@article{664ddd521d7044c0a8afa40f40bdf6f0,
title = "Active aging in the countryside: Space, place and the performance of leisure–work lifestyles in contemporary rural China",
abstract = "This paper explores the performance of active aging by Chinese rural elders amidst rapid rural restructuring. Drawing on a study of combined leisure–work lifestyles of elderly males in rural Wenzhou, southeast China, it highlights the significance of space and place in forming and shaping active aging in the countryside. The wider rural transformation prompted by industrialisation and modernisation provides opportunities for them to (re)make a temple leisure space and an elderly porter centre in/through which they reconfigure everyday practices and aged identities as {\textquoteleft}modern subjects{\textquoteright} and {\textquoteleft}good parents.{\textquoteright} Such reconfiguration is simultaneously shaped by place-based norms such as {\textquoteleft}living a self-sufficient later life.{\textquoteright} It is also found that their experiences and practices of active aging are continuously mediated in time-spaces. This is demonstrated by the influence of spatial openness and proximity and the tempo-spatial negotiation of past experiences and differences during the performance of active aging. This paper advances a geographical approach to exploring active aging in the countryside and enriches our understanding of active aging in contemporary (rural) China.",
keywords = "active aging, elderly life, identity, place, rural China, space",
author = "Ningning Chen and Jingfu Chen and Ko, \{Pei Chun\}",
note = "Funding Information: Elderly work comprises another aspect of active aging among male elders in Huabiao. Similar to young and middle‐aged people, local elders want to gain benefits from the booming private economy. Nevertheless, considering their age, lower skills and limited education, there are few job opportunities for seniors. To solve this issue, elderly elites initiated the negotiation with rural factory owners on behalf of the village committee and sought to establish an elderly porter centre (i.e., VHEPC) to provide part‐time porting service for factories. This project was supported by many private entrepreneurs, who deemed it an effective way to maintain good relationships with local residents and the village committee. Funding Information: The first version of this paper was presented at the Social and Cultural Geography Meeting of Department of Geography, National University of Singapore. Many thanks go to the audience for their suggestions. We also appreciate two anonymous reviewers whose insightful comments have substantially improved this paper. We are grateful to Professor Darren Smith for his editorial assistance in the whole process, to Dr. Shaun Teo and Dr. Chin-Ee Ong for their suggestions to earlier drafts and to Ms. Fangyi Cai for producing Figure 1. Finally, we acknowledge the support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC Grants Nos: 41901165; 41630635). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 John Wiley \& Sons, Ltd.",
year = "2021",
month = aug,
doi = "10.1002/psp.2429",
language = "English",
volume = "27",
journal = "Population, Space and Place",
issn = "1544-8444",
publisher = "John Wiley \& Sons",
number = "6",
}