It is well known that China’s population is aging, more rapidly than almost any country in recent history. In 2018, 1.67 billion or 11.9% of the population was aged 65 or older (China Daily, 2019). The effect of an aging population trend is not usually represented positively—“elderly as a burden”—whether in China or elsewhere. However, our action research project of post-disaster community rebuilding in Ya’an in Sichuan Province, China challenges this mainstream discourse of elderly people. In the process, we discovered the power of the elderly who did not passively accept external assistance following the earthquake, but actively participated in rebuilding their community. They were valuable human/cultural assets and able to make a great contribution to community development. This article provides an account of interdisciplinary action research in which social workers collaborated with elderly villagers to promote sustainable community development by integrating people’s social, cultural, and economic skills into long-term reconstruction following a major disaster. Most importantly, it emphasizes the contribution of older people and challenges the dominant discourse relating to older people.
AlwinD. F. (2012).
Integrating varieties of life course concepts. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences,
67(2), 206–220.
2.
AustinC. D.Des CampE.FluxD. (2005).
Community development with older adults in their neighborhoods: The elder friendly communities program. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services,
86(3), 401–409.
3.
BaarsJ. (2012). Ageing and the art of living.
Baltimore, MA:
The Johns Hopkins University Press.
4.
BaarsJ.DohmenJ.GrenierA.PhillipsonC. (Eds). (2013). Ageing, meaning and social structure: Connecting critical and humanistic gerontology.
Bristol, UK:
Policy Press.
5.
BaiX. (2014).
Images of ageing in society: A literature review. Journal of Population Ageing,
7(3), 231–253.
6.
BaiX.LaiD.GuoA. (2016).
Ageism and depression: Perceptions of older people as a burden in China. Journal of Social Issues,
72(1), 26–46.
7.
BassS.CaroF.ChenY. (1993). Achieving a productive ageing society.
Westport, CT:
Greenwood.
8.
BastenS.YipP.ChiuE. (2013).
Remeasuring ageing in Hong Kong SAR; or ‘keeping the demographic window open’. Journal of Population Research,
30(3), 249–264.
9.
BiggsS.PowellJ. L. (2001).
A Foucauldian analysis of old age and the power of social welfare. Journal of Aging & Social Policy,
12(2), 93–112.
10.
BraunK.BrowneC. (1998).
Perceptions of dementia, caregiving and help seeking among Asian and Pacific Islander Americans. Health and Social Work,
23, 262–274.
11.
Center for Health Communication, Harvard School of Public Health. (2001). Reinventing aging: Baby boomers and civic engagement.
Boston, MA:
Center for Health Communication, Harvard School of Public Health.
12.
ChanC. M. A.LiangJ. S. E. (2013).
Active aging: Policy framework and applications to promote older adult participation in Hong Kong. Ageing International,
38(1), 28–42.
CollierK. (2006). Social work with rural peoples.
Vancouver, BC:
New Star Books.
16.
CoxE. O.ParsonsR. J. (1994). Empowerment-oriented social work practice with the elderly.
Pacific Grove, CA:
Brooks/Cole.
17.
DyckwaldK. (2000). How the 21st century will be ruled by the new old.
New York, NY:
Tarcher.
18.
FreedmanM. (1999). Prime time: How baby boomers will revolutionize retirement and transform America.
New York, NY:
Public Affairs.
19.
GaventaJ. (1988).
Participatory research in North America; A perspective on participatory research in Latin America; participatory research in Southern Europe. Convergence,
21(2–3), 19–48.
20.
GinsbergL. H. (2005). Social work in rural communities.
Alexandria, VA:
CSWE Press.
21.
GreenG. P.HainesA. (2002). Asset building and community development.
Thousand Oaks, CA:
SAGE.
22.
GreenwoodD.LevinM. (2007). Introduction to action research: Social research for social change.
Thousand Oaks, CA:
SAGE.
23.
