As Chinese senior citizens celebrated the Double Ninth Festival, or "Elderly's Day," Friday, there is growing appeal that the elderly should be better taken care of.

The life expectancy of Chinese has reached 72 years today, and how to create a sound environment for the elderly to enjoy their life still needs painstaking efforts of the whole society, sociologists say.

This is especially true when China's large population of senior citizens is taken into account.

China has a population of 1.3 billion and 130 million, or 10 percent, of the people are aged above 60, the largest group of senior citizens in the world. The number is expected to soar to 400 million by 2050.

The Double Ninth Festival, pronounced in Chinese as "Chong YangJie," falls on the ninth day of the ninth month on the Chinese lunar calendar. Nine in Chinese has the means "luck"; double nines mean "great luck." Besides, nine stands for a long time in China, so the day gradually became the elderly's festival for longevity.

The traditional festival features mountain climbing, eating of rice cakes, dates and nuts, and enjoying the beauty and fragrance of chrysanthemum.

Nowadays, governments at various levels organize a diversity of activities for the elderly to observe the festival.

In Yingshan County of Hubei Province, ancestor worship is the main activity of the day. One thousand senior citizens in Beijing attended an evening party. The government of Jiangsu Province sent gifts to 10,000 underprivileged senior citizens before the festival. The Shanghai municipal government mobilized volunteers to take special care of senior citizens, and at least 10,000 elderly people will benefit from the "caring for the elderly program."

However, businessmen, who are keen on taking advantage of every festival to make money, reacted far from enthusiastic about the Elderly's Day.

Zhang Cuijuan, a saleswoman behind the health food counter in Beijing Guohua Department Store confirmed they had done little in business promote before the festival.

Many old people complain they have encountered growing inconveniences in their life, especially when they go to shops and find it is difficult to choose the stylish clothing for the elderly.

The Chinese government has put the elderly's affairs into the country's plan for economic and social development. And encouraged by the growing elderly's consumption that is predicted at 1 trillion yuan (US$120 billion) by 2010, businesses can no long stay idle. An shop chain named "Red-Setting-Sun Elderly Service Center" has opened outlets in big cities such as Beijing, Xiamen and Nanchang, aiming at the big market.

Sure, it is good news for senior citizens.

(Xinhua News Agency October 23, 2004)