Family: the aging city

Chinese Cities - Sciences Po - OGLM 3050 - 59127 - S2 2025   
Clément Renaud 
[hi@clementrenaud.com](mailto:hi@clementrenaud.com)

(use left/right keyboard arrows to navigate)
---
class: inverse, center, middle

##  Week 8

# 家

## Family: The Aging City

#### 25 Mar 2025

---
class: inverse, center, middle
## Character of the week

# 家
[Purple Culture](https://www.purpleculture.net/dictionary-details/?word=家) / [Hanziyuan](https://hanziyuan.net/) / [CUHK dic](https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=家)

---
class: inverse

# Some practical matters

- [Fiche de présence](https://scolarite.sciences-po.fr/PROD/twbkwbis.P_GenMenu?name=homepage)
- Assignments
- Any questions?

---

# The program Today

- Food
- Population
- Changing family structures
- Guangchang wu
- Assignment 2

---

class: inverse
background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/homemade-chinese-lantern-festival-family-dinner.webp)

# Family Meals

hmmmm FOOD

.footnote.inverse[

> [“Family Meals and Identity in Urban China.”](https://doi.org/10.1108/JCM-09-2014-1146.")

]

---

# How to eat in a big city ?

.inverse.footnote[

- **Disappearing Wet Markets** 50% decline in Beijing (2000–2024)
- → _Hema Fresh_ (Alibaba’s hybrid 超市)
- **2010s**: Rise of _Ele.me/Meituan_ delivery (70% urban users)
- street food replaced by eating at the mall
- Beijing office workers eat 8/10 meals alone (2023 survey) - Read [post](https://medium.com/@truonghang297/food-and-the-megacity-how-urbanisation-and-technology-are-changing-the-way-china-eats-space10-ea51379aa4c3)

]

---

# 1. Urban families

### Demographic and cultural trends

---

background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/China_population_pyramid_from_2023_to_2100.gif)

# Aging Population

.foonote.inverse[

- by 2040, 28% population >60 years - source UN
- CGTN [Age dependency ratio](https://news.cgtn.com/news/2019-07-11/Graphics-Is-China-ready-for-an-aging-population--IeuKRoApQ4/index.html)

]

---

# A lost decade ?

![](/chinese-cities/img/working-age-china.jpg)

source: [Merics](https://merics.org/en/comment/ageing-china-facing-japanese-style-lost-decade)

---

# Population decline

![](/chinese-cities/img/Chinas-Population-Decline.jpg)

.footnote[
source: [China Briefing](https://www.china-briefing.com/news/chinas-demographic-shift-how-population-decline-will-impact-doing-business-in-the-country/)
]
https://www.questionchine.net/une-page-se-tourne-alors-que-la-population-decline-le-nombre-de-mariages-recule

---

# Drop in marriage and births

- [Population negative evolution](https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-population-drops-2nd-year-raises-long-term-growth-concerns-2024-01-17/)
- [Fertility rate at the lowest](https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-fresh-urbanisation-push-may-thwart-birth-friendly-society-goal-2024-08-21/)

- [cant afford to retire](https://www.reuters.com/world/china/rapidly-ageing-china-millions-cant-afford-retire-2024-05-08/)

See [Census Analysis](https://research.nus.edu.sg/eai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/EAIBB-No.-1696-Chinas-Family-Changes-2.pdf)

---

class: inverse
background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/Ancestor_worship004.JPG.webp)

# 家 Traditional family structure

- Neo Confucean model, Filial piety and rites 禮/礼
- multi-generational homes 四世同堂
- patrilinear
- women status 外
- shrine in village (祠堂)

### A [big family reunion](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/chinese-family-500-gather-supersized-reunion-photo-n718406)

---

# Urban Challenges

## Shrinking Households

- Urban fertility rate: 1.1 (among world's lowest)
- Beijing - 1990: 3.5 persons/household → 2020: 2.3
- 35% single-person homes (Shanghai 2023)
- Geographic separation (migration), smaller apartments, Dual-career families, etc.

### Tradition continues

- "extended family" concept prevails
- pressure to marry (early)
- respect / deference towards elderly

---

# The One-Child Policy

### 计划生育政策 (1980–2015)

- **Urban-Rural Divide**: Different enforcement created distinct family structures

- Strict in cities: Fines = 3–10× annual income
- Rural exceptions: "1.5-child" policy

- **Regional Variations**:
  - More strictly enforced in cities than rural areas
  - Exceptions for ethnic minorities and rural families

### To see: So Long, My Son - 地久天长 - Wang Xiaoshuai

---

# Housing Reform (1998)

### Family Nuclearization

**From Danwei to Private Ownership**

- Pre-1998: Work-unit apartments → multi-gen living
- Post-1998: Commercial housing → nuclear families

**Family Impact**:

- Young couples establishing independent households
- Decline in traditional multi-generational housing
- Housing prices forcing young families to urban peripheries

**TV Drama**: 蜗居 tv serial _Wo Ju_ (2009) – "Snail House" struggles

---

# 4-2-1 Family Structure

---

class: inverse
background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/PlannedBirthCeramicPaintings-Xinhui.jpg)

# Too Little, Too Late?

### Three-Child Policy (2021)

Two-Child Policy (2016), Three-Child Policy (2021)

- Urban birth rate: 1.1 (vs. 2.1 replacement)
- **Barrier**: $38K/year to raise child in Shanghai

