【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 life expectancy, healthy aging has bee an important issue in the aging society (Board of the Journal of Population Research 1995). The key to settling the problems of aging is to establish a new institution of social security for the elderly and to address these problems sooner(Qiao 1999b). However, the institutional conversion from a planned economy to a market economy will pound the difficulty of resolving the problems in the early twentyfirst century (Qiao 1998). Even though the general aging trend is similar in both rural and urban areas in China, because of different socioeconomic institutions, the specific aging problems are quite different. The system in urban areas is similar to that in other countries, but the system in rural areas is quite different. Almost no other area in the world faces the set of aging problems that is mon in rural China. Its problems are unique and deserve special considerations. The following main differences exist between rural and urban areas: 金陵科技學(xué)院學(xué)士學(xué)位論文 外文參考資料譯文 9 1. Urban residents work in enterprises and institutions and receive regular monthly ine that is higher on average than the ine earned by rural residents. In rural areas, people earn money based on agricultural work, and this ine is both lower and unstable. 2. Because rural residents were limited by the household registration system, it is different them to find employment in urban areas. Even though the situation has greatly improved since the economic reform and millions of people from rural areas are working in urban areas, there are still many advantageous positions restricted from people in rural areas. Therefore, most people have to remain in rural areas and accept lower pay. 3. Because of the higher ine in urban areas, residents also have more savings than that of people in rural areas. In addition, public facilities in urban areas are more advanced than those in rural areas, including munication systems, the traffic systems, cultural activities, and health and medical systems. In rural areas, almost no such facilities exist. 4. Retirees in urban areas can be secured by their original work enterprises or institutions and can receive monthly pensions, which are sufficient enough for them to live on. These retirees do not have to worry about ine in their later life or whether they have the ability to work or not. People in rural areas have no access to this type of financial security or retirement options. They have to build their own security. If they cannot perform physical work, it means that they no longer have the ability to support themselves. They then have to rely on other family members or the government. The Aging Problem in China In general, couples independently choose the number of children they will bear, based on their own economic, conventional, and spiritual demands. Before they finish their childbearing, couples may have a clear indication that the number of children they will have in their lifetime is suitable to their own needs and also to their children’s lives in the future. The people in China, for example, had an average of six children 金陵科技學(xué)院學(xué)士學(xué)位論文 外文參考資料譯文 10 per couple in the 1950s and 1960s. They knew that some of their children might die as result of the high mortality rate at that time. They also knew that they had to have enough children, especially sons, to take care of them when they got older, as well as to ensure that the family had its successors for next generation. The number of children they had needed to match their needs both physically and spiritually. The lower the socioeconomic level, the higher the demand was to have more children. However, due to th