[lit-ideas] Re: Growing Old the Hard Way: China, Russia, India

  • From: "Andy Amago" <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2006 22:25:31 -0400

I wonder how much of family taking care of the elderly is mythology.  I saw 
Tokyo Story on Saturday, 1953 movie, Japanese.  It was one of those nothing 
happens movies but it was quite the study in Japanese family life.  I was 
surprised.  In 1953, and I suspect it's worse now, there was a big disconnect 
between generations and not much bonding within families.  The parents in the 
movie lived long distances away from their grown children, and did not know 
their grandchildren.  The parents go to visit their grown children, and they 
are treated politely, lots of bowing, but clearly they are a burden.  The 
grandfather had been a heavy drinker when his children were growing up, 
regularly coming home drunk, so he was disconnected from them.  There was no 
family to take care of this older Japanese couple.  Generally there was an 
isolation in the movie among and between family members.  And this is from the 
country that does ancestor worship.  Ancestors are easy to worship; real peopl
 e are hard to deal with.  I suspect China is not much different, lots of myth, 
but the reality is quite different (maybe Omar can tell us what happens to the 
elderly there).  

The United States has nothing to be proud of regarding its treatment of the 
elderly, for that matter of children or anyone else except corporations.  Dubya 
wanted to get rid of Social Security.  Companies are reneging on pensions, 
those that even supply any.   Americans will soon have working retirements too. 
 But I suppose by Lawrence's standards, this is a good thing.  



----- Original Message ----- 
From: Lawrence Helm 
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: 4/18/2006 4:23:59 PM 
Subject: [lit-ideas] Growing Old the Hard Way: China, Russia, India


Policy Review is one of the journals I subscribe to and the current issue has 
an excellent article on aging.  Fortunately this is one of the articles they 
make available on their web site: 
http://www.policyreview.org/136/eberstadt.html  

The article is long, but inasmuch as Omar and I may be about to discuss China, 
I was especially interested in the section on China?s aging problem.  Their 
problem is of course exacerbated by their decision to reduce the Chinese 
birthrate.  In the past the sons took care of the aged, but increasing numbers 
of Chinese will not have sons available to do so.  Lower wages, education 
levels, and poorer general health than in developed countries mean that huge 
numbers of aged Chinese will have to fend for themselves, taking on low paying 
physically demanding jobs that they are ill-equipped to perform.

Thus, while China as Europe looks down upon the crass materialistic society of 
America, they are increasingly ill-equipped to provide the entitlements that 
help them to feel superior.

Lawrence

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