The Old Chinese

In China, there are a lot of old people. There are a few reasons for this, but one outstanding one is that they are taken care of and they take care of themselves quite well. Because there are so many old people, and because there are many fewer children (whose parents are busy trying to support their family’s) the grandparents are often seen caring for children. They are well respected and well cared for, in some ways they make me think of fat and sassy things, although rarely are they either.

Linyin Temple, like many places in China, is often full of grandparents and children. The location itself is a medium-sized Buddhist temple surrounded by a large garden. While it is not cheap to get into the garden and you need to pay again to get into the temple, it is quite a nice place to walk and explore the caves. As you can see, there are also vines that grandmothers would climb on.

As well as taking care of children, the ancient in China often get up very early and walk around doing odd exercises. These can include almost any normal activity as well as a lot of rather unusual ones. Some that ought to be mentioned are walking backwards for extended periods, throwing oneself against hard objects, shouting loudly over bodies of water like West Lake, and ballroom dancing next to the lake at 5:30 am. I am too young of mind to understand the full benefits of these activities but they must be doing something right because these people are not at all young, often above 80 and often they will spend the rest of the day looking after a 4 year old.

Old people in China are very active and are often seen doing things that seem, at first glace, to be more suitable for younger and fitter people. For example, very old people still ride bicycles with complete confidence and ease to get around the city, often with large and heavy loads strapped to the bikes. They also continue to work in the family business long past the Australian retirement age of 65. Also, on multiple occassions, my friends and I have struggled to climb some mountains (like Moon Mountain in Guilin and Yellow Mountain in Anhui), only to be passed by old people in their 70's who were not only going faster than we were, but were carrying boxes of drinks from yokes on their shoulders so that they could sell them to us.