Productive Ageing Is Likely to Become a Major Policy Discussion in China

In this foreword to the special issue Productive Ageing and China: Perspectives from East Asia and Abroad, Michael Sherraden discusses international demographic and socioeconomic trends as well as the concept of productive aging. Sherraden closes the contribution by posing a series of key questions for Chinese scholars and policymakers.

The foreword and the special issue it opens are products of an international conference on productive aging, research, and policy. The 2009 conference was organized by Shandong University and the Center for Social Development. Papers presented during the gathering were subsequently developed for publication in this special issue of the China Journal of Social Work as well as in Productive Engagement in Later Life: A Global Perspective, which appeared in English and Chinese.

Parallel publication: Sherraden, M. (2012). Foreword: Productive ageing is likely to become a major policy discussion in China. In N. Morrow-Howell & A. C. Mui (Eds.), Productive engagement in later life: A global perspective (pp. 1–3). New York, NY: Routledge.