## Little Emperors

- Concentrated resources on single children
- Syndrome: spoiled urban only-children

---

class: inverse
background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/left-behind-children.webp)

# The Split Families

### The Hukou system and the "Left-Behinds"

- 290M migrant workers (2024)  
  → 61M left-behind children  
  → 47M elderly left behind

- Grandparent-grandchild households
- Lunar New Year reunions (_Last Train Home_ - 2009 docu)
- [read ](https://www.niussp.org/migration-and-foreigners/on-the-move-the-new-reality-for-chinas-migrant-children/)

---

# Cyber family

## "Long-distance parenting" using apps

- Migrant workers video-call children 3×/week
- _Xiaoyuanyuan_ – "Left-behind child" school updates

## Monitoring elderly people

- "9073" Elder Care Model (policy) -> 90% home care
- _Smart wristbands_ for remote monitoring

---

# The Grandparents

### are boomers ok ?

---

# Grandparenting as Urban Labor?

### The Hidden Welfare System

.footnote.inverse[

- 70% urban toddlers cared for by grandparents (2023 survey)
- Parents work 996 schedules (9am–9pm, 6 days/week)
- Kindergarten costs = 30% of income (Shanghai)

"Spoiling vs. Modern Parenting" debates in _Xiaohongshu_ posts
]

---

# Aging in big cities

### Elderly care Policy

- life in big cities not always easy
- challenge for single child families
- "9073" care model (90% home care, 7% community care, 3% institutional)
- Elder Care Law (2013)
- Shanghai: Community day care centers and "time banks" for elder support

---

# The Silver Hair Economy

### The Elderly-friendly "smart" cities

##### Elderly digital divide

- 65% use WeChat Pay (vs. 95% youth)
- No smartphone → Can’t enter malls during COVID -> "Green channels" with ID cards (2023)
- "Teach Mom Tech": Bilibili tutorials on using QR codes, often humorous.

##### Big market in digital products & services

- _Karaoke microphones_ (Sing! app for retirees)
- "Age-friendly" home renovations (grab bars, non-slip tiles)
- _Travel groups_ for seniors
- Anti-arthritis _magnetic shoes_ (￥ 500/pair scams)

Anti-fraud livestreams: Police use Douyin to teach elders about scams (e.g., "I’m your son’s friend!" calls).

[Two Sessions](https://chinahealthpulse.substack.com/p/beijings-spring-spectacle-12-what)

---

# 2. Urban Households

### Genders, roles, patterns

---

# Marriage Crisis

- Marriage age: 22 (1980) → 28+ (2020) in cities
- 2024, 2,6 millions filed for divorce +28k par rapport à 2023 .
- **Policy**: Divorce cooling-off period (2021) > [no marriage at all?](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/18/china-divorces-drop-70-after-controversial-cooling-off-law)

---

class: inverse
background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/people-square-match-making.webp)

# 买房子

### Housing = Love Currency

- 80% women refuse marriage without home (2023 survey)
- Home ownership as marriage prerequisite
- Average apartment cost: 25× annual salary in tier-1 cities

see: Shanghai People's Square

---

# Working Women’s Paradox

- Women's higher education enrollment surpassed men in 1990s
- 73% female employment rate (among highest globally)
- Women-led households and property ownership steadily increasing

**Stigma**: _Sheng nu_ ("Leftover Women")

![](/chinese-cities/img/sheng-nv-cartoon.jpg)
Anti-Domestic Violence Law (2016)

---

# New Urban Family Forms

### Urban youth challenging traditional family expectations

- Single-person households (increased 150% since 2000)
- Unmarried cohabitation
- Legal Framework slow to adaptat to new family structures

### 丁克

- 600K DINK couples (2024) - Double Income, No Kids
- esp growing in tier-1 cities

---

# Migrant Youth Identity

#### Shamate Subculture

- Rural teens in cities → neon hair, cyberpunk fashion
- _"We’re visible now"_ – Guangzhou interviewee

## References

- _Eating Bitterness_ (M. Hansen) – Migrant stories
- _China’s Urban Billion_ (T. Campanella)
- NUS Census Report (2023)

---

## Involution (内卷)

---

# "liying flat" (躺平)

---

# The Guangchangwu Wars

### Noise and dance in public space

---

# Daily Schedule for Elderly

- **6:00 AM**: Morning _taiji_ in parks (Beijing’s Temple of Heaven)
- **8:00 AM**: Escort grandchildren to school ("隔代抚养" grandparenting)
- **3:00 PM**: _Guangchangwu_ (square dancing) at subway plazas
- **7:00 PM**: Watch _anti-fraud livestreams_ (police-run for scam prevention)

广场舞 - Watch the [vids](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcVsD7Cb_AU)

---

# Reclaiming public space

- in hyper-commercial cities (under bridges, empty lots, Walmart parking areas)
- Noise complaints → _Decibel-limiting regulations_ (Shenzhen 2022)
- Territorial disputes with basketball youth

.footnote [
noise control in public space - [article](https://news.cnr.cn/local/dftj/20240418/t20240418_526670658.shtml)
]

---

background-image: url(/chinese-cities/img/guangchangwu-machine.webp)
class: inverse

# The smart dancing machine

- see the [setup](https://www.sohu.com/a/811459028_477577)
- nice [知乎 answer](https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/618289328)
- check the [machine](https://www.dutenews.com/n/article/8216662)

---

# Assignment

For next week: written plot + group names by email