HouL. P. (2007).
The impact of ageing population on China’s economy. Journal of the Party School of CPC Ningbo Municipal Committee,
3, 50–54 (in Chinese).
KuH. B.DominelliL. (2018).
Not only eating together: Space and green social work intervention in a hazard-affected area in Ya’an, Sichuan of China. British Journal of Social Work,
48, 1409–1431.
30.
KuH. B.KwokJ. Y. C. (2015). Action research and urban planning – An example from Hong Kong. In BradburyH. (Ed.), The Sage handbook of action research (pp. 118–130).
London, UK:
SAGE.
31.
KuH. B.LukT. C. (2002).
Oral history and the rethinking of developmental action: A case study of poverty eradication program in China’s poverty region. Hong Kong Journal of Sociology,
3, 181–210.
32.
KuH. B.MaY. (2015).
Rural-urban alliance’ as a new model for post-disaster social work intervention in community reconstruction – The case in Sichuan, China. International Social Work,
58(5), 743–758.
33.
KwokJ. Y. C.KuH. B. (2016).
Elderly people as ‘apocalyptic demography’? A study of the life stories of older people in Hong Kong born in the 1930s. Journal of Aging Studies,
36, 1–9.
34.
LinX. C. (2019).
China’s aging population accounts for 17.9% and the demographic dividend is still obvious. First Finance, 29 August. Retrieved from https://www.yicai.com/news/100103351.html
35.
LohmannN.LohmannR. A. (2005). Rural social work practice.
New York, NY:
Columbia University Press.
36.
Morrow-HowellN.HinterlongJ.SherradenM. (Eds). (2001). Productive aging: Concepts and challenges.
Baltimore, MD:
Johns Hopkins University Press.
37.
ParkP. (1999).
People, knowledge, and change in participatory research. Management Learning,
30(2), 141–157.
38.
PeiY-X.ZhangH-Q.KuH. B. (2009).
Guangzhou social workers in Yingxiu: A case study social work intervention in the aftermath of the Sichuan 5.12 earthquake in China. China Journal of Social Work,
2(3), 151–163.
39.
PowellJ. L.HendricksJ. (2009).
The sociological construction of ageing: Lessons for theorizing. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy,
29(1/2), 84–94.
40.
ProctorE.Morrow-HowellN.LiH.DoreP. (2000).
Adequacy of home care and hospital readmission for elderly congestive heart failure patients. Health & Social Work,
25(2), 87–96.
StreckD. R. (2007).
Research and social transformation: Notes about method and methodology in participatory research. International Journal of Action Research,
3(1), 112–130.
54.
SunJ. (2013). Is the impact of population ageing on economy great? Guang Ming Daily, 22 March, 11, 3–5 (in Chinese).
55.
ToselandR. W.McCallionP.GerberT.DawsonC.GieryicS.Guilamo-RamosV. (1999).
Use of health and human services by community-residing people with dementia. Social Work,
44, 535–548.
56.
VickersM. (2005).
Action research to improve the human condition: An insider–outsider and a multi-methodology design for actionable knowledge outcomes. International Journal of Action Research,
1(2), 190–218.
57.
WalkerA. (1993). Age and attitudes: Main results from a Eurobarometer survey.
Brussels, EC:
Commission of European Communities.
58.
WalkerA. (1994).
Work and income in the third age: An EU perspective. The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance,
19(73), 397–407.
59.
WalkerA.AspalterC. (2015). Active ageing in Asia.
New York, NY:
Routledge.
60.
WangF.MasonA. (2007). Population aging in China: Challenges, opportunities, and institution. In ZhaoZ.GuoF. (Eds), Transition and challenge: China's population at the beginning of the 21st Century.
Oxford, UK:
Oxford Scholarship Online.
61.
WangN. (2013).
The era of post population bonus: The challenge and opportunity of China. Social Science,
12, 82–92 (in Chinese).
