Hello Splendid Ones,
One of the most impressive features of Chinese society is how older people are treated. Namely they are treated with great respect. Part of the reason for this is that parents tend to treat their children very well since with little or no pension or old age security plans in Hong Kong and China their kids are the "pension/old age security plan." So making sure their "plan," is well taken care, sadly in most cases, spoiled, is very common. It is very normal for old people in Hong Kong and China to live with one of their children. As a result some kids at my school have five adults raising them; parents, grand-parents and domestic helper all actually spoiling them since, as mentioned above, junior is the "plan." The only requirement most Chinese kids have is to study. Everything else is done for them like tying shoes, opening water bottles, putting on clothes, etc. While these little princes and princesses can speak and read three languages and do basic math by the time they are five most can't tie their own shoes and can barely wipe their nose. And oh boy when they get hit by a soft dodge ball, it is like they have been chopped down by an axe. Teaching these kids how not to be wimps has been a big challenge for me in PE. My rule is if you ain't bleeding and nothing is broken, you have ten seconds to bawl and then it is time to move on. For the most part it is working. Any way I digress, I am supposed to be talking about old timers. Here is what impresses me about Chinese old timers: most exercise in the morning. The parks are filled up by 7:00 am with hundreds of them doing Tai Chi, badminton or slapping their bodies awake. After that may hang around playing games, tending to their birds, or selling some things at the market. Since their diet is low fat, heavy on the rice and vegetables, obesity is not a common sight here. Many also have young family members walking with them, holding their hand helping them along. There is certainly much we Canadians can learn from the Chinese about treating our elders with respect and dignity. Here are a few pictures of some Chinese old timers.
Till next week,
Love adios and peng on!
Dirk
Grammas selling at the market.
Men and their birds at the bird market.
Grampa with youngster at the bus stop.
Carrying the future pension plan.
Stretching in the park.
One of the most impressive features of Chinese society is how older people are treated. Namely they are treated with great respect. Part of the reason for this is that parents tend to treat their children very well since with little or no pension or old age security plans in Hong Kong and China their kids are the "pension/old age security plan." So making sure their "plan," is well taken care, sadly in most cases, spoiled, is very common. It is very normal for old people in Hong Kong and China to live with one of their children. As a result some kids at my school have five adults raising them; parents, grand-parents and domestic helper all actually spoiling them since, as mentioned above, junior is the "plan." The only requirement most Chinese kids have is to study. Everything else is done for them like tying shoes, opening water bottles, putting on clothes, etc. While these little princes and princesses can speak and read three languages and do basic math by the time they are five most can't tie their own shoes and can barely wipe their nose. And oh boy when they get hit by a soft dodge ball, it is like they have been chopped down by an axe. Teaching these kids how not to be wimps has been a big challenge for me in PE. My rule is if you ain't bleeding and nothing is broken, you have ten seconds to bawl and then it is time to move on. For the most part it is working. Any way I digress, I am supposed to be talking about old timers. Here is what impresses me about Chinese old timers: most exercise in the morning. The parks are filled up by 7:00 am with hundreds of them doing Tai Chi, badminton or slapping their bodies awake. After that may hang around playing games, tending to their birds, or selling some things at the market. Since their diet is low fat, heavy on the rice and vegetables, obesity is not a common sight here. Many also have young family members walking with them, holding their hand helping them along. There is certainly much we Canadians can learn from the Chinese about treating our elders with respect and dignity. Here are a few pictures of some Chinese old timers.
Till next week,
Love adios and peng on!
Dirk
Men playing cards. Very common for old men to hang out with men and women to be with women.
A Chinese Colonel Sanders.
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