China learns to manage decline
Lessons from Yichun, a Chinese city where children are a rarity
THE DEMOGRAPHIC milestones come thick and fast in “My Home in the Forest”, the official tourism anthem of Yichun, a sprawling city in China’s far north-east. The song was released in 2018 to promote the area’s pine-clad hills and temperate summers. It follows a couple from their courtship in a holiday treehouse to their marriage, then years of child-rearing (the lyrics hint at repeated family visits to a local lake). It ends with their contented old age, holding hands as the sun sets over Yichun.
This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline “China learns to manage decline”
From the May 13th 2023 edition
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