Elderly getting better, not older ( 2003-10-04 09:16) (China Daily)
If you stand outside the famous Fragrant Hills Hotel at around 7 am, you will
very likely see a group of old stepping carefully down from the bus that has
brought them from downtown Beijing's Xuanwu District, as they do every day to
climb in the hills. They are easy to spot with their identical red bags, even
though the hills are the destination of many other old people out for their
early morning exercise.
"We come from different walks of life. Most of us didn't known each other
before we joined this daily climbing group,'' said 68-year-old Yao Liguo. Though
grizzle-headed, this retired middle-school teacher still looks very strong. He
revealed two rows of neat white teeth when he smiled.
So it was really hard to believe he had been diagnosed with bladder cancer
three years ago.
"An ancient legend holds that a man can recover from any disease, if he
climbs the Fragrant Hills a thousand days in a row. I do not believe such
sayings, but what harm can it do me?'' said Yao.
Several of his old friends went with him when he joined the group. None of
them expected his little venture would continue for three years, nor that the
group would keep getting bigger and bigger.
"For most of us, the group is important not just because we want to climb
Fragrant Hills together. We share many other things together, and support one
another in our need,'' said 57-year-old Liang Yu, a retired civil servant. "I no
longer feel lonely in my retirement.''
Liang has become one of the activity organizers in the group. For example,
she has planned a special picnic for this year's Double Ninth Festival, a
traditional Chinese festival falling on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month
every year, which is held to honour the elderly. This year's Double Ninth fell
on Friday.
On Thursday, Yuan Xinli, vice-president of the Chinese Association of Elderly
People, bade festival greetings to the country's over 126 million people aged
over 65, wishing them an even better life in the coming year.
"With the country marching steadily towards a comprehensively better-off
"Xiaokang" society, the association will devote more strength to enhancing the
spiritual life of the elderly,'' said Yuan.
"We encourage elderly people to participate more in upbeat and active group
activities, which can help them fend off diseases and strengthen their mental
well-being.''
Luckily not a few people have realized this. In addition to many self-started
interest groups such as the one mentioned above, Yuan noted, the country's
1,700-odd elderly-people's universities, offer a wide variety of courses in such
areas as painting, cooking and singing, and they have been attracting increasing
numbers of participants.
It was also with the same end in mind that the association for the elderly
organized the country's first State-level performing art group for elderly
people earlier this year, whose premier showing was staged on September 28 in
Beijing.
"The show attracted excellent elderly performers from dozens of spare-time
elderly performing groups from across the country,'' said Yuan. "I think they
convinced most of the audience that life can still be fulfilling in 'autumn' or
even in 'winter'.''
