Ageing China: The People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan

Abstract

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is approaching the status of a platinum hyper-aged society. The ageing of its populace poses a severe challenge to the one-party state’s political legitimacy, which is mainly based on output performance and economic growth. This chapter analyses the historical evolution, recent trends and future prospects of China’s population pyramid(s) and undertakes a theory-based discussion of the countermeasures and reform policies initiated by the central government in Beijing. The hyper-ageing of local society is neither a unique phenomenon of the Chinese one-party state nor a direct outcome of its infamous one-child policy—as additional case studies on the developments in the PRC’s two Special Administrative Regions, Hong Kong and Macao, as well as in Taiwan clearly evidence. Reform initiatives and measures taken by Beijing to escape the lurking demographic trap do have direct socio-economic implications for the country’s special administrative regions (and vice versa), as the local labour markets of these “Chinese” sub-systems are closely intertwined with the mainland. The chapter is based on original Chinese sources and expert interviews (conducted between 2012 and 2019), which allow insights into the internal decision-making processes of the Chinese party-state in times of disruptive global changes and increased reform pressure.