The change from a Soviet-style planned economy to one influenced by the market has rippled through all areas of Chinese life. This paper explores how changes to state financial support together with changing family dynamics are impacting on urban Chinese elders. Drawing on exploratory fieldwork in Wuhan, the paper takes an everyday-life approach to reveal new inequalities for older people. Changes to health-care costs are causing anxiety among many elders and plunging others into poverty. However, it is the family that emerges as pivotal to older people's economic and social well-being. For those with decently employed children there are emerging opportunities for independence in later life; conversely, where children are low paid or out of work, it is parental income that is taking the strain. The paper concludes by setting these findings in a broader global context.
BaoXFungH-GZhaoX, 2008, “Cost sharing in the urban health care system in China”The Chinese Economy4116–21
2.
BarrientosAGormanMHeslopA, 2003, “Old age poverty in developing counties: Contributions and dependence in later life”World Development31555–570
3.
BengtsonV LHarootyanR A, 1994Intergenerational Linkages: Hidden Connections in American Society (Routledge, New York)
4.
ChenSChenE, 2009, “Active aging and China: Perspectives and issues”, in Aging in Asia Eds PowellJ LCookI G (Nova, New York) pp 41–66
5.
ChouR J-A, 2010, “Willingness to live in eldercare institutions among older adults in urban and rural China: A nationwide study”Ageing and Society30583–608
6.
CrollE J, 2006, “The intergenerational contract in the changing Asian family”Oxford Development Studies34473–491
7.
de CerteauM, 1984The Practice of Everyday Life (University of California Press, Berkeley, CA)
8.
DingH, 2005, “The crisis of empty nesters family is coming” [Kong Chao Wei Ji Qiao Ran Lai Lin]Contemporary Health Care (Xian Dai Yang Sheng)310–11
9.
DummerJ BCookI G, 2007, “Exploring China's rural health crisis: Processes and policy implications”Health Policy831–16
10.
FaridMCozzarinB P, 2009, “China's pension reform: Challenges and opportunities”Pensions14181–190
11.
FergeZ, 1993, “Winners and losers after the collapse of state socialism”Social Policy Review5270–287
12.
FinchJ, 1989Family Obligations and Social Change (Polity Press, Cambridge)
13.
FlahertyJ HLiuM LDingLDongBDingQLiXXiaoS, 2007, “China: The aging giant”Journal of American Geriatrics Society551295–1300
14.
GilesJParkAZhangJ, 2005, “What is China's true unemployment rate?”China Economic Review16149–170
15.
GilroyRBoothC, 1999, “Building an infrastructure for everyday life”European Planning Studies7307–324
16.
GuoMArandaM PSilversteinM, 2009, “The impact of out-migration on the inter-generational support and psychological wellbeing of older adults in rural China”Ageing and Society291085–1104
17.
HanS SWuX, 2004, “City profile: Wuhan”Cities21349–362
18.
HealeyP, 1997Collaborative Planning: Shaping Places in Fragmented Societies (Macmillan, London)
19.
HuSTangSLiuYZhaoYEscobarM-Lde FerrantiF, 2008, “Reform of how health care is paid for in China: Challenges and opportunities”The Lancet3721846–1853
20.
IkelsC, 2006, “Economic reform and intergenerational relationships in China”Oxford Development Studies34387–400
21.
IzuharaM, 2010, “Housing wealth and family reciprocity in East Asia”, in Ageing and Intergenerational Relations: Family Reciprocity from a Global Perspective Ed. IzuharaM (Policy Press, Bristol) pp 77–94
22.
JosephA EPhillipsD R, 1999, “Ageing in rural China; impacts of increasing diversity in family and community resources”Journal of Cross Cultural Gerontology14153–168
23.
LiB, 2007, “Pension reform in China: Who are left out?”, in New Perspectives on China and Ageing Eds CookI GPowellJ L (Nova, New York) pp 29–48
24.
LiuJ, 2007, “Gender dynamics and redundancy in urban China”Feminist Economics13125–158
25.
PhillipsonC, 2010, “Globalisation, global ageing and intergenerational change”, in Ageing and Intergenerational Relations: Family Reciprocity from a Global Perspective Ed. IzuharaM (Policy Press, Bristol) pp 13–28
26.
SaichT, 2011Governance and Politics of China (Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, Hants)
27.
SaundersP, 2006, “The role of state and family in the living condition of older people in urban China: Changing attitudes and outcomes”Social Policy and Society5359–372
28.
SilversteinMCongZLiS Z, 2006, “Intergenerational transfers and living arrangements of older people in rural China: Consequences for psychological well-being”Journals of Gerontology Series B—Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences61S256–S266
29.
SmithASimJScharfTPhillipsonC, 2004, “Determinants of quality of life amongst older people in deprived neighbourhoods”Ageing and Society24793–814
30.
SolingerD J, 2002, “Labour market reform and the plight of the laid-off proletariat”China Quarterlynumber 170, 304–326
31.
SolingerD J, 2006, “The creation of a new underclass in China and its implications”Environment and Urbanization18177–193
32.
TamW, 2010, “Privatising health care in China: Problem and reforms”Journal of Contemporary Asia4063–81
33.
WattsJ, 2008, “China's health reforms tilt away from the market”The Lancet371 page 292
34.
WuBCarterM WGoinsT RChengC, 2006, “Emerging services for community-based long-term care in urban China”Journal of Aging and Social Policy1737–60
35.
YangK MVictorC R, 2008, “The prevalence of and risk factors for loneliness among older people in China”Ageing and Society28305–328
36.
ZhangH, 2010, “China's irrational medical pricing scheme”The Lancet375 page 726
37.
ZhangYGozaF W, 2006, “Who will care for the elderly in China? A review of the problems caused by China's one-child policy and their potential solutions”Journal of Aging Studies20151–164
