexterity. But when it comes to design or management, older people can excel.
Again, to borrow an old Chinese saying: the older a piece of ginger, the spicier it is.
In the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), one of China's most prosperous dynasties, septuagenarians were not rare in ministerial or senior military posts.
One of the big mistakes made in modern China has been mandatory retirement and removal of most people from their posts at age 60 (for men) or 55 (for women), whether they are still capable or not.
In the case of my two old pals, their former employers could well have retained them as senior advisors, unless they themselves had declined. In any case, the continuing popularity of my two old pals in their retired life is their employers' loss.
Being young is good, but not always. Being older means being slower, but slower is sometimes better.
If I had a chance to write a book on the world's aging population, my title would be "The Shining of Gray: How elderly people make our societies wiser."
If you still harbor doubts about the merit of an aging society, look at the US Supreme Court, where "old heads" often shine with brilliant decisions.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
