Speaking Bitter-Sweetness: China's Urban Elderly in the Reform Period

This article examines how elderly Chinese urban residents perceive the social, economic, and spatial transformations brought about by the Chinese government's modernization project. I show that, twenty-five years into the reform period, elderly urban Chinese residents use discursive tools they were taught under socialism not only to position themselves in today's world, but also to draw a contrast between their bitter childhood in an impoverished country and China's current political and economic position in the world. I argue that since most elderly urban residents still receive certain state benefits, they can claim to be positioned outside of the new state project of capitalist consumption. They reconcile their socialist upbringing with the current state of affairs by discursively transforming their peripheral position into a sacrifice for their children and the greater good of their country.