Poll: Age ranges of people living in China

[lilongyue]

Don't know about the rest of you, but I've been a bit curious about the ages ranges of foreigners living in China. My feeling is that most poeple are between 20-25 years old. How about a poll?

[Senzhi]

Couldn't you just have it made it a choice between 'young' and 'old' ?

[adrianlondon]

Too open to interpretation ;)

[lilongyue]

I"ll be 32 this year, so I figured I was in the minority. But maybe not, there's still several days to go. I was thinking to start another poll, if it hasn't been done yet, about how long the average person in China (that usues this forum) plans to stay in China. I think that most people aren't here for the long haul, since most of the people I meet are younger and don't seem to be planning on settling down, marrying and starting a family anytime soon. Maybe after this poll has finished.

[muyongshi]

No you should do it now...if you get them willing to answer one they will be more likely to be open enough to answer 2. If you wait though.....who knows....

[thph2006]

Good thing I don't live in China since the poll doesn't even allow my age group to vote!

[muyongshi]

Well I guess we know what age group you are in then don't we....

(for all those who don't see it 51-59 is missing)

[lilongyue]

Oops, sorry about that!

[roddy]

added it

[spiritrace]

You guys make me smile....... I'm 62 and will move to China for the winters at the end of next summer.....I guess to you, I'm "old" but to me, I really ignore my age and do what I want. There are quite a few old western codgers like me in China.

[lilongyue]

Actually, a few of my good friends here in China are at least 20 years older than me. One is 62, majored in Chinese 40-some-years ago, and has been living here for 4 or 5 years already. He's a translator, and is currently translating the works of a classical poet from Hangzhou. My other friend is 50, but just went back to the States.

So far it seems that most of the middle-aged Westerners I meet are either tourists, or here on business. Some people come to China after retirement. My retired friends told me that they weren't ready to peacefully pass the days in some retirement home, as most people expected. They said they didn't want to stop "living." Can't blame them, there's no reason why someone can't carry on travelling on pursuing things that interest them after 50 or 60. I plan to continue expanding my horizons, regardless of my age.

[Senzhi]

Retiring in China is 'financially' not a bad idea! At least not if you're culturally open-minded.

I need to quickly check my 'retirement policies'

[cdn_in_bj]

I just voted. I'm in my early 30's.

Retiring in China is 'financially' not a bad idea! At least not if you're culturally open-minded.

I know this is getting off-topic, and would be more appropriate in the "How long do you plan on staying" thread, but since you brought it up...

I think the notion of spending ones retirement here is a lot riskier (financially-speaking) than most foreigners think. One would still need to have fairly decent savings/investments in order to retire here, especially in the first-tier cities. The breakneck growth that China has experienced these last few years has driven wages at a faster rate than in the west, which has led to inflation (even though the "official" CPI figures have remained relatively low).

Much of this growth is due to cheap exports and consumption driven by the "emerging middle class". While exports of low-value products will eventually slow, domestic consumption is bound to grow as the growth of the middle class is still in the early stages. Coupled with the fact that the grossly rich here are getting a lot richer, things are bound to get worse, unless these millionaires all decide to immigrate to Canada. In addition to this is the migration of the rural population into the cities - I read somewhere that 100 million more rural residents will migrate to the cities by 2020. Even if one decides to settle in a second-tier city, there is still risk. If those millions of migrants can not afford to live in a first-tier city, guess where will they turn to next?

On the otherhand, if the economy takes a turn for the worse, this could result in even more social problems.

I also worry about the pollution, and I'm not just talking about the air - have you seen how polluted the rivers are here?

There's also the issue of healthcare. As you get older this is going to become more of an issue. Having visited a few hospitals here I know it's not a place I'd like to spend any length of time (the cute nurses makes up for it somewhat, but I'd probably be too old to appreciate!). And the hospitals catering to expats are not cheap.

Finally, if you don't have many close friends or family here, won't things get a bit lonely?

Of course, if things don't unfold as you'd hoped you could always go back home. In any case, one needs to think things over carefully before settling here long-term. And also have a back-up plan. Things are just changing too quickly here to know what's certain or not, especially in 20, 30, or even 10 years from now.

[Senzhi]

I agree.

But things in Europe aren't getting any better neither for spending our old days ...

Of course, we all need to look at the situation a bit closer to the actual date of retirement ... and I still have a bit of time left ... if I look at my past twenty years, god knows where I will end up the next twenty ones.

[roddy]

Interesting to see the average is probably closer to 30 than the 20-25 suggested in the OP. Obviously this reflects average age of forum members rather than the general foreign population though.

Have reopened the poll in case anyone else wants to vote.

[simonlaing]

Hey Roddy,

I think you're probably right. the 30+ cohort probably has done its time learning chinese and have stable or semi-stable jobs that allow time to spend posting on the forums.

I think the I am in China without a passport or Visa criticism showed , forum folk perhaps are not in China for Shanghai Parties and flagrant abuse of the system.

I think the beginner students probably post more in the Chinesepod fourms what do you think?

Have fun,

Simon:)

[lilongyue]

I was also surprised that most of the people were in their 30s and 40s. The tone and experience of the people who regularly post on this forum does seem more suitable for people in the 31-40 age group. I was surprised by some of the discussions in the language posts. Some people really know what their talking about. A nice change from the expat forum in Hangzhou, it's utter shite.

[adrianlondon]

A nice change from the expat forum in Hangzhou, it's utter shite.

Most ex-pat forums are like that. The type of person who seeks out an expat forum is likely to be someone who has an opinion to air. And they want to air that to felow ex-pats, so it's likely to be a moan about where they are.

Nothing wrong with that, of course, but when all the membership just posts to moan about where they are and their current life, it doesn't make for a nice warm cosy feeling ;)

Whenever I had time to kill, I'd read the forums over at thatsbj.com (I wonder how many accidental hits they get, with people not knowing bj is Beijing ...). It always cheered me up. People mainly moaning about their local xiaologbao place not doing a decent rack of ribs like "back home".

[pekingkat]

I'm surprised so few people under 19 have voted. That's really a pity considering the benefits to studying/living abroad at a young age. I've only lived here a little less than 2 months and can't believe how much I've changed and how much Chinese I've learned!

On the other hand all of my friends here in Beijing are obsessed with facebook and probably wouldn't bother with a site like this! Which is also a pity I guess.

[adrianlondon]

I think people find this site because they want to know something; I know that's how I first found it.

Maybe younger people usually come on an arranged trip/exchange or with a group of people, and hence just get on with things, rather than needing to search google for such stuff as "what clothes to bring for Beijin'g Winter" or "how do I get to BLCU from the airport" which eventually leads them here.